Claiming His Secret Love-Child: The Marciano Love-Child / The Italian Billionaire's Secret Love-Child / The Rich Man's Love-Child

Scarlett turned to look at him. ‘Why do you want me to work for you when you refuse to believe me about your—’

‘Do not say it again,’ he cut her off abruptly. ‘I am not the father of your child, and no amount of times you insist to the contrary is going to change that fact.’

‘I just want you to meet him to see it for yourself.’

His brows came together over his eyes in a furious frown. ‘I am warning you now, if you bring him to this work site at any time I will sever the contract myself. You will be responsible for whatever debt is incurred as a result.’

‘You can’t do that,’ she said, but there was terror wobbling in her voice at the fear that he could.

He gave her a gelid look. ‘Go read the fine print, Scarlett,’ he said. ‘Then tell me what I can and cannot do.’

Scarlett didn’t need to, she already knew.

CHAPTER FOUR

‘SO HOW did it go?’ Roxanne asked as soon as Scarlett came into the studio at lunchtime.

Scarlett dropped her handbag to the floor with a little thud. ‘I signed the contract,’ she said, her tone heavy with resignation.

‘Yippee!’ Roxanne jumped up and down, sending her riotous bright-red curls bouncing. ‘We’re going to be famous!’

‘Yes, but there are terms.’

‘Terms?’ Roxanne stilled and frowned at her. ‘What terms?’

Scarlett flopped down in her office chair. ‘I can’t get out of the contract until I complete the job.’

Roxanne blinked at her. ‘So?’

‘So I am in over my head,’ Scarlett said. ‘Both of our heads, actually. If for any reason I don’t finish the project, I am liable. We both are.’

‘But you’re going to finish the job, right?’

Scarlett bit her lip. ‘What if he makes it impossible for me to do so?’

Roxanne’s throat began to move up and down. ‘You mean you think he put that clause in there on purpose?’

Scarlett’s brow was still heavily furrowed. ‘I’m not sure. I can’t help thinking he’s very cleverly luring me into his orbit. He told me he’d seen some work of mine and really liked it. I think it must have been Tomasso Venetti’s in Bellevue Hill. That’s the only penthouse I did last year.’

‘You did a fabulous job on that place,’ Roxanne said. ‘No wonder he liked it. You really have a way with old buildings, Scarlett. I’m sure that’s why he’s asked you to oversee the Arlington.’

‘I can’t do it without you,’ Scarlett said. ‘It’s a huge project, and I’m starting to suspect the devil will be in the details.’

‘We can handle it, Scarlett,’ Roxanne reassured her. ‘You just have to keep your head when you’re around him.’

‘That’s the whole trouble,’ Scarlett confessed, and dropped her head into her hands. ‘I can’t think straight when I’m anywhere near him.’

‘Look, why don’t you get your mum or Sophie to babysit Matthew, and we can go out and have a drink to celebrate landing this contract? We need to think positively about this, instead of dwelling on the negatives. We could go to Dylan’s in The Rocks. Everyone is raving about the place since we did the makeover for him. It’s one of the most popular restaurants down there now. Besides, we haven’t seen him since he broke up with Olivia.’

Scarlett dragged her head up out of her hands. ‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘I do need to take my mind off the negatives, and seeing Dylan would be nice. I’m probably being paranoid about Alessandro anyway.’

‘Did you tell Alessandro about Matthew?’ Roxanne asked.

‘Yes, but I got the same response. He still refuses to accept the possibility he could be his child.’

Roxanne rolled her lips together, her brow creasing into a frown as she looked at Scarlett.

‘You’re giving me that look again,’ Scarlett said with an irritated scowl.

Roxanne sat bolt upright. ‘I’m not doing any such thing.’

‘Yes, you are,’ Scarlett said. ‘I can see it in your eyes. You don’t believe me any more than he does.’

‘That’s not true.’

Scarlett angled her head pointedly.

Roxanne blew out a breath. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘I confess—I did harbour the thought that you might have somehow got it wrong. For a while there I thought you and Dylan might have had a bit of a holiday fling back then, as even now he always seems to prefer your company to mine. But Matthew is a dead ringer for Alessandro, don’t you think?’

‘I don’t think—I know.’

‘Have you told your mum yet?’

‘No.’

‘Don’t you think it’s time you did?’

Scarlett released a long-winded sigh and reached for the phone. ‘I just know what she’s going to say.’

‘But, darling, how could you have lied to me for all these years?’ her mother cried. ‘I can’t believe you didn’t trust me enough with the truth.’

‘I wanted to avoid this sort of reaction, that’s why,’ Scarlett said. ‘He’s not interested in being a father to Matthew.’

‘Not interested?’ Her mother’s voice was sharp with disapproval. ‘Why on earth not?’

‘Because he doesn’t believe Matthew is his.’

There was a short but telling pause.

‘Mum?’

‘Darling, you can be straight with me, you know,’ her mother said. ‘I am your mother after all.’

‘Of course I’m being straight with you. There’s no possibility of Matthew being anyone but Alessandro’s son.’

‘None at all?’

Scarlett could hear the doubt in her mother’s voice, but this time chose to ignore it. ‘No, Mum, there’s no doubt at all.’