A Cinderella To Secure His Heir

She turned her head and cast eyes swimming with anguish on him. ‘You’re really Alessio Palvetti?’

‘Yes.’

Her head dropped forward. The silky hair that had been wound so elegantly was in disarray, brunette locks spilling out in all directions. ‘This ball... How...? How did you do it?’

‘Giannis and I have been friends since our school days. I asked him to host the ball in his palace and employ your company to run it. He owed me a favour and agreed.’

She rubbed the back of her neck and muttered, ‘Must have been some favour.’

Beth thought of the astronomical sum of money that had been spent on the ball, not a cent of which had been recouped from the tickets. All the money raised through the four hundred guests who had each paid forty thousand euros to attend was going to charity. ‘All this...just so you could get Dom?’

And, now he had Dom in his clutches, she had little doubt he’d taken the necessary precautions needed to stop Dom and her leaving the palace without him. He’d even put them into adjoining suites!

The lengths he’d gone to get them here proved him a master tactician who always thought a dozen moves ahead.

The rich were in a league of their own when it came to getting what they wanted. When money was no object, then any scruples or morality be damned. Alessio had been born without either.

‘Do not misunderstand me. Getting custody of Domenico is my primary motivation. He is a Palvetti and he deserves to take his place with us, his family. In my care he can have everything but, if custody were all I wanted, he would already be with me.’

She took another sip of her drink. Normally she hated whisky in any of its forms but right then the burn it made in her throat was welcome. It was the fire she needed to cut through her despair. ‘Then what do you want? I think of all the work we’ve done, all the hours spent, all the money spent—’

‘I wanted to get to know you.’

She finally allowed herself to look at him. ‘Why?’

The emerald eyes that had turned her veins to treacle lasered into hers. He leaned forward and spoke quietly. ‘I wanted to learn about you through more than the reports and photographs my investigators provided me with.’

‘You had me investigated?’

‘I thought it prudent to look into the character of the person caring for my nephew.’

Her head span so violently she felt dizzy with the motion.

He’d been spying on her.

She should have known Alessio’s silence since she’d refused his offer of money in exchange for Dom had been ominous. She’d lulled herself into a false sense of security and underestimated him, and underestimated the lengths he would be prepared to go to.

Everything Domenico had said about his brother was true, and more.

Through the ringing in her ears, he continued. ‘Do not worry. Any childhood indiscretions are your own concern. I only wanted to know about the last five years of your life, and what I learned about you intrigued me. It was clear to me from the investigator’s reports and your refusal of my financial offer that you had an affection for my nephew.’

‘Affection does not cover a fraction of the love I feel for him,’ she told him fiercely.

‘I am beginning to understand that for myself.’

‘Good, because I will never let him go without a fight.’

‘I understand that too but you must know that, if it came to a fight, you would never win. I could have gone through the British courts and made my case for custody—I think we are both aware that my wealth and power would have outmatched your efforts—but Domenico is familiar with you and it is better for him if you remain in his life than be cut off.’

She held his gaze and lifted her chin. ‘I’m all he knows.’

He raised a nonchalant shoulder. ‘But he is very young. If it comes to it, he will adapt without you quickly. For the avoidance of doubt, I do not want that outcome.’

‘What outcome do you want?’

‘Marriage.’

Drum beats joined the chorus of sound in her head. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’

He rose from his seat and headed back to the bar. ‘Once I have Domenico in Milan, it will be a simple matter for me to take legal guardianship of him.’ He poured himself another large measure and swirled it in his glass. ‘I recognise your genuine affection for each other and have no wish to separate you. In all our best interests, I am prepared to marry you.’

Dumbfounded, Beth shook her head, desperately trying to rid herself of all the noise in her ears so she could think properly. ‘I wouldn’t marry you if you paid me.’

He took a large swallow of his drink and stared at her with that same expressionless look. ‘Then I take Domenico home and find another woman to marry and be a mother for him.’

She pinched her nose and breathed deeply. She would rather die than allow another woman to raise the little boy she loved so much.

But this was no bluff. She did not doubt that for a second.

‘I would prefer not to take that option.’ His words swam through the noise in her head she still couldn’t drown out. ‘But bringing Domenico home means the time is right for me to take a wife. He will thrive better if he has a permanent female influence in his life. A marriage between us is the ideal outcome for all of us and has the potential to be successful.’