Page 44 of Back to Claim His Italian Heir

‘What...?’ The word came out in an incredulous breath. ‘Nico, is that true? I’m so sorry.’

‘I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was, perhaps. I always knew Antonio was rather ruthless, just as he was with you. And knowing he was truly a Santini and I wasn’t, yet my father was still keeping me on as CEO... I knew it had hit him hard. Very hard, to plot my murder.’ He tried to smile wryly but didn’t manage it. Even though there had quite clearly been no love lost between him and his cousin, yet another betrayal had been hard to bear. Still was.

And isn’t that at least part of the reason you didn’t tell Emma?

Because he’d been ashamed, how comprehensively his family had rejected him. Because it had made him feel unlovable...just as she had felt for so long.

‘That phone call was me talking to the private investigator, telling him I didn’t want you to have to be involved or called as a witness in any way. I wanted to keep you out of it for your own sake, but... I shouldn’t have made that decision unilaterally, and I certainly shouldn’t have shut you out the way I did. I’m sorry, Emma,’ Nico told her, meaning it utterly. ‘I should have told you about it all. I shouldn’t have kept so much from you for so long. I just...’ He spread his hands helplessly. ‘I wanted to handle it by myself. And I didn’t want to admit I hadn’t been able to. Or that my family had turned on me so thoroughly.’

‘Oh, Nico.’ She took a step towards him, her face softened with compassion. ‘I, of all people, can understand that. The reason your phone call hit me so hard was because you used the exact words my foster mother did, when I was ten years old.’ She took a careful breath. ‘I told you there was one family above all the others that I cared about but I didn’t tell you exactly what happened. I’d been there for a year...what felt like the happiest year of my life. They were so kind, and they really treated me as one of the family. Proper, you know? Real.’ She bit her lip and then continued quietly, ‘My case worker hinted that they might adopt me. In retrospect she shouldn’t have said as much, but I think she wanted to give me some hope, and maybe she thought it was a sure thing. But I overheard my foster mum on the phone with her, and when she suggested adoption my foster mum said, “Emma? Absolutely not.”’

She gulped a little, and Nico knew how much this still had to hurt.

‘She was so certain, you know? And so...so scandalised. Like she never would have entertained the prospect for so much as a second. Well, I started acting out after that, I know I did, and I was gone within a couple of weeks. I never told her I’d overheard. I never asked why.’

‘Oh, Emma.’ He reached for her then, and she came into his arms with a small, unhappy sigh.

‘When I heard you saying the same thing, it was like I’d gone back in time. I guess I went a little crazy,’ she admitted unsteadily. ‘All I could think about was how it had been before, and not having that happen again. Funnily enough...’ She eased back, tilting up her face to look at him. ‘I was coming to the study to confront you. To ask you why you were keeping your distance, and to tell you I loved you.’

Nico’s grip tightened on her as his heart leapt. ‘You were?’

‘Yes. I realised it the night of the gala, as well. Maybe it was seeing you with so many other people... I realised how much.’ She smiled shyly. ‘I felt we belonged together.’

‘We do.’ His voice was fervent, and her smile turned playful.

‘You’re sure?’

‘More sure of that than anything else in my life.’

Her expression turned serious as her arms tightened around his waist. ‘And Antonio? What...what will happen with him?’

‘It’s being dealt with,’ Nico told her soberly. ‘It’s what I’ve been dealing with for the last few days—hiring an investigator, getting evidence. He’s being taken in for questioning today.’

‘Oh, Nico. Your own cousin...’

‘I know.’ He swallowed, still finding it hard to bear, to believe, even after several days of thinking of little else. ‘I knew he was ruthless, but I never thought him capable of such a thing. I... I loved him.’ He bowed his head. ‘And I suppose that was part of why I didn’t tell you. I felt...ashamed, somehow, I suppose...that someone I loved would do that to me.’

‘I know how that feels,’ she whispered, and then gave him an impish smile. ‘Although not the killing part.’ Her expression grew serious again. ‘But feeling rejected by the people you care about, who you thought cared about you?’ she asked quietly. ‘Yes.’

He knew she did, and he was grateful for her understanding and compassion. Nico pressed his lips to her forehead, closing his eyes as he silently thanked providence for bringing her into his life. ‘We have more in common than we could have ever known,’ he murmured.

‘Definitely more in common,’ she teased, placing his hand over her bump. ‘Feel.’

To his amazement and joy, he felt a flutter against his palm—a tiny foot or hand kicking against him. He laughed aloud, and then so did Emma.

Nico gathered her into his arms, kissing her thoroughly. ‘We have the future ahead of us,’ he told her. ‘All of it to look forward to, together.’ He paused to kiss her again, smiling down at her, full of gratitude and joy. ‘The three of us.’

EPILOGUE

One year later

‘YOURDAUGHTERHASa strong pair of lungs.’

Nico came into the kitchen with a six-month-old baby on his hip, with a head of black curls and golden, long-lashed eyes. And she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

‘Our daughter, you mean?’ Emma teased as she took the baby from him and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek. ‘Thea just knows what she wants.’

‘And right now she wants her mama,’ Nico replied ruefully as Thea settled right down.