His command? Oh, how she longed to obey…
It’s a trick! she told herself desperately. More bribery. Maximo didn’t care about the longings of her heart. He only cared about seduction—and revenge.
Lifting her chin, she folded her arms.
“You say you want me to have everything. Gee, thanks. How about a grandfather? How about a father for my child?”
He stared down at her for a moment, then coolly sat back in his seat. “If you think Wentworth will ever give you or Chloe the care and respect you deserve, you’re dreaming, Lucia—”
“Call me Lucy!”
“Once he realizes that he’s lost his company’s bid for Ferrazzi SpA, and his secret payout from Giuseppe along with it, he’ll be more determined than ever to hold on to Violetta.” His intense gaze focused on her. “Unless he hears about your fortune. Then he’ll want you. Then he’ll pretend to love you again.”
She shook her head decisively. “I would never take him back in a million years.”
“I believe you. But I couldn’t be sure of that before,” he said quietly. “That’s why I had to marry you before he had the chance.”
For some reason, his simple words stabbed into her. Maximo had only married her for her trust fund, to make sure that no other man had it. Of course! she told herself angrily. How many times did he have to explain it to her?
So why did she keep imagining there was some other reason he’d married her? He claimed to be a coldhearted, unloving bastard, so why had he been so kind to her? Little things. The birthday party for her daughter. The shopping spree in Milan. The night he’d held her when she’d cried over her mother.
If Maximo had married her just to get revenge on her grandfather, why do all those things?
He’d warned her never to love him. So why was he making it nearly impossible not to? Just to get her into bed?
Maybe. So why did she see something beneath his eyes when he looked at her? As if she were more precious to him than gold. As if he’d searched for her his whole life…
“Wentworth will try to get you back,” he said. “When that doesn’t work, he’ll try to get custody of Chloe. Either way, he’ll try to get your fortune. He would step over you both to get his hands on your money.”
“Why are you so scornful?” she whispered, trying desperately to convince herself. “You’re using me for your own selfish reasons, just like he did.”
Maximo’s gaze became as sharp and icy as a blue glacier. “Do not compare us. I’ll never pretend to love you, Lucia. I’ll never lie to you. But I will always take care of you. You have the prenuptial agreement to prove it.”
“Yes. And that’s what I don’t understand!” She shook her head. “Why have you been so good to me? It’s almost enough to make me think…to make me believe…”
That you could love me. But the words were too ridiculous to say aloud. He turned away as his cell phone rang.
“Sì,” he responded tersely into the phone, then, “sì.” He snapped it closed as the limo stopped.
“Wentworth is in there now,” Maximo said, pointing at a luxury hotel. “Violetta came from New York just days ago, but they’re already quarreling. He’s been in the bar for the last hour, drinking as he waits for her to come downstairs.”
The hotel’s doorman opened the passenger door.
“Go,” Maximo said.
She looked back at him. “You’re not coming with me?”
He shook his head. “No,” he said. “First, I want you to see the kind of man he truly is. No good as a father. No good to anyone.”
“Alex will change his mind when he sees the picture of Chloe,” she repeated with more confidence than she felt. “He’ll realize he wants to be her father.”
He gave her a grim smile. “Try it. Without telling him of your fortune, ask him to be her father. See what happens. The bar is directly to the right off the lobby. Go.”
Clutching her handbag to her chest, Lucy stepped out of the limo. The doorman blocked the rain with an umbrella as he escorted her to the main door of the hotel.
Another fancy hotel, she thought dimly, that will change my life forever.
Once she was inside the lobby, she turned right and immediately saw him, the man she’d once loved, sitting behind the elegant greenery at the glossy wood bar. He was bouncing his leg nervously, scowling at the doorway.