Page 4 of The Roman's Woman (A Singular Obsession)

Getting down to the center of the ballroom was easier said than done. Twice he was stopped by acquaintances eager to network. With poorly concealed impatience, he dismissed them as quickly as he could. When he had finally broken away, there was no sign of Dr. Márquez. He glanced up at the balcony where his friend was obviously trying to stop laughing. Glowering, Gio waved, and Charles pointed at the main ballroom doors.

He swore under his breath and hurried out in pursuit. After checking the richly appointed hotel lobby for white satin and not finding it, he shot to the door and scanned the sidewalk outside. There was no sign of the siren.

“Merda!” he vented, startling a well-dressed older couple he hadn’t noticed next to him.

Embarrassed, he apologized profusely before going back inside. Missing Sophia Márquez tonight was a disappointment, but he knew her name and where she worked. There would be another chance to meet her. As an important donor, it wasn’t out of the question for him to set up an inspection of the lab where she worked.

The grant he’d awarded her was large enough to guarantee she had to meet him personally, maybe even take him out to dinner if he hinted at it. And her laboratory was a short flight away, not far from where his best friend Alex’s wife Elynn worked. Placated by the thought of visiting Alex againand meetingthe doctor, he headed back inside.

A few hours later, he was home in his city penthouse. Sophia Márquez’s bio was open on his laptop, along with several tabs featuring some flattering profiles on her various research projects. There was no mention of a spouse in any of it, but that was no guarantee there wasn’t one. On impulse, he shot off an email to Enzo, his head of security.

A little more information on the good doctor couldn’t hurt. At least he’d know whether or not there was any point in indulging his sudden and unexpected crush.

Chapter 2

Three Days Later

Gio resisted the urge to throw the phone across the room.

“You can’t be serious,” he ground out in Italian, pacing his office in the gym shorts he’d been forced to change into.

Across the line, his father sighed, his voice tired but inflexible. “It’s not Lucca’s fault. He’s young and easily led.”

“I don’t care about that. If he doesn’t understand the concept of family loyalty, he’s out,” Gio finished in a tone of barely restrained anger.

He had never been this close to losing his temper in a long while. He wanted to break something.

“Lucca didn’t know what he was saying. He’s still a child.”

Gio took a deep breath and closed his eyes, but the words still came out clipped and hard. “He’s nineteen, not twelve. That’s old enough to know better. As of this moment, he’s done with the family trust. There won’t be a dime for him. If Aunt Perla wants to keep bailing him out from her share, that’s up to her, but I’m done with him. He was already on probation as far as I was concerned after that fight he started at the club in Palermo.”

Salvatore cleared his throat. “Lucca assured me he didn’t start that fight. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Can’t you forgive and forget? You were young once, too.”

Yes, he had been, but he’d never been stupid. Always the dutiful son, Gio would have swallowed his own tongue before picking a fight with anyone.

“The fact you still believe that shows me how hard you are working at avoiding reality,” he said bluntly. “Lucca started the fight. I spoke to the club’s manager and bouncer personally. He was drunk and belligerent. As for the latest mess, Lucca has been seen with Maria Gianna around town several times in the past week at all the local hotspots. She has him wrapped around her little finger.”

“I’m sure Maria Gianna didn’t ask him to lie,” his father replied. “He became confused and told the tabloid what he thought she would’ve wanted him to say. Everyone is aware that there’s some tension between the two of you. He was probably just trying to impress her and her circle.”

Gio passed a weary hand over his face. His father’s gift for understatement was a special kind of blindness. With a sigh he realized part of this was his own fault. He should have told his father everything, but he was, even after all this time, still trying to protect Maria Gianna. And himself.

There was no getting out of it now. But telling his father he’d been cuckolded wasn’t something he wanted to do over the phone. It would have to wait till he saw him in person.

His cousin’s involvement, however, would end here. The tabloids were spreading Gio’s name everywhere now, thanks to Lucca going on record about Gio’s “cold and forbidding behavior” toward his wife during their short-lived marriage. Now the abuse rumors were gaining ground, and other so-called friends and strangers were chiming in with their two cents.Gossip mongerers.

“I don’t care who Lucca was trying to impress. He barely even knew Maria Gianna back then. He came to see us once the entire time we were married. And because he’s talking out of his ass, I’m getting dragged through the mud. Lucca is cut off. That’s my final word.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Enzo come in while his father tried to reason with him. He waved his head of security to sit down.

“Can’t you sit down with Lucca and explain to him why you’re upset?”

Gio ground his teeth before answering. “If he doesn’t know already then he’s an idiot. Tell him he just pissed away his inheritance and that there will be a lawsuit. If he doesn’t want to be added to my libel suit, tell him to keep his mouth shut from now on. And to go back to school. His mother is probably beside herself since he quit.”

At Enzo’s raised eyebrow, he wrapped up his call. “I’m going to come see you this weekend. We need to have a long talk, all right?”

“Si,” his father agreed, clearly exhausted. “I love you,mi figlio.”

“I love you, tooPapà,” he said, a little flatly, before hanging up.

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