Page 55 of Claimed By Him

“Wait, so she just left the house on her own? Why?”

Antonio’s black hair flopped over his forehead, and he combed it back with his fingers. He looked a little worse for wear. “She’s been through a lot, man.” He looked at the floor. “When did you get back?”

“Last night. What’s Fiona been through?” I looked around the waiting room. “Where’s Marchesi?”

Antonio chuckled darkly. “You’ve missed a lot. Marchesi had a stroke a month ago. He’s gone.”

“Jesus.” I stood up and wiped my hand over my face. So, Fiona was alone, sad, and dealing with pregnancy while I was fucking fishing. “I go away for a couple of months…” I murmured to myself and shook my head. Antonio smiled and stood up to grab my shoulder.

“Did you at least clear your head like you wanted to?”

Guilt washed over me. “Yes. I did.”

Antonio was one of the guys I spoke to before leaving. We’d become partners over the last few years, always working together to make sure that Romano and Moretti business ran in sync with each other. It was, after all, part of the reason our fathers arranged a marriage between our siblings. We were, therefore, family, and Antonio was supportive when I told him about my decision to get out of town, especially since I’d just wrapped up the whole Mr. Lovell issue at that point.

But in hindsight, I felt like I’d let Fiona down, and it ripped my heart nearly out of my chest to know she wanted nothing to do with me now. The way she answered me when I asked her if the baby was mine stayed with me. She didn’t want me around. And it didn’t surprise me.

I waited around for the next few hours but after the baby was born, her nurse let me know that Fiona didn’t want to see anyone other than Antonio and Mia. So, I left again, but this time, I didn’t go far.

23

Fiona

One month later

“Okay, there, there, baby boy.”

I put my gorgeous little son down to sleep and smiled at him for a good 10 minutes without realizing it. I knew that I loved him from the moment he existed, but I never thought I could love him this much. He was my whole world, and suddenly nothing else mattered.

Milan, fashion design, seeing the world, it could all wait. For now, all I wanted was to be with him and hold him all the time. He did end up having Tony’s eyes, and I felt a weird mixture of love and pain whenever he looked up at me.

I still hadn’t told Tony that we had a son together. He was officially the Romano don now, so, good for him. He got what he’d always wanted, what he was so adamant his destiny held for him. He was able to leave town and find himself or whatever the hell that was about, then come back to the city and do exactly what he’d always planned to do. I knew it was wrong of me to keep our son from him but shit… everything felt broken between us.

Meanwhile, my entire life changed, and nothing turned out the way I’d planned. This little bundle of joy was all I had, and I felt too selfish to let Tony have him, too. Not yet. I just needed more time.

Last week, I moved into a new apartment, or technically, Alex’s old Upper Manhattan penthouse that overlooked Central Park. I sat Antonio down and told him this was it; I was about to be 21, had my own child, and a shit ton of money. I promised him I wouldn’t go far, that I wanted my baby to grow up around his family and his cousin, Luca. And besides, I was literally moving onto Moretti territory, so we would be surrounded by his soldiers 24/7.

After probably two hours of talking this over, he eventually softened and told me he would support whatever I chose to do with my life. So, I had an interior designer rehaul the space with vibrant colors that matched all my paintings as well as create a large nursery which was where I stood now.

The doorbell rang, jolting me out of my thoughts.

“That’s weird…” I mumbled. Mia wasn’t supposed to come around today, she was here yesterday. I carefully closed the nursery door and took the baby monitor with me to the front door. Standing on my tippy toes, I looked through the peephole—one of the many conditions Antonio made me promise to if I was going to be living alone. It didn’t really matter anyway because I had a bodyguard posted in the downstairs lobby, acting as the doorman but paid substantially more.

Shit.I gasped and clamped my hand over my mouth. It was Tony.

I wasn’t prepared for this. I knew there was a possibility of him showing up, but I hadn’t considered it might be today. I looked at myself in the hallway mirror. I looked fucking horrible. My hair was unwashed and up in a messy bun, I had no makeup on, and I had tired bags under my eyes. I wore a rose-pink linen dress with buttons down the front, so I had easy access to breastfeed, but there were inevitable stains and what I was pretty sure was milk leaking out of my left nipple.

Oh God no… I didn’t want to open the door like this. It was Tony; I never felt judged by him, but I also wanted to look good if the truth was finally going to come out, and he had to choose if he wanted to be with me or not.

I brushed a few flyaway hairs behind my ears and wiped my tired eyes out. Then, I put my hand on the door handle, and my heart rate picked up. After breathing deeply, I opened the door.

Fuck, Tony was looking great. Staring somberly down at the floor with his hands behind his back, he lifted his dark eyes to me when the door opened.

“Hey, Fi…”

He wore all black as usual but looked way classier than he used to. He had on suit pants and a button-up shirt with leather shoes. His shirt was open at the neck, and his sleeves were rolled up, exposing his forearms. I mean, did he do this on purpose? He looked fucking irresistible.

I brushed my hair behind my ears again, not used to feeling so self-conscious around him.

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