Page 1 of A Baby Scandal in Italy

CHAPTER ONE

THISWASTHEbig one. The contract that was guaranteed to show his detractors he was a worthy successor to his father. Rafa Vieri permitted himself a brief smile of satisfaction as he contemplated the business deal he was about to finalise that would cement Vieri Azioni’s position as the largest financial holding company in Europe.

He looked around at VA’s board members seated at the polished mahogany table. There was a palpable air of excitement and expectation in the boardroom. The white-haired man sitting opposite Rafa was Carlo Landini, who was the head of Italy’s most prestigious private bank, Banca Landini. Rafa had used his considerable charm and persuasive powers to convince Carlo to sell a controlling stake in his bank to Vieri Azioni. Banca Landini would continue to operate under its own executive management team, while its assets were protected, and Vieri Azioni would profit hugely from the sound investment.

A few of VA’s directors had been doubtful about Rafa’s suitability for the joint roles of chairman and CEO following the unexpected death of his father two months ago, pointing to his playboy reputation and the messy divorce from his ex-wife which had been played out in the public eye. Rafa had been a paragon of virtue lately in an effort to impress the board.

Just as importantly he had needed to show Carlo Landini that he’d given up the celebrity lifestyle he had led when he’d been a professional basketball player in America before returning to Italy eighteen months ago to utilise his MBA and work alongside his father at Vieri Azioni.

Rafa knew that Carlo had hoped to pass Banco Landini down to his only son—but Patrizio’s body had been found on his yacht in the Bahamas amid rumours that he’d died from an overdose of cocaine. The scandal had been hushed up, but Patrizio’s death had left Carlo Landini without a successor. Perhaps unsurprisingly, after the problems with his son, Carlo did not want a whiff of scandal to be associated with his family’s centuries-old bank.

Rafa called the meeting to order. ‘Are you ready to proceed?’ he asked Carlo.

The older man nodded. ‘I am ready to sign the deal. You have convinced me, Rafa, that Banca Landini will be safely and successfully managed by Vieri Azioni under your leadership.’

Carlo picked up a pen, but he paused with his hand poised above the document on the table in front of him when the boardroom door flew open.

What the hell?Rafa jerked his head towards the source of the disturbance and stared at the young woman who had burst into the room. His confusion quickly turned to anger. He had instructed his PA that the only reason for the meeting to be interrupted would be if the building were burning down.

The woman froze like a rabbit caught in car headlights when every pair of eyes in the boardroom focused on her. The most noticeable thing about her was her bright pink hair, which clashed violently with her orange tee shirt. Her jeans were ripped at the knees and, to complete the bizarre spectacle, she had a baby in a carrier strapped to her front. All that was visible of the child was a tuft of dark hair and two chubby legs poking out of the bottom of the carrier.

Memories of Lola as a baby flashed into Rafa’s mind and his gut twisted. He had been captivated from the moment he had held her in his arms. His princess, his little girl—or so he had believed until his lying, cheating ex-wife had blown his world apart. With a ruthlessness that had made him a champion on the basketball court, and more recently had earned him a reputation as a take-no-prisoners business tycoon, Rafa shoved his past back into a box marked ‘do not open’.

He stood up. ‘My apologies for the interruption,’ he said smoothly to Carlo Landini, disguising his frustration when the deal had been so close to completion.

Rafa’s usually unflappable personal assistant hurried into the room. ‘Miss Bennett, this is a private meeting. You must leave immediately.’ The PA spoke in English to the woman whose garish hair and clothes jarred in the room full of grey-suited businessmen.

‘Giulia,cosa sta succedendo?’What is going on?Rafa demanded furiously.

‘I’m sorry.’ The PA sounded rattled. ‘I explained to Miss Bennett that you were unavailable to see her. Shall I call security?’

‘No. You can’t throw me out.’ The woman with the baby ran across the room and halted in front of Rafa. ‘Rafael Vieri, I’d like you to meet your son.’

Ivy heard a collective gasp of shock from around the room. She had hoped to speak to Bertie’s father in private, but she’d panicked at the prospect of being bundled out of the boardroom by a security guard and blurted out her announcement.

‘Is this some sort of joke?’ Rafael Vieri’s cold voice sent an ice cube slithering down Ivy’s spine. She had discovered, when she’d researched him on the Internet, that he was sometimes known as Rafa, and he was a former international basketball superstar and a notorious playboy.

‘It’s certainly not a joke.’ She was angry that he was acting as though he was shocked. After all, her sister had written and informed him that he was the father of her child, but he had not responded. Gemma hadn’t told Ivy much about the man she’d had a brief affair with, which had been odd, because they had always confided in each other. All Gemma had said was that Rafael Vieri was the CEO of a financial company in Rome called Vieri Azioni.

Ivy had felt apprehensive about how Rafa would react to her bringing Bertie to Italy. But what else could she have done, now that Gemma was dead? Grief clutched at her heart when she thought of her sister. Technically, they had been half-sisters, and shared the same father, but despite a ten-year age gap they’d always been close.

Gemma had been a confidante and best friend to Ivy after her parents had split up and her mum’s complicated love-life had meant she’d had little time for her daughter. Now Ivy was Bertie’s legal guardian and her final words to her sister had been a promise to take the baby to meet his father.

The receptionist behind the front desk had been dealing with someone else and hadn’t glanced at Ivy when she’d arrived at Vieri Azioni’s headquarters. But Rafa Vieri hadn’t been in the CEO’s office, and she’d been about to return to the lift when she’d heard voices from behind a door further along the corridor.

An elegant woman had emerged from the room and told her that Signor Vieri was busy. Ivy had recognised her voice as the woman she’d spoken to on the phone when she had called to try to make an appointment with Rafa. ‘I remember I spoke to you a few days ago, Miss Bennett,’ his PA had said. ‘But you refused to say why you wanted to see Signor Vieri.’

At that moment, the PA’s phone had rung, and while she’d been distracted Ivy had seized her chance and darted into the boardroom.

Now she felt uncomfortable that she was the focus of curiosity from everyone in the room, although only one man held her attention. Rafa Vieri was looking at her as though he could not quite believe what he was seeing. It was her pink hair, Ivy supposed. On a dismal, wet day in England, she’d impulsively dyed her hair bubblegum-pink to cheer herself up.

She flushed when she saw him glance at her old jeans and trainers. Three months ago her life had changed irredeemably when she’d become responsible for her baby half-nephew, and since then she hadn’t had the time or energy to think about herself. Every morning she pulled on her jeans and got on with the job of caring for Bertie, and most nights she cried herself to sleep grieving for Gemma.

Rafa’s online profile stated that he was six-foot-four. His height hadn’t been exceptional when he’d played in the American professional basketball league, where some of the players were seven feet tall, but he towered over Ivy, and she had to tilt her head to look at his face. Photos of him on social media did not do justice to his stunningly handsome features. In those pictures, his mouth had invariably been curved in a wickedly sexy smile, and the gleam of sensual promise in his grey eyes had made Ivy understand why Gemma had been swept off her feet by him.

In the flesh, Rafa was even more gorgeous, more compelling, moreeverything, despite the fact that he was not smiling and his eyes were as hard and uncompromising as steel. Ivy’s body responded to the irresistible pull of his magnetism. Her skin felt too tight, and heat radiated from her central core in a surge of sexual awareness that confused and horrified her. How could she be attracted to the father of her dead sister’s baby? It waswrong!

She exhaled slowly when Rafa released her from his penetrating stare. He looked across the room as an older man, who had been sitting at the table, stood up.

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