Page 19 of The Baby His Secretary Carries

Then there was a buzz from the table. Her personal phone.

She hurried across and picked it up, shoulders falling in what seemed to be disappointment. Expecting someone else? A sensation like breaking glass struck inside his ears.

“My physician wants me to get some blood work,” she said stiffly. “I’ll ask at the hospital where it would be best to have that done. Let me fix my makeup and we can go.”

CHAPTER FOUR

SASHAANDRAFAELhad been side-struck while driving home from a gala, Molly learned as she surreptitiously scrolled the news on their way to see Otto. Rafael had broken bones and was in surgery. Sasha was still unconscious. Their driver was also listed as critical. They were in a hospital in Rome and all were expected to recover.

She grasped onto that.Expected to recover.

She wished she could go to Rome. So near and yet so far.

Gio’s driver parked, so she put away her phone and dragged on an outward cloak of composure, but she felt as though she was walking through gelatin.

It was absolutely no shock to her that she’d fainted. She had made a life-altering decision when she had offered to become Sasha’s surrogate, but her life kept turning and shaking out into new patterns faster than she could adjust to them.

Valentina was no longer her boss. That job was now Molly’s, but she couldn’t keep it. She was in Italy. Gio’s grandfather thought they were engaged. The parents of the baby she was carrying were gravely injured.

She had accidentally thrown herself into her boss’s arms, twice, and he had basically told her to put it away.

Which was exactly what he ought to say, but she was horribly disappointed and feeling rebuffed.

It ought to be the last thing she was turning over in her mind, but it colored all the rest in bleak shadows. It made her inevitable departure from her job andhimall the more urgent.

Why had she opened herself up that way, revealing her attraction? She could have just shut up and moved on, but no, she’d had to spell out for him that she was having trouble remembering this engagement wasn’t real.

In some ways it felt very real, though. She had come dangerously close to blurting out everything to Gio when he had offered to help her. He had seemed genuinely concerned, but he was only being decent. Indulgent, perhaps, since he wanted her to stick out this job and keep pretending they were engaged.

For a few seconds, however, she had been tempted to spill her guts and lean on the man who was posing as her partner in life. Her person.

That’s not what he was, though. And there was nothing Gio could do to help her. Nothing she could do. There were contingencies in place. The surrogacy agreement had covered many scenarios, including the loss of both parents before the baby’s birth. In that case, Molly had agreed to raise the baby herself, so it could inherit the fortune to which it was entitled.

Such an easy thing to say at the time, believing it would never happen, yet here she was, fearful it might.

No. Sasha and Rafael would recover. They had to. While they did, the very best thing she could do for them was keep their baby healthy.

She wanted to cry, though. She wanted to go to them. To Sasha. She wanted her mother to be here and tell her everything would be fine—even though her mother was a realist who would definitely never make that sort of false promise.

Molly was so wrapped up in her own thoughts, she was barely aware that they were walking into Otto’s suite. It was tastefully decorated, looking more like a hotel than a hospital room. Only his IV and the oxygen tube under his nose indicated he was receiving care.

Gio swore and came up short as another couple straightened from hovering over the bed.

“What are you doing here?” She’d never heard his voice so ugly and cold. His hand on her elbow tightened.

“My father is dying. Where else would I be?” the middle-aged man said.

“You wish that was true, but it’s not.” Gio sounded so hostile, Molly instinctually grasped at his sleeve, subconsciously holding him back from attacking them. “There’s nothing for you to gain here.Leave.”

Were they really his parents? The only thing Molly knew of them was that they were occasionally linked to scandals, like a politician turning up in the wrong bed or a party being busted for rampant drug use. Each time something like that had happened, Valentina would slip away with Gio for a few days. Sometimes there was an announcement that would distance Gio and the Casella Corporation. More often, their chaos was simply swept from the headlines and forgotten.

Curious, she studied the pair, thinking they looked much older than their years. They were dressed well, or rather their clothes were expensive, but worn sloppily. Neither was paunchy, but they both had faces that were well-lined. Not merely sun-weathered or full of laugh lines, but showing miles and miles of a dissolute life. His father’s eyes were sunken, his skin sallow. His mother was probably a natural blonde, given her Icelandic heritage, but her blue eyes were glassy and her hair looked overprocessed and brittle.

When she came forward to try to embrace and kiss her son, Gio recoiled, not allowing her to touch him.

She gave an amused sniff and turned a smile on Molly that was both patronizing and ingratiating.

“Hello. I’m Fridrika, Gio’s mother.” She held out her hand. “This is my husband, Ambrose. And you are?”

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