Bound to the Tuscan Billionaire

‘And when she died?’ Cass prompted gently.

‘I was scavenging in bins outside restaurants for our food by that time, and it was a chef who took pity on me. He brought me into the warmth of his kitchen, cleaned me up and taught me how to cook. When I was orphaned he introduced me to the local priest who found me a place in a children’s home and made sure I was educated. Education and a safe roof over my head proved to be the key to everything I am today. And in answer to your question, I don’t have anything noble to offer by way of an explanation. I hated my mother for what she had done.’

‘What happened to change your mind?’

He paused a moment and then he huffed an unsmiling laugh. ‘A scarf,’ he revealed with an incredulous shrug. ‘It was when I was walking away from the hospital after you had given birth that I remembered the weather was very similar to the night my mother and I were thrown out on the street. I remembered shivering, and my mother taking off her scarf to tie it around my neck. So she did care for me...’

‘Of course she did.’ Reaching out impulsively, Cass put her arms around Marco to draw him close. ‘Her life must have been a black pit of misery and she had no one to help her climb out.’

Marco lifted his dark stare to hers. ‘It took the birth of a baby for me to remember what my mother did for me that night, and then I remembered all the other little things she’d done before she became too sick to do anything.’

‘But you have remembered,’ Cass pointed out. ‘Learning to love again is a slow, risky business Marco.’

‘As you should know,’ he murmured, brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. ‘I wish you’d rest,’ he murmured. ‘You’ll need all your strength to look after our son.’

Hearing Marco refer to our son sounded so good, but she needed more from him before she could be sure that he had put the past behind him. ‘And you, Marco? What about you?’

‘What about me?’

He would never admit to any weakness, she knew that. ‘I’ve always believed that admitting weakness is a sign of strength. You’ve helped me to understand you. And you’re doing everything you can to help me and our son, which tells me that you are reconciled with the past, but you haven’t recognised that fact yet.’

‘I can’t just turn on a switch and make everything right.’

‘But you can take one step at a time—as you have already done, and as you are doing, but now I need a commitment from you, going forward, or you will have to leave.’

She paused to give that time to sink in.

‘You’re throwing me out?’ he demanded incredulously.

‘To a stranger this might look like the traditional family scene, with all of us snug in our tiny house, but that’s all it is, Marco—a scene, and I need more from you than that. We need a plan. Luca needs security, and so do I. And before I make any plan I have to know if we’re going forward together or separately as individuals. We’ve talked about the past, and now we have to talk about the future.’

‘What do you want me to say?’

She felt a cold chill of fear, knowing that Marco had always been able to go so far but no further, and she couldn’t risk him slipping back into his cold-hearted past now they had Luca to consider. ‘You’re not the only one risking your heart here. I am too, but more importantly so is our son. And if you’re serious about not wanting history to repeat itself, you need to think about your place in Luca’s life, because I won’t allow you to step in and out of it on a whim.’

She felt desperately sorry for Marco after what he’d told her, but she had a child to think about now. ‘Luca’s birth has changed you, but I need to be sure of you, Marco. Luca needs to be sure of you.’

‘You can’t stop me seeing him.’

Marco stood, and he towered over her in a menacing reminder of the power he wielded. ‘What’s to stop me taking him with me right now?’

‘I will,’ she said, standing to bar Marco’s way to his son.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

‘BE REASONABLE, CASSANDRA. Let me go to my son.’

‘No. You can’t have it all, Marco,’ she said, standing at the foot of the stairs. ‘You think everyone wants you for the basest of reasons, even the mother of your son. If you think your worth lies solely in your money and power, then all I can say is that you must have a very low opinion of yourself.’