Caught in semisleep, Lilli struggled to open her eyes. They felt as if someone had placed sandbags on top of them. She forced them to open. It took several minutes for her to become conscious.
Her first thought was of David. Her second was of Max. She looked beside her on the bed to find her husband gone. Type-A overachiever, she thought then glanced at the clock—8:00 a.m. She immediately pushed aside the covers and headed for the nursery. No one had called her, she reminded herself, as she stepped inside to find David being fed by Maria.
The nanny smiled. “He’s much better this morning. Just a little cranky. A few more doses of his medication and he will be good as new.”
David was focused on his bottle, clearly intent on getting every last drop. Lilli gave a sigh of relief. “Thank you for getting up with him.”
“My pleasure,” Maria said. “Mister De Luca is downstairs. He asked for you to go see him after you wake up.”
“He’s not at work?” Lilli asked, surprised.
Maria shook her head. “No. He’s downstairs.”
“Thank you again,” Lilli said and returned to the bedroom to throw on some clothes, wash her face and put on some concealer. She didn’t want to make a practice of looking like a hag first thing in the morning.
She went downstairs and spotted him on the patio. He sat on one of the plush chairs, staring at the fountain next to the Jacuzzi. Admiring his strong profile, she felt a rush of love. She gave herself a mental pinch. This was her husband.
She walked toward him and smiled. “Good morning, Mr. Amazing.” She shook her head. “I don’t see how you can go to sleep after I do, and still get up earlier than I do.”
He met her gaze, but his eyes were cold. “I have things on my mind.” He set his coffee cup on the patio table. “I saw David’s medical file at the hospital last night.”
“Is he okay? Is there something wrong that they didn’t tell us?”
He lifted his hand. “No, no. Not that. What I noticed was David’s blood type. It didn’t match yours.”
Max watched her carefully.
“Then it must match Tony’s,” she said, as if she were certain.
Feeling his gut begin to twist and turn, he shook his head. “No, it doesn’t.”
Lilli frowned. “It has to. There must be some mistake.”
Max sat silently for a long moment. Awed by her ability to lie without so much as a twitch, he continued to study her. “There’s no mistake, Lilli. David’s blood type doesn’t match Tony’s. Tony cannot be David’s biological father.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “He is,” she said her voice rising. “There’s no other possibility. There’s no—”
“Are you sure?” Max asked. “Who else did you have sex with while you were seeing my brother?”
Her mouth dropped wide in horror. “No one, I mean—” She broke off. “I wouldn’t—”
She was still sticking to her story, but he was beginning to see some cracks in her composure. “Funny, that’s what I thought, too.”
“No, really,” she said, knitting her fingers together. “I didn’t have sex with anyone else. Tony has to be David’s biological father. There’s no other possibility,” she said. “There was no one else. How could it be anyone else?”
Max stared at her in silence. Disappointment stabbed at him. Some part of him had held out hope that she would be honest with him. That she would give him that much.
Panic shot across her face and she ran to him. “You must believe me. You must. That blood test is wrong. It has to be. It has to—”
He stepped aside before she could touch him. He didn’t want her to touch him. He didn’t want his body to betray him. There was only one explanation for her hysteria. She had indeed lied to him and she was terrified of losing her meal ticket.
“I need to leave,” he said and headed for the door.
“Max,” she called after him, her voice full of tears and desperation.
But Max kept on walking.
Watching him leave, Lilli felt her throat and chest close so tight she could hardly breathe. He didn’t believe her. He thought she had deceived him. Her heart died a little with each step he took away from her.
She sank into her chair, feeling as if she were going to splinter into a million pieces. How had this happened? What had happened? Who had done this to her?
Her mind reeled and she tried in vain to remember more details of that last fateful night with Tony. It had been hard enough for her to deal with the idea of Tony taking advantage of her, but knowing some anonymous faceless monster had done this to her made her feel more victimized than ever.
How could Max believe her when she couldn’t believe it herself? And now he hated her. She’d read it on his face as clear as the writing on their prenup, on their marriage certificate and on the adoption papers.
She closed her eyes and felt her stomach and chest twist so hard she feared she would get sick. She broke into a cold sweat. Her mind raced. If he hated her, then how much more would he hate David?
Her first instinct was to leave. To get as far away from Max and this house as she could.
But why? She had done nothing to be ashamed of. She was the victim.
But she wouldn’t be the victim any longer.
All day at work, Max tried to wrap his mind around the idea that Lilli had deliberately deceived him. But as his anger had cooled, he had trouble believing it. If she was acting, she could win an Academy Award.
She’d been stunned when he’d confronted her, certain there’d been a mistake. Her face had been full of confusion, horror and disbelief. Everything he’d been feeling.
If she’d truly been after his money, wouldn’t she have insisted on more in the prenup agreement? He sat in his office, gazing blindly at the mountains in the distance. None of this added up. She had looked at him in complete disbelief when he told her Tony couldn’t be David’s father.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he knew what the only explanation could be. Tony had not taken advantage of Lilli that night she’d been drugged. Some other man—some perverted stranger—had violated her. The only consolation he could find was that at least Lilli had no memory of the event.
He thought of little David and felt a surge of protectiveness. The baby was his. In every way that mattered. That child had burrowed into Max’s heart so deeply he’d never be able to extricate him. Nor would he ever want to.
And Lilli. Max took a deep breath.
They’d made irrevocable vows to one another. He’d sworn to care for David as if he were his own. Now that the harsh emotions of the moment had passed, he knew he needed to go to her again. This time, he would listen.
After Lilli brought David back from his stroll, she rocked him for a long time. His soft warm body and sweetness were the only thing that reminded her she was alive. Setting him into his crib, she bent over to kiss his forehead and stared at him for a long while.
Softly closing the door to the nursery, she walked downstairs. Halfway down the steps, she heard a sound and saw Max standing just inside the front door. Her breath just stopped. She stared at him for a full moment, wondering if he was real.
“We need to talk,” he said.
Her heart squeezing tight with dread, she followed him out onto the patio. The sunny afternoon provided a stark contrast to the desperation she felt inside her. She swallowed over a lump in her throat. “I understand if you want David and me to leave. I don’t expect your support, especially now.”
He held up his hand. “Lilli, I’m sorry I jumped to so many conclusions. I can guess what happened.”
She closed her eyes. She couldn’t look at him as she recalled that terrible night she’d tried to forget. “Like I told you before, I told Tony I wanted to leave that night. He begged me to stay for just one more song, one more drink. I ordered a soda. I remember feeling dizzy, then nothing…until I woke up hours later in the back room of the club. I could tell something had happened,” she said in a halting voice. “Tony was passed out next to the door. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I got home and sat under the shower until the water turned cold.” Opening her eyes, she shook her head, her tight throat reducing her voice to a whisper. “I’m so sorry, Max, but I swear I didn’t know. I don’t remember anything. And now there’s this image of a faceless monster—”
“That’s enough.” He moved toward her and wrapped his arms around her. “No more,” he said. “You’ve been through enough.”
Lilli was afraid to believe her ears. Yet his strength surrounded her. His warmth, the scent she knew and loved. Could it be real?
Swiping at her tears, she cautiously searched his face. What she saw there almost made her knees buckle in relief. He believed her. She could see it clear as the sunlight. “You believe me, don’t you?”
He nodded. “Yes, I do. I should have given you a chance to explain, but—”
She sniffed. “You thought you were looking after your brother’s child and—” She lifted her shoulders. “And you’re not.” She took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. “If you want David and me to leave, we will.”
“No,” he said, the word as hard as steel. “I want you and David to stay. You two belong to me.”
Lilli felt a surge of relief, but had to make sure. “But won’t you resent us? Won’t you feel as if we’re a burden that’s been pushed on you?”
He shook his head. “I chose to marry you. I chose to adopt David. None of that has changed.” He paused, slicing his hand through his hair. “The only thing that has changed is that now I know how vital you are to me, to my life. I never thought this would happen to me, but I love you. I don’t want to live without you. Either of you.”
Lilli felt as if the room turned upside down and this time her knees did buckle. Max caught her against him, sank into a chair and pulled her onto his lap. She lifted her trembling hands to his hard, but precious face. “I thought I was going to be all alone in my feelings. Loving you, but never having your love.”