The CEO, the Puppy and Me

Gia had barely slept or eaten since the DNA results had been revealed. And each day the walls of the villa felt as though they were closing in around her. She didn’t belong here. But where did she belong?

Thankfully she had assistants to pick up the slack with the hotel. Right now, it took all her willpower just to take care of herself. She felt like a fraud. She wasn’t Gia Bartolini any longer. But she didn’t know who she was. She was a woman who’d been lied to all of her life. How could her parents have done this to her?

Anger roared through her veins. It wasn’t fair that this life-altering news was tossed in her lap—destroying everything she thought she knew about herself—and her parents weren’t here to explain it to her, to fill in the details.

Bianca had stuck around a couple of days, but last night she had to return to Patazonia as Prince Leo was waiting for her. Their engagement was to be made formal and their wedding date announced for December of that year. It seemed her sister was becoming the queen of planning quick weddings.

Already the mad rush to have a wedding planned by a future princess was dying off now that word was out that Bianca was no longer running the day-to-day operations, but rather overseein

g things from a distance. Gia knew as time went by and her sister’s calendar filled in with royal obligations that Bianca’s visits to the villa would grow farther apart.

Gia was happy for her sister, but sad for herself.

It was though the rug had been pulled out from under her. And she was struggling to regain her balance, because she had nothing to grasp on to. She had no idea who her biological father was or even how to contact him.

Frustration and anger balled up in her gut. The poignant emotions clawed at the back of her throat. And then they erupted in an anguished groan.

She had taken three days to wallow in her pain, but now it was time to do something. Something good must come of this heartbreaking disaster. She refused to think this wasn’t some sort of journey she was meant to go on.

That was it! She was meant to find her biological father. It would be an adventure for both of them. Because surely he didn’t know about her. If he did, she imagined he would have fought to be in her life. That’s what fathers did—looked out for their children. No matter what.

She had to find him. Now. This very moment. Too much time had already passed.

She jumped out of bed. Gia rushed to the shower for the first time in forty-eight hours. She wasn’t going to just let this unknown past swallow her up. She would find the answers she wanted—the answers she needed.

After a quick shower and a moment to run her fingers through her short hair, fixing her pixie hairstyle, she was headed out the door of the guest house where she resided. She was a lady on a mission. She entered the main house and successfully avoided everyone as she took the back stairs to the second floor.

In her parents’ room—the only bedroom she’d yet to convert to a guest room—she began her search. Sure, she and her siblings had been through this room before looking for clues, but she was certain they’d overlooked something. And she wasn’t going to stop until she’d found it.

She started in one corner of the spacious room. No piece of furniture was overlooked. Every nook and cranny was examined. She had no idea how long she’d been searching by the time she’d reached halfway around the room. So far she’d uncovered absolutely nothing...

Creak.

It was the door. Gia inwardly groaned, realizing she’d forgotten to turn the lock.

“Gia?” It was her brother’s voice. “What have you done?”

There was astonishment, surprise and disapproval in his voice. Like he had room to judge her. He had his life just as he’d always known it. He knew who his mother and father were. No one had lied about his birth. He knew that he’d gained his passion for growing grapes from his father.

But what did she have? A bunch of questions? An unknown—unnamed—father? No. Enzo didn’t get to judge what she said and did now.

She straightened, leveled her shoulders and turned to her brother. “I’m looking for answers.”

He stepped farther into the room. “But this?”

So she’d made a little mess. She’d clean it up. She turned to see what he was complaining about. And then she realized it was more than a little mess.

She’d removed every drawer from the dresser and flipped it over to see if there were any pages, documents or scraps of paper taped to the bottom that might point her in the right direction. She’d moved furniture, looking beneath each piece with the flashlight app on her phone as well as searching for loose floorboards where things might be stashed.

So far all she’d succeeded in doing was making a mess. But it wouldn’t stop her. If it took pulling up each and every floorboard or chipping away at any uneven surface on the wall or ceiling, she’d do that too. She wasn’t leaving here without something to point her in the direction of her biological father.

“If you’ve come here to stop me,” she said, “you can just turn around and leave.”

Enzo didn’t say a word at first. “I didn’t come to stop you. I came to help you.”

Disbelief quickly followed by a rush of love flooded her system. “You did?”

He nodded. “I’d be doing the exact same thing if I were you. Just tell me where to start.”