The Italian's Unexpected Heir

Yet, when he opened his mouth those words he’d planned...well, they’d gotten all jumbled up somewhere between his brain and his tongue. And maybe he had rushed things a bit with that proposal. But she was being stubborn and he’d grown more nervous with each passing moment.

He knew she loved the estate—enough to wage a campaign to stop him from selling it. So the only reason he could come up with for her to turn him down was that she didn’t love him. Maybe she cared about him as a friend, but she couldn’t see him as anything more than that—

“Enzo, what’s wrong?”

He didn’t have to lift his head to recognize that voice. It was Bianca. When his gaze rose, he found not one but both sisters staring at him with worry reflected in their eyes.

“Where’s Sylvie?” Gia asked.

“She left.” His voice sounded hollow as he slumped down in a kitchen chair.

“Left?” Bianca said. “I thought you were going to talk to her.”

He lowered his gaze to the tabletop. “I did.”

“And she still left?” Gia pulled out a chair across the table from him.

“She did.”

Bianca sat next to him. “Why didn’t you stop her?”

His gaze jerked up to meet hers. Frustration bunched up in his gut. “Don’t you think I tried? I even told her we should get married.”

Bianca and Gia turned to each other. They didn’t say a word, but they were communicating nonetheless. He hated when they did this and left him out. He had no idea what they were thinking—no, that wasn’t true. He knew what they thought. He screwed this all up. And he couldn’t disagree.

His chair scraped over the slate floor tiles.

“Don’t go.” Bianca stood, as if to follow him.

He shook his head. “I don’t need you to tell me that I’ve made a mess of everything—starting when we were kids.”

“When we were kids?” Bianca sent him a puzzled look.

“What are you talking about?” Gia moved to Bianca’s side.

He hadn’t meant to bring up the past. He’d just been so worked up and the words had come tumbling out. It was a mistake. But how was he going to take it back now that his sisters were laser focused on him?

And then he heard the echo of Sylvie’s voice urging him to open up about the past. She’d told him to be honest with his sisters about everything and trust that they’d make it through another revelation.

But the thought of revealing the secret he’d been keeping more than half his life was daunting. His gut knotted up. What if they never spoke to him again?

“Enzo, talk to us.” Bianca’s voice drew him from his internal debate.

“You better sit down for this,” he said in a resigned tone.

His sisters exchanged worried glances as they took a seat. And then he told them about that long-ago night when he’d overheard his parents’ argument about their mother’s affair. It was a memory he hoped he’d never have to revisit after today.

Silence greeted his confession. And it stretched out into an uncomfortable void.

Enzo shifted in his seat. “I’m really sorry. I’ve messed up big-time.”

Bianca’s fine brows drew together. “You really thought they were talking about you?”

He nodded.

“Is this why you’ve been acting so strange?” Gia asked. “Why you look like you’ve been carrying around the weight of the world?”

He shrugged and then nodded. “I’d put that memory out of my mind. I’d convinced myself it was just a horrible dream. And when you want to believe something enough, it’s pretty easy to do.” He paused and drew in a deep breath. He had one more admission to make. “And then when the journal was found, the memory came back. I... I should have said s