Page 35 of Hidden Heir, Italian Wife

It was herself she needed to worry about.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Jax was impatientto take Bree and Sofia to Italy, but he had to get through suit fittings and lawyer meetings and obtaining a marriage license first. Then they had the party and the actual wedding and Bree still had doubts about all of this.

In an effort to dispel some of her misgivings, he took them to Eve’s for dinner.

Bree was suspicious. “When your boss wants to meet you away from the office, they usually hand you a box of your stuff from your desk.”

Eve didn’t fire her. She graciously welcomed her to the family, and they made a plan for Bree to work remotely on a very flexible schedule while she got Sofia settled. Eve also introduced Bree to one of Dom’s sisters, Astrid, and her daughter Jade, who was near Sofia’s age, so Sofia would have a friend at the party.

That didn’t do much to ease Bree’s nerves, but Jax realized she was not only preparing to leave her home country with their daughter inside of a week, but had to attend a formal ball where she would be outed as the mother of his child. Plus, her father couldn’t attend their wedding.

“Did he say when his schedule might open up?” Jax asked her.

“It could be months,” Bree said with an unreadable look on her face. Defensive? He wasn’t sure.

All he knew was that he wanted his ring on her finger. That’s where his real impatience stemmed from. Despite the way Bree gave herself up to him in bed—which was indescribably gratifying—she wore a cloak of reserve throughout the day, one that kept him from fully trusting she would go through with the wedding.

Maybe his failed engagement was undermining his confidence in her, but he was still processing the fact she hadn’t tried harder to bring him into Sofia’s life. Now he had this sense of impending doom as he awaited their wedding day. He wouldn’t relax until his marriage was signed, sealed, and decreed.

First, this damned party.

The reception was being held in the ballroom of the WBE Hallmark property, which was across the street from the Visconti Signature. They got ready in the hotel suite.

Melissa came along to help Bree with her hair and makeup. She was spending the evening here at the hotel, enjoying the amenities until it was time to take Sofia home for a last sleepover with Gigi before they left for Italy. Bree would spend the night here with Jax. Tomorrow, they would all convene at his parents’ home, where the immediate family would witness their nuptials.

“I was thinking to surprise Bree by flying us through DC on our way to Italy,” Jax told Melissa while Bree was in the shower. “Do you have her father’s number?”

Melissa’s expression altered slightly, almost imperceptibly, but he’d seen a similar adjustment on Bree’s face often enough to recognize that Melissa was about to demur in some way.

“I don’t, actually.” She lifted the lid off the plate of chicken fingers she’d ordered for Sofia. “Bree has always managed her communications with him herself.”

Always? “How old was she when you divorced?”

She drew a breath that suggested the mere mention of that time was a firm press on a still tender bruise.

“Eight. Once lawyers were involved, he and I stopped speaking. I can’t say it was my finest hour.” She gathered up Sofia’s flyaway curls in an absent, tender way that made him think she wasn’t fully aware she was doing it. “When Bree told me she was pregnant and intended to raise Sofia alone, I knew I bore a lot of responsibility for that decision. But so does he.”

She lifted her gaze to his, letting him see the fine layer of gritty bitterness along with regret. Remorse. But also, a somber warning.

“She’s seen how badly things can turn. She has a right to be afraid that she’s making a wrong choice.”

“But she doesn’t have areason. I won’t give her one.”

“You’d better not,” Melissa said pleasantly, still twirling Sofia’s hair around her fingers. “I’ve learned my lesson about offering second and third chances. You won’t get any.”

Like Bree, she was tall but slender, hardly a threat to him, but he took her very seriously. It would be a grave mistake to get on her wrong side.

She cocked her ear. “I think that’s the hair dryer. I’ll go help Mama with her makeup.” She dropped a kiss on Sofia’s crown. “Come in when you’ve finished eating. I’ll do your hair.”

Sofia nodded and Melissa walked away.

Jax wiped Sofia’s fingers a few minutes later and sent her into the bedroom to join the women. Then he showered and dressed in the spare bedroom before moving to the lounge, where he stood at the bar to drink the scotch he poured himself while he reread the press release that had hit the airwaves.

He hated even the blandest mention of himself in these sorts of things. This one glossed over his obliviousness to having a daughter, merely announcing his sharing of a child with Brielle Hughes and their intention to marry in a private ceremony.

They will reside in Naples, Italy, where Jackson Visconti runs the Euro division.

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