Page 96 of His Vicious Desire

A boy, I can’t even get this right.

Suddenly, I feel arms around my shoulders.For a moment, I hope and pray it’s Sandro, but it’s Carina.Her support after everything I did to her is completely undeserved.Which makes me cry harder.

She doesn’t try to hush me, simply lets me cry until I can’t anymore.

“Do you want to talk about it?”Carina asks.

I shake my head.She doesn’t need to hear me crying anymore.“It’s my own fault.I don’t…I messed up.”

“In a relationship, there are two people.I’m guessing you aren’t the only one thinking that right now.Especially when I wasn’t surprised at all when Sandro told me you showed up at his office pregnant.Gaetano took his eyes off you at the wedding, maybe a handful of times.”

“Not just with him.You.I’m sorry?—”

“Don’t be.I get it.You were losing the only person in your life who loved you unconditionally.Then you found out there were conditions and rules where there never were.It’s completely understandable you hit out at me since you couldn’t hit out at Sandro.”She hands me another tissue.

How little she knows.There were always conditions to Sandro’s love.Always rules I had to follow to be rewarded with his love and attention.It’s sweet the way she thinks differently though.She was exactly the way she appears, no hidden motivations—I’ve forgotten how that could be.“No wonder he fell in love with you.”

Her shock is clear.

Now I’m shocked.“Um, I thought you knew already.It’s why I hated and resented you.In addition to all the other stuff you said.He went to Chicago with a stiff upper lip and his teeth clenched over what he had to do.When he came back he wouldn’t stop talking about you.Carina this, Carina that, you’re going to love Carina—he made it sound like it wasn’t an option.”

Eyes wide, she shakes her head.

“He chewed me out for the ring I picked out.And I might have said some things about how you…have curves in all the right places.I’ve never seen him so angry before.Not at anyone, but especially not me.And you get here and you looked through him, hiding in your room and him hiding in work.I was so angry for you not loving him, caring for him the way he did you.But I see now you didn’t realize.I do have to say I’m sorry.Thank you for understanding.”

“You’re welcome.I have a big sister too.I’m not sure I would have made it to this age without her.”She shrugs.

My stomach growls, god how embarrassing.

Carina smiles.“Want to have a late lunch with me?I’m hungry too.”

“Sounds good.”

Since she still doesn’t know Vegas well, I direct the driver to a great place off the strip.During lunch, she tries to talk me into seeing her therapist.I recoil at the card she tries to give me.I’m not going to add to the problems I’ve already put on Gaetano and Sandro.I take the card, more to end the conversation than anything.

I try not to be jealous that she’s having the girl Gaetano wanted.Although I’m not surprised, the way she is, that Sandro wants a girl.

Carina is as cool as I thought she was.Another thing to show me that I didn’t know what I was talking about.While I’m still not happy she ran away from Sandro, what’s done is done.If Sandro can forgive her, so can I.

Now that I know it’s a boy, I want to grab some things to decorate the nursery and direct the driver to the Fantastic Indoor Swap Meet.

I’m filling up my cart when she stops me.“Hey, maybe you can help me.For Sandro’s birthday tomorrow, what can I get him?I finally figured out his favorite would be chocolate cake for his birthday cake so the to-die-for pastry place in the hotel is making it as we speak.But other than that, the man is driving me crazy as far as gifts go.”

“That’s right, it is his birthday tomorrow.”He stopped spending his birthday with me when I was thirteen.Up until then, I would always get him a cake and a present, and we’d have dinner together.But that year, he forgot, Luca took him out.He didn’t come home before I went to school.After that, I would get him a cupcake and a present, sometimes he remembered, sometimes I gave it to him the next day.

“Hm, he’s not into birthdays.He’s also an experiences kind of person, stuff you can’t get in a store.He said one time, nothing truly worth owning can be bought.”

When the driver pulls behind my car in the parking lot at the doctor’s office, Carina sticks a finger in my face.“You’re going to call me and we’ll have lunch.”

I can’t help laughing.“Yes, I’ll call you.”

Gaetano

When she should be back for the appointment, I check the cameras in the house.She’s not there.Bringing up her location, I see she’s still at the doctor’s office.Is she all right?Is the baby all right?Shit.This isn’t about finding out if it’s a boy, or a girl.It’s the first time they’re getting an image of the baby.What if there are issues with the baby?

Fuck.I check her location and see she’s moving, and the relief has my knees weak.Fuck this, I shut down and warn Natasha that I’m heading home to check on Bianca.

I’m waiting for hours, until I’m about to fucking lose my mind and go out and find her.As I’m getting dressed to go out again, she enters the house.

---