Page 170 of Modern Romance June 2025 1-4

‘The results will be ready tomorrow,’ Dr Silver said, placing the buccal swab back in its tube.

Emilio pointedly cleared his throat.

‘Tonight,’ the doctor amended.

‘That’s better.’

The doctor quickly collected his things and left the office. There was nothing left to do now but wait. Yet, Emilio didn’t have the time to sit around waiting for results that could change his entire life. He desperately wanted to get back to the will, but he didn’t want to let Jasmine out of his sight.

And it wasn’t just because he didn’t trust her. That tugging connection between them was still there, and Emilio had to be honest with himself. He didn’t want her to leave for the very same reason that he had wanted to seek her out that morning two months ago when he’d awoken alone.

***

‘You will wait here where I can keep an eye on you for the results,’ Emilio said.

The gall of this man! He was the most overbearing, high-handed ass Jasmine had ever met. Comparing him to the man from the club was like comparing Jekyll with Hyde.

‘I really don’t care what you want, Emilio. I have already made one concession for you.’ True, they hardly knew each other, so demanding a paternity test was sensible…in theory. But the way he had gone about it had made her want to explode. She couldn’t be with him another minute, or she would likely strangle him. She pulled out a business card from her bag and slammed it down on his desk. Infuriatingly, even that hardly seemed to move him. ‘I have a business to run, so I will not be catering to your whims.’

She’d already been through that with Richard. A man who had wanted to control her. Who’d been threatened by her. So much time had been wasted trying to appease him. She wasn’t out to make herself palatable to anyone any longer.

She shrugged her jacket back on and marched to the door, pausing just long enough with a hand on the door handle to fire over her shoulder, ‘You can find me there when you’re ready to stop being an ass. I came here to tell you that we bear a consequence from that night, and I have accomplished that. Goodbye.’

She slammed the door behind her before he even had a chance to respond. She wasn’t interested in anything he had to say. Not until he received those results proving her right.

CHAPTER SIX

It was dark outside,New York lit up like shining jewels on black velvet. The streets snaking along in golds and silvers. Inside, the light over Rachel’s desk had long been switched off; what little leaked from Emilio’s office cast dim shadows.

He was the only one still working on the floor. Not working. No. More like rueing.

Emilio sat with the paternity test result. There was no doubt. He was the baby’s father.

‘Cazzo,’he swore under his breath.

‘One day your impetuousness is going to cost you, and it’s going to cost this family.’

Enzo’s words haunted him. He wondered if his brother would celebrate being right. They were all that was left of the De Luca line and they could barely tolerate each other. The legacy had already been in jeopardy for many years: Enzo would never attempt to marry again because of the mark Emilio had left on him by sleeping with his fiancée. By Emilio’s betrayal. That much was obvious. Emilio himself had no intention of subjecting himself to a path that could only end in rejection and regret.

But now there was an heir—his child, not Enzo’s.

His child.

The word terrified and—to his great surprise—excited him in equal measure. That was ridiculous. He didn’t want children or family.

Didn’t want, or resigned yourself to not having?

Emilio pushed away from his desk and went to stand at the window, unwilling to go down that path. Excited or not, a child born of a one-night stand with a woman he’d picked up at a club would be a scandal he couldn’t afford. A scandal that was entirely his fault. For being impulsive, yet again.

Impulsive, yes, but he was not, had never been, irresponsible. He wouldn’t be the CEO of one of the most respected financial companies in America if he were.

Emilio had taken responsibility for his actions in the past. He had worked so hard to control that impulsivity in him. He’d made drastic changes to his life because he could never allow himself to forget the damage he could do if he let that side of him out. Enzo’s hatred of him would always stand as the proof of that damage. Emilio had used it, used his mistake with Gia, as motivation to act responsibly for the company—to ensure he always took the best decisions for his employees, the legacy and the family.

He would do the same now. He turned around, picked up the manilla folder on the corner of his desk and opened it to view a fact file on Jasmine. As soon as she had left the building, he had called one of his fixers, asking for everything they could find on her. They hadn’t disappointed.

Pacing his office, Emilio read through it: excellent schooling; an impressive scholarship; ownership of a thriving start-up. Its year-on-year growth surprised even Emilio. She was intelligent—but that had been evident from the moment he’d met her, even if they hadn’t been much interested in each other’s intellects at the time. He skimmed the section on her personal life. She had been raised by a single mother, no father in the picture and…

The next line gave him pause.

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