Page 41 of Secret Match
He believed her. They were different in so many ways. If she needed to see that this was a closed book in his past, he would prove it.
Chapter 15
Kiwi and Gio stepped into the fancy hotel and the manager’s face was white as a ghost. She blinked and realized that either the manager recognized Gio from the tape or they knew each other. Kiwi’s arms grew goosebumps as the manager pointed them toward the penthouse.
She kept her lips sealed as they rode up the elevator but her skin buzzed with awareness.
Something had happened.
She had no reason to say anything as the lobby seemed normal, except for the manager. So she stayed quiet, listening to opera in the background of the elevator.
As they reached the top and exited to the hall, lights flashed inside the hotel door and yellow tape blocked their path. He knocked and a female officer opened and asked, “Are you Giorgio Morgan?”
“Yes.” Gio straightened, his face drawn.
The officer nodded at him and checked his identification as she said, “You were fast. We just called your estate.”
They’d called? This was a crime scene. And last time Kiwi had checked, they didn’t invite people to crime scenes. She inched backward but Gio stepped forward and asked, “What’s going on?”
A man in a simple black suit wearing a hat like a detective in one of those old movies stepped out of the apartment. He even tipped the brim before he grumbled out his question, “How do you know the victim?”
Strange. Kiwi froze and hoped to get out of the crime scene fast. Without thinking, she quickly tugged on Gio’s arm and said, “I don’t. My boyfriend did though and the officer outside said he’d been called?”
“The social worker must have called for you,” the detective said.
Another flash of light from a police photographer washed into the room from under the bedroom door of the suite and this time a child’s cry pierced the air.
Instantly Kiwi wanted to comfort whatever baby she heard.
Gio lowered his voice. “Is Piper dead?”
The detective folded his hands and stared at Gio’s profile like he was memorizing it as he said, “Yes, but her son is still here. The social workers and psychologists have been with the baby for a while now discussing the case. Can I see your identification sir?”
Kiwi wanted to disappear. This wasn’t good. She hated being near the police, but at the same time, she saw Gio’s face go white as he asked, “Son?”
Gio took out his wallet and his hands shook. “Good,” the detective said. “You are Giorgio Morgan?”
A child? Seriously? Piper must have put out the sex tape because she wanted the world to know her son existed with Gio.
Kiwi held her stomach to protect her own baby girl.
Gio handed his driver’s license to the detective. “Yes.”
The man read it closely and then waved for them to pass the yellow line. “Then you’re listed as next of kin for the boy and on the birth certificate. As your father generously donated to our department for years, the social workers probably thought it best to call you.”
“I’ll be sure to repeat my father’s generosity,” Gio said while the two of them walked inside the hotel suite.
The baby cried. Kiwi’s heart constricted as the detective and Gio spoke. Gio and the officer were talking about a payoff, right? She backed up. This wasn’t how law and order was supposed to work, but then again, she wasn’t born with a father who paid off police departments.
Kiwi’s gaze went to the kitchen counter and she saw the legal paper with Giorgio Morgan listed as the father. She picked it up and handed it to him. “Gio, the birth certificate says you’re his father.”
Gio pressed his hand against his heart as he met her gaze. Then he turned toward the detective and asked him, “It’s true? I have a son?”
“Yes.” The man pointed toward the door to the bedroom.
Gio walked toward her and said, “Kiwi, I didn’t know. I wish she’d told me.”
Without a thought she reached out and hugged him. “That’s obvious from your face.” She let him go as a baby’s cry pierced the air. “And it’s clear the boy has been through something traumatic. How did she die?”
