One Night: Sizzling Attraction: Married for Amari's Heir / Damaso Claims His Heir / Her Secret, His Duty

But I don’t have it. And so neither will the baby.

She needed the baby to have it. Otherwise, what could she offer? It was either life with the server’s wages, or life that looked a lot like hers had when she’d been growing up. Moving from place to place, running cons.

She didn’t want that for her child. She wanted better. She wanted the best. She wanted to try and figure out how to be a good mother. She wanted to figure out how to be something other than a thief.

It had been nearly thirty seconds since she had dropped her bombshell, and Rocco still hadn’t spoken. Charity didn’t feel obligated to fill the silence. He deserved to feel the same shock she had felt when she had taken the test. When she had seen the little pink lines that had changed everything.

Yes, they had used a condom, but she knew enough to know that they did fail sometimes. And anyway, no amount of arguing that point with the universe would take back what had been done.

Still, she couldn’t help but feel she was being punished for the way she’d handled things. Had she refused him, she would simply be in jail rather than expecting a baby.

That thought almost made her laugh. Just because it was so absurd. Just because she could hardly feel any regrets over sidestepping prison. No matter what else had happened since.

In some ways, she had arrived in a hopeful place about the baby. That this would be a true stepping-stone into something different. Into a different life.

“Was that your way of making an announcement?” Rocco finally spoke, his tone hard.

“I suppose it was. That wasn’t exactly the plan, but then I didn’t expect you to be so horrible. I suppose that was my first mistake. We have met after all.”

“We used protection,” he said, the words cold. Blunt.

“Yes, and I did speak to the universe about that when I realized my period was late. However, it didn’t seem to care.”

“How do I know you didn’t rush out and bed the first man you found after we parted? A little bit of revenge? Trying to pass his baby off as mine?”

Charity embraced the genuine, righteous anger that burned through her. “How dare you? You, who blackmailed me into sex. You took my virginity in payment for money my father stole, money that I never touched.” That much was true. She’d never had her hands on the money for a moment. “You are every inch the villain in this scenario, Rocco Amari. I will not lie down and take these accusations. I will not allow you to stand there looking superior when the simple fact is you all but forced me into having sex with you, and you don’t deserve to comment on my character when you were the one who led things between us.”

Rocco drew back as though he had been slapped. But when he recovered, she could feel the rage radiating from him in waves. “Perhaps I did some of those things. But I did not force you into bed. Do not deny that in the end you begged for me. You said yes. Yes please. And I gave you what you wanted.”

She looked away, her cheeks heating. “I was a virgin. It was never going to take much to make me lose my head. I wouldn’t let it go to your ego.” She needed him to feel responsible. And she needed him to feel annoyed. So he would get rid of her, but also offer her money.

“You cannot play the victim now. I would never have gone so far with you had you not asked.”

“Are you honestly going to say that you didn’t intend for it to end in sex?”

He paused, his dark eyes flat, his jaw clenched tight. “I did not. All I really wanted was for you to beg. But you were much more convincing than I anticipated.”

The admission seemed to cost him, and she had no idea why. If it should hurt anyone to hear that, it was her.

She had overpaid. And now, she would keep on paying.

She gritted her teeth. “Don’t forget you begged, too.”

“I didn’t have to beg for long, did I?”

“I hate you,” she said, and she found she meant every word, even though she was speaking it as part of her role. As part of the indignant, downtrodden waitress who found herself alone and pregnant.

That’s exactly what you are.

She swallowed hard, her throat tightening, genuine emotion overwhelming her. “What have you done to us?” she asked.

“Inexperience will not cover your actions in this. Do not put the blame on me entirely.”

“Oh, you don’t want all the blame? Then perhaps you shouldn’t swan around as though you are the God of the universe. You cannot be both all-powerful and without fault. You threatened me, you made me feel as though I had to fall into line or I would be put in jail. Yes, I acknowledge that in the end I consented. But had I not been coerced in the first place I would never have been in your room. Obviously, I have spent my life staying away from men’s hotel rooms, and yours would have been no exception.”

“Fine. I was an absolute monster. Is that what you want to hear? Does that ease your pain? It shouldn’t, as it doesn’t change the situation.”

“I’m surprised you would admit to the fact that you’re a monster,” she said, anger pouring through her.

“Being considered a nice man has never been a concern of mine. I don’t particularly care whether or not I acted with the highest moral standards. That is not what drives me. I wanted success. I have achieved it. And I will keep it. Everything else is incidental. I will have what’s mine, and that is my utmost concern.”

“I can’t get you your money back. I don’t know where my father is. If I did, count on it, I would be the first person to turn him in. I’m not protecting him. I’m not that self-sacrificial. In fact, I’m not self-sacrificial at all. I slept with you to keep myself out of trouble because you wouldn’t listen to me. I would have turned him in to you a thousand times over to avoid that.” The only problem with turning her father in was that he would talk. And then her proclamations of innocence wouldn’t mean much anymore. Because he would confirm her involvement and she didn’t want that. Even though Rocco didn’t believe her innocence she couldn’t bring herself to confess her guilt, either.

“All of this is beside the point,” he said, waving his hand, as though to brush her concerns out of the air as if they were nothing more important or substantial than cobwebs. “What do you want?”

“I wanted to give you the chance to know about the baby. Because I wanted to give you the chance to make a choice about whether or not you wanted to be in its life.”

He only stared at her, dark eyes flat. “And what part would you expect me to play in the life of a child?”

“The part of father I would imagine, as that is the role you played in its conception.” He wouldn’t accept it. And she knew it. But she had to ask. She’d never known her mother, and her father had been distant. She would give Rocco this chance.

But he would turn it down. And she would be grateful. Because while she needed to give him a chance to be involved with his child, the last thing she wanted was for him to have any involvement with her.

Beyond the financial support he would no doubt offer, and which she and her baby would desperately need.

“I would not know the first thing about being a father. I didn’t have one.”

“Well, I don’t have a mother, and yet it seems I’m about to become one. Apparently, lacking a particular parent isn’t an effective form of birth control. Who knew?”

“I do not see why you would want me to participate in the child’s life.”

She was surprised by the depth of anger she felt when he said those words. Surprised by the deep, elemental rage that started down low in her stomach and flowed outward. Because she was only just wrapping her head around this motherhood thing, and that she should have an instinct, of any kind, was shocking. Especially because her ultimate goal was definitely not to have him involved.

But hearing him say it—it affected something in her she hadn’t even known was there. It cut too close to the bone. Too close to her own childhood. So full of indifference, abandonment, regret...

She gritted her teeth. “Then don’t. But you will pay child support. I’m not raising your child in poverty while you eat in fine dining establishments and...and...prop your feet up in your giant Italian villa.”

“I most certainly will pay child support. If it is mine.”

“It is yours. I haven’t been with another man. Ever. My first time was in your godforsaken hotel suite, and it was my only time.” She swallowed hard. “And you know that. I know you do. You, on the other hand, have been with so many women I bet you don’t even know the official number. I made sure to get a panel done when I went in for my blood test to confirm the pregnancy. To make sure that I didn’t catch anything from you.”

His lip curled into a sneer. “I always use protection.”

“And obviously it isn’t always effective.”

His expression went flat again. Unaffected. “Do you need money for medical care?”

She blinked. “I will. Unless I can get on some kind of assistance...”