His Merciless Marriage Bargain

“You knew I wouldn’t go without Michael.”

“You didn’t seem to have a problem leaving him here earlier.” He stared down at her, blue eyes snapping fire. “Are you sure you and your sister are not twins?”

He couldn’t have said anything more hurtful if he’d tried. Her eyes smarted and her throat sealed closed.

Giovanni was arrogant and condescending and lacked even the smallest shred of human compassion. Thank God he didn’t intimidate her. She’d worked with dozens of powerful men over the past five years, men who had incredible power and staggering fortunes and egos to match. They all liked to be flattered. They all felt entitled. They all needed to be right. Giovanni was no different. She’d never get what she wanted if she fought him. If she angered him. If she continued to alienate him.

Alienating him would just hurt Michael, and that wouldn’t be fair or right. Juliet had made mistakes. Her life had become such a mess. But Michael wasn’t a mess. Michael was pure and innocent, and that innocence had to be protected. Yes, she’d failed Juliet, but there was no way she’d fail Michael.

And so, even though a dozen different things came to mind, protests and rebukes, in the end her feelings didn’t matter. She didn’t matter. This was about her nephew, who’d been left without a mother or a father and needed someone to champion him. And that someone was her.

“I don’t care what you think of me,” she said unsteadily, “but I do care what you think about Michael. He did not ask to be born. He is innocent in all this. And whether you like it or not, he carries your brother’s name, and DNA, and if I have to go to your court to get him proper child support, I will.”

“I don’t doubt you would, but you’d find that our courts move at a snail’s pace compared to your courts. You could be waiting for six or eight, or even ten years, for any type of legal decision.”