Chapter 16 Giulia #2
He's going to take my baby. He's going to send me away and take my baby and give it to strangers, and I'll never—I'll never get to hold my child, never get to watch it grow, never get to be a mother in any meaningful sense of the word.
"Is that what you want for the mother of your child, Luca?
" My father's voice is soft now, almost gentle, and more cruel than any anger could be.
"Is that the future you're choosing for her?
For your son or daughter?" He pauses. “And of course, for your refusal to follow orders, you will die. But perhaps that’s preferable to a life with a woman who entrapped you and a family who will always remember that you betrayed them.”
I can't look at Luca. I can't bear to see his face as he processes what my father is offering him—a choice that isn't really a choice at all.
Marry me and be bound to a woman he hates for the rest of his life. Or refuse and condemn me to a living hell and himself to death.
The silence stretches out, thick and suffocating.
I can hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears, tears streaming down my face even though I'm trying desperately to hold them back.
This is my fault. All of it. Every terrible consequence, every destroyed life, every shattered dream—it all traces back to my choices, my deception, my desperate attempt to have something for myself before I was locked into a marriage I didn't want.
And now Luca is paying the price for my selfishness. My child will too, if he refuses.
"I'll do it." His voice cuts through the silence like a knife. "I'll marry her."
The words should bring relief, should feel like salvation. But instead, they feel like a death sentence, because I can hear everything he's not saying in the flatness of his tone, see it in the way he still won't look at me, and in the rigid set of his shoulders.
He's not doing this because he wants to. He's doing this because he has no choice.
My father nods, satisfied. "Good. The wedding will be small—immediate family only. No need to make this more of a spectacle than it already is."
"I want one thing understood." Luca's voice is steady now, controlled, and when he finally turns to look at me, his eyes are empty of everything except cold determination. "I'm doing this for the baby. And for my own survival. Not for her."
The words drive the air from my lungs.
"She made her choices," Luca continues, his gaze never leaving mine, making sure I understand exactly what he's saying.
"She lied. She manipulated. She created this entire situation.
And now we both have to live with the consequences.
But I want it clear—I'm not doing this because I love her.
I'm not doing this because I forgive her.
I'm doing this because it's the only option that doesn't end with one or both of us destroyed. "
I can't breathe, can't process the devastation in his words, the way he's looking at me like I'm something toxic he's been forced to swallow.
This is what I wanted. I wanted Luca. I wanted to be with him, to have his child, to build a life together. And I got it.
But it wasn’t supposed to be like this.
"Understood," my father says, and there's something almost approving in his voice, as if Luca's cold rejection of me makes him think better of Luca. "Giulia, do you have anything to say?"
I open my mouth, but no words come out. What is there to say? That I'm sorry? That I never meant for any of this to happen? That I love Luca and I thought—I thought if he just knew, if he just understood how I felt, that maybe he could love me back?
But those words are meaningless now. Worse than meaningless—they're insulting, given what I've done to him.
"No," I finally whisper. "I have nothing to say."
"Then we're done here." My father stands, signaling the end of the conversation.
"Romeo, work with Luca on the wedding arrangements.
I want this handled quickly and quietly.
Giulia, you're confined to the estate until the wedding.
No trips to the city, no visits with friends, no opportunities to cause any more problems. Is that clear? "
"Yes, Papa." The words come out automatically, years of obedience overriding the devastation churning in my gut.
"Good. Now get out. All of you. I have calls to make."
Romeo stands first, his expression unreadable. Luca follows. And I—
I stand on shaking legs and follow them out of the office.
The hallway is empty and cold. Romeo heads toward the front of the house without a word, leaving Luca and me standing in the dim light, the space between us feeling like an unbridgeable chasm.
"Luca—" I start, but he cuts me off with a look so cold it makes me flinch.
"Don't." The word is sharp, final. "Don't try to explain. Don't try to apologize. Don't try to make this into something it's not. We're getting married because we have to, not because we want to. And the sooner you accept that, the easier this will be for both of us."
"I never wanted it to be like this." My voice breaks on the words. "I never wanted to trap you. I never wanted—"
"But you did." He takes a step closer, and I can see the fury simmering beneath his controlled exterior, can see how much effort it's taking him not to explode.
"You trapped me. You lied to me. You manipulated me into falling for someone who doesn't even exist. And now I'm going to spend the rest of my life married to a woman I can't trust, raising a child that was conceived through deception. "
Each word is a knife, cutting deeper than the last. "You got what you wanted, Giulia.
" His voice drops to something that's almost a whisper, something that's somehow more devastating than if he'd been shouting.
"You're going to marry me. You're going to have my child.
You're going to be bound to me for the rest of your life.
Congratulations. I hope it was worth it. "
He turns and walks away, his footsteps echoing down the hallway, leaving me standing alone in the darkness with the weight of what I've done pressing down on me until I can barely stand.
I wanted Luca. I wanted him so desperately that I was willing to lie, to deceive, to create an entire false identity just to be close to him. I wanted him to see me, to choose me, to love me the way I've loved him for years.
I got exactly what I wanted, and it's destroyed us both. I'm going to marry Luca Moretti.
And it's the worst thing that's ever happened to me.