“Since your hands are full, I’ll program it into your phone for you.”
Somehow, Nina managed to get her phone out of her pack and hand it over to Luciano. He took it and with a sly grin entered his number into her phone but instead of pressing the new contact button he pressed the send button. Luckily his phone was on vibrate. “I messed up. Let me try it again.” This time, he programmed his information into her phone. Luciano had no intention of leaving anything up to the chance. He handed her cell phone back.
Nina started to slowly back away. “I’ve really got to get going. It was nice meeting you, Luciano.”
“You too. I’ll be looking forward to your call soon.”
“After months of dating, he finally invited Nina to my house for dinner so that we could meet. And, to tell me that she was pregnant.”
Most of the anger from Braylee dissipated. “Wow. I don’t know what to say.”
“To say I was shocked was an understatement. He was going to be a father, and I was going to be an uncle. In my mind, we were still a couple of immature guys. How were we going to pull either of the roles off? And, Luciano being Luciano had every intention of marrying her. However, imagine my surprise when Nina Jones walked through the door and I saw her face. It was the exact same face of the woman I’d been seeing for months.”
The story was too far-fetched to believe. “Gina was seeing and sleeping with both of you at the same time?”
“I knew her as Gina Lee and Luciano knew her as Nina Jones. I was in shock. Add to it that she was pregnant. You can’t imagine how my head was spinning. My brother was looking at her with such pride and love. That was one of the few times in my life; I didn’t know what to do. Considering, I had strong feelings for her too.” Alex rolled his neck and shoulders before continuing with the story. “I didn’t want to confront her in front of Luciano. Nina Jones never stepped out of character even when she saw me. She played the role of a loving girlfriend as if we were complete strangers. She deserved an Oscar.”
“Did you confront her?”
“Of course, I did! Luciano had to take a phone call and left the room.”
As soon as he walked out, I did just that.
“What the hell Gina? It is Gina isn’t it? You’re sleeping with my brother behind my back, and you’re pregnant?”
At first, she looked shocked. Then, she swallowed hard. “I…” Her eyes turned hard. “Alexandro this is not the time or the place to have this discussion.”
“What the hell do you mean? I think now is a perfect time to discuss the fact that you’re screwing both my brother and me. You’ve got to know there is a possibility that the baby you’re carrying could be mine.”
She hissed and looked over his shoulder to make sure Luciano hadn’t heard. “Keep your voice down. You don’t want your brother to hear you. Alexandro, I hate that you had to find out this way, but I didn’t know you were Luciano’s brother until this moment. And, this baby is his.”
Alex was…devastated and beyond hurt. It was as if his insides had been ripped completely out of his body. “How could you not know that we were brothers? And, how could you be so sure about who the father is of your baby? There were a couple of times where we didn’t use protection.” It hurt that in a split second, Nina seemed to have chosen Luciano.
Somehow, she managed to look him in the eyes. They softened just a bit. “I’m positive that this baby is Luciano’s. I’m sorry Alex, I never meant to fall in love with him, but I did. I honestly didn’t know that he was your brother.”
“What about us?” How was it even possible to still want her and to want the child she was carrying to be his child?
She wasn’t able to meet his gaze. “I love Luciano, Alex.”
Shortly after Gina uttered those words, Luciano came back from the study into the living room. “Sorry about that. It was my assistant asking me about something she needed for a meeting we’re having tomorrow. Anyway…Alex where’s you date? I thought she was coming? I was hoping to meet her tonight.” He was so high on cloud nine that he couldn’t even feel the tension in the room.
“She’s not going to be able to make it. As a matter of fact, I’m not going to be able to stay for dinner either. Something just came up, and I’ve got to go back to the office.”
Braylee couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Her legs felt a bit wobbly, so she sat down on the bed while Alex stood in front of her. “So, what you’re saying is Cecily’s mother is still alive and not the random gold-digging witch I believed her to be. Does she know?”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “She has no idea, and I plan to keep it that way.”
Braylee didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity. Then she inhaled deeply. “How do you know that Cecily is not your daughter? Did you just trust her word?”
“No. I know it was wrong, but it was driving me crazy. So, when Cecily was around three years old, I had a couple of different paternity tests performed. I found out that I wasn’t Cecily’s father. And…” His voice dropped a little as he nervously rubbed the back of
