Scheming Heart (Available on Amazon Kindle)

Chapter 41

CLAUDIA

In the end, Alfonso got his way. We were set to be married the next month when I found out that I was eight weeks pregnant that day he informed Papa about our engagement I spent the night in his penthouse and this baby in my womb was the result of that night two months ago.

Even if I gave him that consent that night I still couldn't believe that he managed to get me pregnant on that first night. Well, it might not be that night but those nights that have followed after that and maybe those mornings also before we even have to go to work he'll manage to get me to a quick tumble in the bed with his restless seduction.

When we broke the news to our parents—well, they had the poles apart reaction. His parents' especially his father were beyond ecstatic at the news he even started planning the christening and all. He was over the moon that finally someone would be able to inherit their vineyard and the next generation of the Orsinis would continue. While my Papa—I sighed deeply—he was a different story. When we broke the news to him after he forbade me to see Alfonso ever again I was not surprised by his wrath reaction when this son of his boss managed to make his eldest daughter pregnant despite his interference in our relationship.

He didn't hesitate to give us an earful of lectures while we were trapped in his study room and he was pacing the room like a caged beast. He also threatened to sue Alfonso for my pregnancy but I managed to change to give him a pause when I told him would he deprive his grandchild of the chance to be with his father if he put Alfonso in jail.

Alfonso beamed at me because I sided with him while dealing with my difficult father. Eventually, Papa demanded that we should be married as soon as possible before my pregnancy became too obvious. He doesn't want people to gossip about me which Alfonso agreed happily. He was more than happy to do that.

He proposed to me one unexpected night in their vineyard after our dinner with his parents. He bent one knee in front of me and gave me this yellow band with a round diamond in the middle with an elaborate design on the side studded with tiny diamonds.

I moved back to my parents' house with my Mama's insistence. She told me that she wants to take good care of me until my wedding next month. She cried a little while having a mother-and-daughter conversation in my bedroom on the first night I was back home. She told me that she couldn't believe that her baby girl would be getting married already with a child on the way. She was happy and sad at the same time but I told her that I would not go away. I will still visit them often even if I have a new family now.

A few days later, on the day I had scheduled a wedding dress fitting, Gianna burst into my room with a tabloid in her hand.

"You have to see this, Claudia." There was a troubled expression on her face as she firmly locked the door behind her.

"What?" I turned around to face my sister. I was about to choose an outfit for my appointment today when she barged in.

She showed me the tabloid in her hand and on the front page of the newspaper, there was Violet Ricci's picture with the big bold caption at the headline about her unexpected pregnancy. "So?" I raised an eyebrow at her tossing the scandal sheet on my bed unceremoniously. "I am not interested in her life."

Gianna picked up that trash again and shoved it into my face. "You have to read the part where she told the press about the father of her child."

"As I said, I am not interested." I offered her dismissively.

"It's Alfonso!" My younger sister pointed her finger at the paragraph in the tattler. "She claimed that your fiancé is the father of her child!"

"What?!" I snatched the paper in her hand and read the said paragraph.