The Moretti Heir by Katherine Garbera

keep your child from you.”
    Marco put his empty glass on the counter of the bar and walked back to Virginia. He stopped when barely a foot separated them.
    “Tell me the wording of the curse.”
    “I can let you read Nonna’s journal if you like, but I don’t think I should say the words aloud. They are very powerful.”
    “Fine. Get the journal for me, please.”
    Marco watched her leave. She came back a few minutes later with a worn, leather-bound book. She untied the ribbon around the middle and opened it. He saw his grandfather’s name on the first page. In Italian, there was the undying love of a young woman. Cassia wrote about her hopes and dreams. He put his hand over Virginia’s to keep her from turning the page.
    Marco knew he had to get over his anger if he was going to figure out how to move forward from this.
    “Do you want to see the curse?” Virginia asked.
    “Yes.” He lifted his hand.
    She flipped the pages to about three-quarters of the way through the journal. There was the same handwriting, only it seemed angrier. The curling script of earlier had become shorter and more compact, the lines of ink slashing across the page.
    My love for you was all-encompassing and never-ending, and with its death I call upon the universe to bring about the death of your heart and the hearts of succeeding generations.
    As long as a Moretti roams this earth, he shall have happiness in either business or love but never both.
    Do not disdain the powers of a small body. Moretti, you may be strong, but that will no longer help you. I am strong in my will and I demand retribution for the pain you have caused me.
    “What makes you think having a child will break this curse?” he asked.
    “The part that speaks of retribution. My grandmother wanted to create a family with your grandfather, and since he denied her that and placed racing above her, she wanted to deny him love forever-more.”
    Marco looked at the words again. He noticed a different handwriting in the column. These words were in English and not in Italian. “Is this your handwriting?”
    “Yes. I have spent a lot of time researching the words Nonna used, so I could figure out how to break the spell.”
    “Can’t you just reverse it?”
    “No. I can’t. Nonna could have, but she’s dead.”
    “Okay, let me make sure I have this right. You are here to get pregnant so you can break the Moretti curse?”
    She nibbled on her lower lip and then nodded.
    “What’s in it for you?”
    “It will keep me from ending up bitter and alone like my mother and grandmother did. And it will give me the chance at a future with a husband and more children.”
    He looked at Virginia, pictured her growing big and round with his child, and felt a primal rush. He wanted to plant his seed in this woman. Not just because it might break the curse on all the Moretti clan, but because on some primitive level he believed that Virginia was his.
    He made a gut decision. “Okay. In the morning I will have a contract drawn up that details this arrangement. You will travel with me for this racing season until you are pregnant. Then you will live in a house I pay for until the child is born. I think I should like for you to continue to live there with the child and raise the child close by me. I will have free visitation of the child.”
    She put her hands on her hips. “You will not be making all the rules of this arrangement, Marco. I’m not going to just do what you tell me to.”
    He reached out and grabbed her wrists, drawing her into his arms. “I think you will, Virginia. Because without my ‘rules’ you will have nothing.”

Seven
    M arco knew this meeting wouldn’t be easy. Dom had always had a thing about their family curse, and bringing it up wasn’t going to go over well. But since he’d called everyone last night and asked them to meet this morning at his parents’ townhouse in Milan, he had no choice but to follow through.
    “Bon giorno,” Marco said as