“They’re forgeries.”

“You know perfectly well they’re not. You’re up to your pretty neck in all this.”

“I’m not up to my neck in anything.” Elena wanted to scream.

“You are. But there is a way for you to save yourself. And your father. And that is what I mean about you posing a dilemma for me.”

“Go on.”

“The lack of evidence to support mine and my father’s innocence is a setback for me.”

“That’s because it doesn’t exist.”

“If I’m such a master forger don’t you think I would fake it?” Gabriele demanded. “Your father is a meticulous record keeper. It’s out there somewhere and I will find it...or I could be persuaded to forget the whole thing. With the right incentive I could also be persuaded to destroy the evidence I copied last night rather than pass it on.”

“What incentive are you talking about?” she asked, the anger leaching out to be replaced with wariness.

A smile curved his handsome face. “That, you will find, is the crucial question. To secure a healthy future for your father and the rest of your family, you will have to do one very simple thing—you’ll have to marry me.”