He stiffened. ‘What makes you think I did?’
‘George said your grandfather was a financier.’
‘I focus on insurance,’ he snapped. ‘My success is my own.’
She gritted her teeth. Really? He didn’t have all kinds of privilege from growing up around that wealth—with education and connections and opportunities? But it wasn’t worth the argument, there were bigger points to win here. ‘Ditto. So don’t diminish it. I love my flat. It might not be a mansion, but I worked so hard to buy it. It’smine.’
‘It’s mostly the bank’s,’ he retaliated coldly. ‘And you know it’s not good enough to raise a child there.’
‘It’s more than good enough for me,’ she argued proudly. ‘I’m happy there. Bethan is happy there. And my baby will be happy there. Just because you have a bunch of houses means nothing. Beautiful places are horrible when there’s no warmth at their heart. Same with beautiful people.’
‘No warmth?’ He laughed derisively. ‘There’s fire between us.’
‘That will die,’ she said coldly. ‘This child doesn’t need to be saddled with parents stuck in a toxic relationship.’
‘We won’t be toxic. We can manage this like sane adults if you’d stop for a second and listen to what I—’
‘Oh, so this is my fault for notlistening,’ she marvelled acerbically. ‘Meaning not immediately agreeing to everything you want.’
‘Phoebe.’ He sighed heavily. ‘You’re right, this passionate phase between us will pass. Same with the marriage. We will eventually separate and divorce.’
She stared at him all over again. He hadn’t meant marry for life? ‘Then why marry at all?’
He pulled his seatbelt, loosening it from his chest and then letting it snap back against him. ‘Eventually you and the child will live in London. Of course you can work if you want. You can do everything you want.’ He didn’t answer her question. ‘You can have nannies, staff—’
‘Wow. Where are you going to be?’
‘I can’t be the father you had.’
‘Well, thank goodness for that, because my father sucked at dad duties.’ So the Italy thing would only be temporary? She was so confused. ‘You don’t want your child to grow up here?’
‘It will be safer with you.’
Itagain. And safer how?
He tensed. ‘The bond between a baby and it’s mother—’
‘Shouldn’t necessarily be more important than the bond it has with its father,’ she said shortly. ‘Look, I gave up everything for my first husband. I moved cities. I quit my studies. I blindly followed him because I was so in love and thought he felt the same. But he didn’t. I’m not doing all that again, so don’t ask me to.’
She’d thrown herself headlong into believing Ryan loved her utterly and unconditionally. But he hadn’t. She’d been an irresistible, temporary accessory who’d suited his style at the time. Once he’d succeeded there, he’d been ready to level up with a better model.
Edo looked at her directly. ‘The difference here is that you’re not blindly in love with me. We’ll have a contract, Phoebe. A written guarantee that youwillbe taken care of. You won’t have to give up everything you want. In fact, you’ll get far more than you ever would have dreamed.’
He meantfinancially. But money didn’t buy happiness.
‘You can write up a contract,’ she nodded. ‘Go right ahead. But it still doesn’t require us to bemarried.’
‘Phoebe, I’m an extremely wealthy man.’
‘And? Is that supposed to impress me? Are you telling me to snatch you up now before some other woman does? Sorry, Edo. You’re a controlling jerk who’s taken my passport. Right now, you’re thelastman on earth I’d marry.’
He pinched his nose and released a heavy sigh. ‘I don’t blame you for being angry. But we have little choice.’
‘Why? Who’s holding the gun to our heads? It’s just you and me who get to decide this.’
‘No. It is not.’ He closed his eyes momentarily and released another breath. ‘There was an abduction in my family and I’m more wealthy now than my family was then. Which meansyouare even more of a target. Fortunately, I also now have more deterrent power.’
Stunned, she gaped. ‘Someone in your family was abducted.’
