Pain bloomed in his chest though, as the baby that had never even existed seemed to lodge there like a rock. Why couldn’t he let that baby go? Why couldn’t he accept reality? Marcia had never been pregnant. Their baby had never existed.
“What are you going to do?” Dante, ever goal orientated, asked. And Raf appreciated that. When he spoke of a plan, he felt as though he were moving on solid ground.
“I’ve brought her todella Brezza,” he said, referring to his Villa.
Another low whistle, from Salvatore. “Big move.”
“You know the risks,” Raf said sharply, daring any of them to contradict him. “Paparazzi, God knows what else. I couldn’t exactly leave her to fend for herself.”
“So this is altruism?” Marco pushed.
“What would you do, in my position?” he demanded. “Do you think I want this? This is my worst fucking nightmare, but it’s my mess, I have to goddamn clean it up, don’t I?”
Elodie had admittedly been lookingfor Raf. Or any sign of life, to be fair. She’d tiptoed through the villa and eaten a banana, sat out on the stunning terrace and had a coffee—after googling that one a day would be fine. And then, she’d scrolled a few news articles on her phone for an hour or so, before getting seriously worried that she’d been stranded in this stunning paradise. It would have been the easiest thing to drop her here and leave her on her own, rather than facing the music of having a baby. That made a hell of a lot more sense than his preposterous suggestion that they actuallylivetogether.
Then, she’d started exploring the villa, trying not to feel like a stalker as she went from room to room, in search of her reluctant host.
Only, she’d had no ideahowreluctant until she’d caught his conversation.
This is my worst fucking nightmare, but it’s my mess. I have to goddamn clean it up, don’t I?
Okay. She’d known this wasn’t planned. And it obviously wasn’t ideal for either of them. But hearing him describe it in such a clearly scathing way flooded her veins with ice.
Another man’s voice came through, his accent similar to Raf’s. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but are you sure?”
Silence. Then, “I took her to the obstetrician myself.”
Elodie closed her eyes against that—the sense that she was some problem he’d had to manage. Someone he’d had to drag to the obstetrician’s office to get confirmation of what she’d gone to his house to tell him. She could have hidden the pregnancy. She could have run away, home to her parents, and never let him know that they’d made a baby, but instead, she’d done what she thought was right. And she was starting to regret it, big time.
“And, again, don’t take this the wrong way, but is the baby definitely yours?”
She sucked in a sharp breath.
Another man’s voice came in over the top, before Raf could answer. “It’s just, the women you hook up with aren’t, you know…” his voice trailed off, but that didn’t matter. Elodie knew what was being implied. Raf slept with a lot of women, and those women slept with a lot of men. She straightened her spine, irritation and defensiveness bursting through her. How dare these unknown people discuss her like this? Even when she knew, logically, that they were looking to protect Raf, it didn’t matter. They didn’t know her, and they had no business passing judgement on her.
“She says so.”
A muffled curse, barely audible through the door.
“Raf,” one of the male voices said slowly. “After everything you’ve been through…”
“We’ve done a paternity test,” he said. “I’ll get the results later today. But strangely, I believe her.”
“You do?” A woman asked.
Elodie didn’t even feel a hint of warmth at the fact he had listened to her. Not after what she’d overheard. She knew she shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but when she was the subject under discussion? Besides, these people were going to be in her baby’s life. Didn’t she have a right to know what they were like?
“She’s not what you think. She’s different.” Even through the door she heard Raf expel a sigh. “I should never have gotten messed up with her. It was a stupid, stupid mistake. If I could take it back, I would, but sadly, time travel isn’t one of my skills, so I just have to live with this. Anyway, that’s why I couldn’t make dinner.”
It was shocking to Elodie how badly his statement hurt, all things considered. After all, he was nothing to her, and she knew she was nothing to him. They barely knew one another. But he’d really won her over the day before, with his whole ‘working as a team’ schtick. He’d sounded soreasonable,and she’d actively gone to sleep thinking how nice it was to be looked after by someone else for a change.
A lump formed in her throat and she moved quickly, turning to leave the scene of the eavesdropping crime, but she was in such a hurry that she jammed her knee into the door frame and let out a yelp before she could stop herself. She heard the bed move, heard his footsteps and moved quickly, half running down the wide tiled corridor. She heard him curse, and say, “I’ll call you back.” Then, more firmly, “Elodie, wait.”
She didn’t wait, though. She kept moving, one foot after the other, no idea where she was going, only that she had to get away from him, and those people. From the things he’d said, from the knowledge she would always have that he wished he’d never gotten involved with her. That they’d never slept together. What had been her act of rebellion and sense of triumph overthe mundanity of her relationship with Aaron, had been reduced into what seemed to be the biggest regret of his life.
“Elodie, I said wait.”
She heard the easy command in his voice, the natural authority, and bucked against it. How dare he think he could tell her what to do?
