‘I suppose having revenge and having kids are mutually exclusive,’ she says and it’s not a throwaway line. She means it.
She’ll hold you to that promise you made her.
For the first time since I can remember, a cold, sharp doubt slides through me. I wanted it all, revenge, her and my child, but…using the baby in this way… That was the catalyst for all of this, my way to finally claim the justice I need for my father and my mother. To take what is important to Ulysses away from him the way he took my family from me, and yet…
It feels wrong to use her and the child as a weapon against her brother. To use their lives to hurt him. It feels petty and punitive and…selfish, almost. A betrayal of trust.
That shouldn’t bother me, though. Who cares if I’m selfish or untrustworthy? After my father died, no one else’s opinion mattered. I don’t know why I’m letting it matter now, but I am.
‘Don’t you agree?’ she prompts and her stare is unflinching. ‘I mean, if you’re going to use our child as a way to hurt my brother then I don’t care what I promised you, I won’t marry you, end of story.’
My God. Why did I ever think she was an easy mark? Easy prey for me to feast on? She’s nothing but iron all the way through.
She will be an excellent mother for your child.
The thought winds through me, making the beast in me growl with approval at her strength. Because yes, she’s standing up to me and challenging me, and that can only mean double the protection for our baby.
She and I will make a formidable team.
I decide there’s no reason to prevaricate over this promise, since the only step I have to take to set my plan in motion is to marry her. Those vows will ensure that my child is heir to Vulcan Energy. Of course, it could be that Ulysses might have children of his own at some point, but I can reassess when the time comes.
‘I won’t ever use our child,’ I say and I realise that even as the words come out of my mouth, I mean it. In fact, I’ve never meant anything more in my entire life. ‘I give you my word.’
She stares at me a moment longer, then she nods. ‘Okay, good. So, back to the subject of being your wife. How exactly is that going to work?’
CHAPTER TWELVE
Olympia
He’s lying backagainst the headboard of the bed, his muscular arms folded across the hard expanse of his chest, his dark eyes enigmatic, giving nothing away.
I knew he would come back to what I told him, about the things I’ve been through. I didn’t make the mistake of thinking he’d forgotten. And while I didn’t actually want to tell him, I knew he wouldn’t let it go until I had.
So I told him about my foster parents and what they did to me and saw the anger ignite in his eyes. It wasn’t at me, I knew that too, but I didn’t want his anger. I appreciated that he felt it on my behalf, but I didn’t want to have to reassure him the way I had to with Ulysses. Not that Ulysses needed reassuring, but the way he fashioned his whole life to revolve around me and watching him martyr himself to the guilt of leaving me in an abusive situation was exhausting. I was tired of being his Rapunzel and I certainly wasn’t going to be Rafael’s.
Rafael understood though, I had to give him that. But then he spoiled it by telling me that I was his responsibility, which I didn’t appreciate one bit. Then again, he also pointed out that he wasn’t Ulysses and that he wasn’t going to keep me tucked away like a delicate hothouse flower. He was very emphatic about that and about not using our child as a way to get his revenge.
I’m doubtful of his promises, especially given his fury at what Ulysses did to his family, but the fierce look in his eyes when he said he wouldn’t use the baby makes me want to believe in that promise at least.
I’m still tense though. I need to know what being his wife will mean for me and I’m not going to agree to the marriage until I do. Yes, I know that I made him a promise, but if he thinks he’ll keep me in the house like a good little wife, he’s got another think coming.
‘How being my wife will work, you mean?’ he asks.
‘Yes. I want to know what you were thinking when you demanded I marry you.’
A muscle flicks in his hard jaw. He’s annoyed. I’m pushing him and I suspect he’s not a man who’s ever been pushed. Too bad though. I’ve learned a few things being Ulysses’s sister and one of those things is how to drive a hard bargain with a stubborn, difficult man.
‘Very well,’ he says flatly. ‘If you want the truth, I didn’t think about it.’
I’m unsurprised. Of course he didn’t think about it, because he was too busy thinking what a perfect revenge it was going to make. ‘Then I suggest you start,’ I snap. ‘Because a wife and a child aren’t just for Christmas, Rafael. They’re for ever.’
Temper gleams in his eyes and again I feel the addictive rush of power that I’ve managed to affect him this way. He has a line, I’m sure he does, and I want to know where it is. Though, really, I shouldn’t be pushing him for the sake of it. I do have my reasons and I’m certainly not going to exchange one prison for another. This isn’t just about me, either. It’s about our child and what kind of life we’ll have as a family, because, like it or not, wewillbe a family. And I want that family to be a close and loving one, so our child will grow up feeling safe and loved. I want him or her to have the kind of childhood that I never did.
‘Fine,’ Rafael says, an edge in his deep voice. ‘I don’t want an on-paper-only marriage, or for my wife and child to live apart from me.’
‘So you want me and the child to live here?’
‘Yes.’ His eyes blaze. ‘I grew up in this house and this is my home. It will become our child’s and yours too.’
