‘And what exactly is that?’
He looked from mother to child and back again, a primitive claim that defied civility and reason taking full, complete control of him.
‘That I want my son. And I will have him. And because you will put up all sorts of a fight—which I will win, by the way—the culmination of it all will be that you will marry me. As soon as possible. And we will raise our son together.’
CHAPTER SIX
SHE REFUSED. Of course she did. And she argued—vigorously. Because…well, she had no choice.
A mere two weeks later, though, Vayle was sipping coffee just before noon on her wedding day, replaying that conversation, as she had so many times, and convincing herself she’d done the right thing for everyone involved.
Well, perhaps not for herself, if she was honest. But for those she cared about: Agnes and Angelos. They were the ones she’d fought for. On whose behalf she’d extracted those conditions from Nelios. Conditions which, in hindsight, it seemed he’d accepted with healthy opposition but surprisingly not as much vigour as she’d imagined. Which had then led her to wonder if she’d missed something in the small print of their agreement that would come back to bite her in the ass when she least expected it.
Taking another sip, she set the cup down on its saucer. As much as she wanted to finish it, she was jittery enough as it was. Hell, she’d been jittery ever since that day when Nelios had stated with unyielding steel while they’d been caught in that sensory force field, ‘Make no mistake—I will have full access to my child, Vayle.’
Her hand had wrapped tighter around Angelos, happily oblivious and ensconced in his milk-guzzling. ‘I sense a very large “or else” in there.’
Her attempted fierce reply had wobbled a little at the end, but she’d kept her daring gaze on him. Because, yes, she was a mother bear, and she would fight to the death for her child.
‘Or else I will fight you for custody,’ he stated evenly. As if he hadn’t been threatening to raze her world to the ground just as effectively as he’d snatched her hotel. As if he’d been picking out a colour scheme for one of his stunning hotels.
‘Then I’ll see you in court,’ she’d replied just as coolly and that time, thankfully, her voice had held.
It had beenhisnostrils that flared.Hisankle that had left his knee to plant on the floor, his long arms dangling between his knees as he’d speared her with his gaze.Hisjaw that had rippled the tiniest bit before he’d loosened it.
‘You would put yourself through that?’
She’d stared at him, really stared. Then she’d asked the question throbbing across her brain. ‘For the sake of clarity, I didn’t lose my faculties during childbirth. So I know I’m not imagining all the times I called you and emailed you and even left a letter with your right-hand man—despite, I might add, you sending him to do your dirty work the morning after we had sex, to dispatch me like some used spare part you no longer needed. So why the hell are you acting as if you’re the wronged party here?’
He’d turned to ice. ‘Excuse me?’
Hurt, anger and humiliation trawled through her, reawakened by memories she’d desperately not wanted to relive. ‘Which part do you want to be excused from, exactly? The part where you took off in your helicopter that morning without bothering to wake me? The part where you sent Andreas to make sure I wasn’t around when you returned? Or where you instructed him to tell me never to attempt to grace your presence again because you were done with me?’
A hint of colour washed his cheeks and Vayle would’ve mistaken it for embarrassment on anyone else. Not on Nelios. Every move he made was with calculated precision and intent. It was why, after several attempts to contact him, she’d acceptedthat he truly meant to cut her off. That he wasn’t interested in knowing the consequences of their night together.
‘Andreas was supposed to put you on a plane back to England. Any embellishment made was on his own initiative. And your claim that you tried to contact me—’
‘Are you calling me a liar, Nelios?’ she butted in, keeping her voice low so Angelos, who stared raptly at her every expression, didn’t pick up on her roiling emotions. ‘And are you saying, had I decided to stay, you would’ve been ecstatic to see me on your return?’ The fierce blaze, then the immediate shuttering of his gaze told her everything she needed to know. ‘Do not attempt to rewrite history. It shames both of us.’
‘Watch it, Vayle.’
‘Another “or else”? Can we agree that I’m far from impressed by these deep-throated threats? So it’s pointless to keep throwing them about. Sure, I know what horrors you’re capable of. But I will defend my child until my last breath.’
Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but she thought he lost a shade of colour. ‘Defend—from me?’ he demanded through thinned lips. And for a moment she was almost convinced she’d wounded him somehow. But, like the great and mythical phoenix, he rose from that almost immediately. Stronger, more powerful, more visually, completely,unfairlyarresting than ever. And, when he approached, her breath strangled then swiftly abandoned her lungs. He crouched before her, placing his hands on either side of her thighs on the sofa. His eyes lingered on her face for an age, then dropped to Angelos, where they stayed,stayedandstayed.
‘I asked you a question,’ he breathed softly without taking his eyes off his son. ‘Do you believe I will deliberately harm my own flesh and blood?’
It was a weakening mistake to remember in that moment how he’d helped her when she’d developed her awful cramp.How he’d fed her on his plane and called off the authorities in Ascension. How he’d bought her a ticket home—certainly to aid her swift exit from his life—when he could easily have dumped her at the end of the street and left her to fend for herself. And today, when he’d reached out for his mother when she’d stumbled.
Nelios was ruthless, intransigent, driven and hell-bent on revenge against those he believed had wronged him. But was he ever unjustifiably wicked or unkind? Her jaw moved, but Vayle couldn’t quite find the words to counter. So she settled for a middling, ‘Maybe…maybe not.’
Censure filmed his eyes. ‘Is that stubbornness or malice holding you back,glikia mou? A wish to hurt me the way you think I’ve hurt you?’
‘I don’t think it. I’ve lived it,’ she confessed with a drowning rush of memory. He’d gifted her an unforgettable night, then had topped it with humiliation.
His eyelids swept down, veiling his expression as before. ‘I am not entirely…convinced I couldn’t have handled things differently,’ he finally rasped.
Her eyes widened. ‘An admission? My,’ she said, then wondered why she wasn’t appeased. Why part of her yearned to beat his chest for every moment of humiliation she’d felt when Andreas had knocked on the suite door and calmly informed her she had half an hour to vacate the premises, on Nelios’s orders—ifshe wanted the ticket for the flight leaving in less than two hours. He’d mocked her when she’d asked to speak to Nelios, informing her that, once the great Nelios Petralis was done with a woman, he never went back.
