Xavi’s baby.
The baby she had desperately wanted and loved with the whole of her being from the moment the pregnancy test had confirmed she was carrying his child.
She’d waited until he’d gone on a five-day work trip to Milan—their grandfathers had forbidden Beth from going with him—before taking the pregnancy test. She’d only been a couple of days late for her period and hadn’t wanted to build Xavi’s hopes up for nothing.
The rush of joy at the positive sign was like nothing she’d felt in her life, and she’d hugged her secret tightly to herself until he’d returned. She’d wanted to tell him to his face and see the joy on it.
Already practically living in the de la Rosa villa with him, she’d been waiting in his bedroom for his return from his trip, too excited about what was to come to think too hard that he’d been too busy that week for anything but short conversations and that he’d barely messaged her.
He’d stepped into the bedroom. One look at his face and the spring in her legs to bound over to him and tell him their wonderful news had turned to lead.
Xavi had thought taking the ripping-a-plaster-off approach the best way to end it? Well, he should have tried being the human that plaster had been ripped off of.
After six months of bliss, Xavi had run his fingers through his hair and curtly delivered his obviously prepared words. ‘I’m sorry, Beth, but we need to end things. Neither of us is ready for marriage and I’ve been neglecting my responsibilities with the business when you know it has to be my priority. We’ve gone too far too fast and now we need to put the brakes on it.’
She’d never known such naked fear existed until she heard those words.
At her blank, open-mouthed stare, he’d jammed his hands into his pockets and ruefully added, ‘It doesn’t have to be forever. I hope we can part as friends because I’ll always care for you and will always be there if you need me, but as things stand, I need to concentrate on the business. I owe my father and our grandfathers that.’
There had been an implacability to him, an emotional switch-off that had made him seem like a stranger, and she’d gazed at him in a strange state of petrified confusion and perfect understanding.
Xavi was an all-or-nothing man. He threw himself into whatever he set his mind to, and when he made up his mind about something, nothing could change it. He’d thrown himself into his love for her, but now the switch had been turned off. If he wanted Beth out of his life, nothing would change that.
That hadn’t stopped her from trying when the shell shock gave way to hysteria, but the more she’d pleaded with him to change his mind, the more intractable he’d become. Hysteria had given way to pain-fuelled rage, and she’d locked herself in the bathroom and smashed anything she could get her hands on until the rage had given way to fear that if she didn’t get a grip on herself, she would harm their baby.
It was thoughts of their baby that had made foolish hope spring alive and fill her. She just needed to wait for him to come to his senses because there was no way he meant it. Sure, Xavi never changed his mind when on a set course, but wasn’t he changing the set course of their relationship? He was having cold feet or something like it, but in a few days or weeks he’d realise what a terrible mistake he’d made and beg her to come back to him, and then she’d forgive him and tell him about the baby and they’d all live happily ever after.
She’d gone back to her grandfather’s full of misplaced hope. Five days later she’d sobbed her heart out for the final time in her bathroom, crippled with the pain of missing Xavi and crippled with abdominal pains she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy, not even that Ellen bitch.
That Ellen bitch who’d sent Beth a photo of Xavi sleeping in Ellen’s bed just three days after Xavi had ended their relationship. She’d even location and time-stamped it for good measure.
Xavi had kicked Beth out of his life and days later jumped into the bed of the woman who’d spent their entire relationship practically stalking him and doing everything she could to lure him away from her, and barely two hours ago the bastard had barefaced lied about it. She’d have thought more of him—going from a base of zero, that wouldn’t take much—if he’d admitted it.
And now he seriously thought she would agree to marry him and have his babies? Was he really so arrogant that he believed she’d forgiven him for so coldly throwing her away for the business? Did he really believe her friendliness the few times they’d seen each other and her breezy replies to his messages over the years were signs of her moving on rather than her pride demanding she pick herself up and prove she could live a good, fulfilling life without him just so he’d never know the depth of the agony he’d put her through?
She’d believed in him so strongly. Believed he was fundamentally good and true.
She should have known better. Hadn’t her own father proved even the best of men could lie when he’d let her spend the first eighteen years of her life believing her mother had no living relatives? She should have known better than to expect more of Xavi, so more fool her. And more fool her for having a heart and body that hadn’t learned their lessons well enough and still filled with longing for him.
She could still taste him on her tongue and feel the sensation in her breasts where they’d crushed against his chest. She could still feel the essence of Xavi flowing through her bloodstream, and shedespisedhim for it.
Her kiss had been calculated. She’d wanted—needed—to prove to him that he wasn’t the one in control and prove to herself that she’d matured enough to control her desires and not just be a slave to Xavi’s.
By the time she’d pulled away the second time, her control had hung by a thread.
The chemistry between them had always been strong, one of the reasons why his abrupt ending of their relationship had hit her so hard. The night before his trip to Milan, he’d made love to her the whole night through.
Sometimes she looked back and wondered how she’d survived it all.
After swallowing hard, she pulled air into her lungs and stopped battering the poor, blameless pillow. The path she needed to take, half formulated in Xavi’s office, had come more sharply into focus.
Throwing herself backwards, Beth spread her arms across the mattress, gazed up at the ceiling and concentrated all her thoughts and emotions.
She would accept the arrogant bastard’s proposal. Yes, she would marry him and let him use her shares to continue his role as chairman and CEO uncontested, and while he was merrily running the precious business that meant much more to him than she ever had, she would sell off her grandfather’s villa and other assets and use the proceeds to buy up the other shares untilshebecame the majority shareholder. She might even go into cahoots with the American sharks who’d already attempted a hostile takeover.
Whatever she did,shewould be the one to oust him from his precious business and destroy his dreams the way he’d destroyed hers, and then she would eject him from her life once and for all.
And then maybe, just maybe, she’d be able to move on from the invisible hold Xavi had kept her trapped in these past eight years and find a man deserving of her love.
