AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She saw him tense at the whisper of his name, his fingers tightening briefly around the steering wheel before he relaxed them.
‘We will be married long enough for the two children I require to be born or for five years—whichever comes first,’ he reiterated, his voice like rumbling boulders that dropped onto her shoulders. ‘And they will be born in Greece,’ he tossed in, as if geography mattered one iota when she was grappling with his ludicrous demand.
‘If all you need is a womb for hire, why do you need marriage at all? Surrogates are a dime a dozen these days.’
A muscle rippled in his jaw for a moment before he rasped, ‘Because I wish to do things properly. For my father’s sake. I’m sure you remember he’s old-school in most ways?’
It was the last thing she’d expected him to say and it robbed her of speech, right along with the shock of the moment before. Because in some baffling way it made sense.
‘Right. I see.’
And she truly did. In father and son she’d witnessed an unbending devotion that had sparked both yearning and envy. It had been the model she’d based all the foundations of her relationship goals on. Still...
‘Why go through this...subterfuge? Isn’t he going to be upset when he finds out?’
Tension clearly still riding him, he zipped them through traffic for a full minute before he replied.
‘He’ll never find out. As far as he’s concerned every aspect of this marriage will be real. If I remember correctly your acting skills are impressive. You’ll do everything in your power to convince him that our reunion is real. And if...’ He paused, a flash of something resembling bleakness darting across his face before he neutralised his expression. ‘And when the time comes for us to separate, I’ll break the news to him in a way that minimises the damage. Hopefully by then he will be too preoccupied with his grandchildren to care.’
‘You don’t need to count on any imaginary acting skills you think I possess. I’m not participating in this...sham. Not for one year. Never mind five...or...’ She waved that absurd thought away, the layers of shocked pain settling over her shoulders like an unwanted cloak as her brain struggled to grasp the unthinkable scenario he was drawing up. ‘Are you really okay with pulling the wool over his eyes like this?’
‘The eventual benefits will far outweigh the means of achieving my goals. It’s salutary advice you’ll do well to apply to your own circumstances.’
She swallowed a bark of hysterical laughter before it leapt free. He was really serious about this.
‘Why five years?’
‘Because it’s the right age for a child to relinquish dependence on an absent parent. Any later and the damage could be irreparable.’
‘How do you know this?’ she asked, and then stinging recollection made her inhale sharply. ‘Your own mother left when you were seven,’ she murmured, almost afraid of voicing the reason he was pushing for this. ‘Is this about...? Do you wish your mother had left earlier?’
His expression morphed into granite. ‘This isn’t about me.’
Of course it was. His whole being screamed it. But Odessa wisely didn’t belabour the point.
‘So I give you a child...children...and we divorce in five years?’ Why did the words sear a path of pain in her throat?
Fully expecting him to agree, she was stunned when he shook his head. ‘No. We will stay married for a minimum of five years. But if...when you decide to leave, you will relinquish full custody of our children to me. We won’t divorce until my father is...’ He stopped, expelling his breath in a rush.
Again absurdly, considering the utter lunacy of this conversation, Odessa’s heart cracked for him, sympathy filling spaces long left wanting and hollow. She didn’t need him to spell it out. Her mother’s passing might have happened long ago enough for her only to recall hazy moments with the woman forced to stay in her husband’s shadow, but deep in her heart the pain of losing her parent lingered.
She pushed back the memories to find Ares watching her.
‘Five years is also a good age to ensure a child’s memories fade sooner rather than later,’ he tossed in.
The pang was sharper this time, lancing hard enough to make her gasp. ‘Ares, this is insane!’
‘And yet these are my terms. Take it or leave it.’
It didn’t even register that they’d returned to the hotel’s underground car park until the silence pressed in on her. The finality of his statement battered at any hope of getting him to rethink this streak of insanity, but she wasn’t about to be cowed into submission.
‘You don’t really expect me to bear your children and then simply walk away when this sham marriage you fully expect to fail falls apart, do you?’ she demanded, firming every sinew in her shocked body.
The faintest hint of something almost resembling compassion flashed across his face. Then it was gone so swiftly she wondered if she’d imagined it.
‘Don’t pretend it will be a hardship for you,’ he said.
Anger at the cavalier way he dismissed her feelings bunched her fists. ‘How can you say that? Of course it’ll be a hardship for me! It’ll be impossible. How dare you imply this is a decision to be taken lightly?’
