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She held up her hand before she could lose her courage. ‘I’m only going to say this once, Ares. Then I’m through. You don’t want my love. I get it. But are you so selfish that you’d deprive my children too? What will you tell them when they ask why I’m only around part-time? Because, yes, I will fight you on full custody. Will you be able to look them in the eyes and say it’s because I don’t want to be with them? Or are you going to admit that you were so terrified to open your heart that you closed theirs to me, too?’
Stark disbelief flashed in his eyes, but hard on its heels came shock, then bewilderment. ‘You think I don’t want your love?’ he rasped, in a bleak, shattered voice.
Her fists bunched in her lap and she cautioned herself to breathe.
‘Yes. I most certainly do. You’ve been pushing me away since you turned up at my father’s graveside in Alghero. You’ve used one excuse after another to hold me at arm’s length. The moment you could you left Zanzibar, leaving me to chase after you.’
He laughed, a caustic sound that electrified her every nerve-ending.
‘You make me sound...’ He stopped, took a chest-heaving breath, then shook his head. ‘This is far more than just a childish I-pull-your-hair-because-I-like-you playground tactic.’
‘You’re damn right it is,’ she stressed, through teeth gritted so her emotions didn’t spill out like a pricked balloon. ‘This is my life you’re messing with. I know it doesn’t mean that much to you, but—’
‘No!’
The vehemence of his tone snatched her breath away. Then a red haze wove over her eyes. ‘Excuse me? What do you mean, no?’
‘I mean no, you’re not allowed to think for single second that your life doesn’t mean that much to me. Not when every damn minute since the moment I set eyes on you you’ve filled my mind. You’ve haunted me every single day and night since. I can’t make a decision without wondering how you will feel about it. I can’t buy a property without wondering whether you would like it, how you would design it if we were together. Thee mou... You only need to look at everything I’ve built and own and you’ll find yourself in there somewhere.’
She swallowed, a seismic shift occurring inside her at the knowledge that she’d guessed right all those weeks ago when she saw the name of the tower.
But that didn’t mean... Did it?
‘In the months after I left Alghero I could barely function without you.’
Her eyes widened, but the acid in his voice killed her rising elation.
‘I’m so sorry that was a hardship for you,’ she said.
His hand slashed the air. ‘You are a living organism that lives within me. The blood that runs in my veins. I can’t take a breath without you. And you... You think I don’t love you?’
‘Stronzo! I’m not a damn psychic! I can’t read your mind. And your words and actions have left a lot to be desired.’
His eyes widened. ‘Did you just call me an A-hole?’
She stumbled to her feet, glared at him when he jerked towards her, his hands shooting out. ‘Yes! Because you deserve it. How was I to know you loved me when you threatened to take away one of the very things we dreamed about? Growing a family together?’
Anguish and shame creased his face. ‘It was a knee-jerk reaction to the blows I’ve been dealt before. I thought I needed to safeguard my heart that already belonged to you. When you rejected our agreement so vehemently I welcomed it, because it meant that you’d stay and fight long after the children were born. That I would have you around one way or another.’
‘Let me get this straight... You were willing to tear my heart out of my chest just to test my loyalty and devotion and to keep me around?’
He stared at her with stark intensity for several seconds, then turned and strode towards his study.
Curious despite herself, she followed, to find him at his desk, rummaging through the papers before he turned with a document in his hand. Striding back, he thrust it at her.
She took it, but didn’t remove her gaze from his face. ‘Tell me what it says,’ she ordered, and the fight in her tone made his eyes widen. ‘Now,’ she insisted—then gasped when her baby kicked, as if demanding to be heard too.
Ares’s eyes grew wider, his hands shooting out reflexively. ‘Odessa...?’
‘It’s just the baby kicking. He’s not happy right now, and I don’t blame him. I’m far from happy with you myself.’
He swallowed, a wave of jagged emotion that closely resembled panic sweeping over his face. ‘That document changes the terms of our agreement.’
‘Changes it how?’ she demanded.
‘There’s no time limit on our marriage. You can either leave now...or never. If that’s what you...’
He stopped and sucked in a long, shaky breath, and had it been any other time Odessa might have been stunned by this visible show of vulnerability.
