Greek Pregnancy Clause - Page 59

The unspoken words dislodged a tightness in her chest. Her hand found its way to her belly again, reminding herself what she was fighting for.

‘That history won’t repeat itself.’

His eyes blazed as they dropped to her stomach. For a blind moment she was sure he would say something. But then he turned away, his movements jerky as he finished packing.

‘I need to go to Abu Dhabi to see to the final arrangements for the tower. Vincenzo’s sentencing is also this week. I need to be in Athens.’

She’d forgotten about that. After months of delay and attempts to weasel his way out of jail, Vincenzo had finally pleaded guilty, eliminating the need for Odessa’s presence at his trial—an outcome she suspected Ares had made happen. But, while her heart attempted to melt, because he’d saved her that ordeal, too, she still needed to fight her corner.

‘Once he’s officially behind bars we can discuss you coming back home.’

Her temper ignited at that. ‘You’re talking as if I need your permission to leave. I don’t remember agreeing to being carted off around the world at your whim.’

He went rigid, but the fingers clutching his case betrayed him, his knuckles turning white at her response. ‘This isn’t a whim, Odessa. And you’re wrong. Our agreement says differently.’

She inhaled sharply. ‘Excuse me?’

His lips twisted. ‘You need to read the small print. I have the right to take you with me wherever I go in the world. My business is global. How else would I get you pregnant if I didn’t have you with me at all times?’

‘I’m already pregnant,’ she said, stating the very obvious.

He shrugged. ‘Doesn’t change the wording of the agreement.’

Cold invaded her chest, shrivelling her heart. ‘Why are you doing this? Surely you can’t still believe that I’m an emotional threat to this child?’

He opened his mouth, but she beat him to it.

‘Nothing! I have done nothing wrong in the first place. You’re judging me by impossible standards. I’m human. I’m bound to make mistakes.’

‘Not with my children you won’t,’ he seethed.

‘Enough, Ares! I kissed a boy who wasn’t you when I was eighteen! And I said some things I didn’t mean to my father about you. Are you going to punish me for ever for those two things?’

‘No,’ he growled, stepping up to her and blotting the sunlight, so all she could see and all she could feel was him. ‘But—’

He gritted his teeth.

‘But what?’

‘You made me yearn for things I couldn’t have.’

Her mouth gaped open. ‘Things like what?’

His own lips parted, but he said nothing. They breathed the same roiling air for a minute, before he slashed his hand through the air.

‘It doesn’t matter now.’

‘Of course it does. I’m being judged for something I didn’t even know you wanted from me. At the very least I have a right to know, don’t I?’

His gaze dropped to the ultrasound photo, which was at risk of being crushed between his fingers. When he locked eyes with her once more, the flash of bleakness she saw strangled her breath.

‘Fine. You made me hope. Until I saw you in another man’s arms, I thought that the words and promises we’d made to one another meant something.’

‘They did.’

His eyes narrowed, his judgement scorching her where she stood. ‘Tell me, then, matia mou… How would you have felt if our positions had been reversed and my tongue had been down another woman’s throat, her hands touching parts of my body the way you wanted to touch me? Would you have brushed it off as a simple mistake?’

Her throat clogged, blocking any answer she’d hoped to give. It would’ve killed her. And, God, she didn’t know whether she would’ve forgiven him. But…