He wasn’t sure how he’d respond and that scared him. He would hunt down the mysterious father and destroy him. He would pray that the baby wouldn’t inherit Jodie’s treachery and manipulation. And Jodie? He would cast her out of his life for good.
Starting now. Stergios ruthlessly controlled the pain threatening to erupt, knowing he had to be emotionless if he was going to retaliate. “I’m grateful that you’re pregnant.”
Jodie took one step back and watched him as if he was a predatory animal who was ready to go in for the kill. “What do you mean?”
“Because that means you will never have my baby,” he explained in a disquieting tone. “I’m grateful that my child wouldn’t have you for a mother. A whore, a liar and an outcast.”
She paled. “Yes, it’s a very good thing that you are not the father.”
She wasn’t fighting back. Stergios wanted her to. He didn’t want to see her eyes glistening with unshed tears. He needed answers. “The mother of my child would be—”
“Pure?” she offered. “Compliant?”
“My children deserve a good mother,” he said as his gaze raked over her. “A woman they could respect and trust. A woman who could make them proud.”
Her eyes darkened but she kept her mouth firmly shut. “Goodbye, Stergios,” she finally said and she reached for the door.
“Who’s the father?” he said in a roar.
Her shoulders slumped for a moment. And then, as if she had made a decision, she grabbed the doorknob as if it was a lifeline. “The only thing you need to know is that it’s not you.”
He was suddenly behind her and flattened his hand against the door so she couldn’t open it. He wanted her gone and yet he wanted to dole out her punishment. His world was crashing down around him and the woman who destroyed it was walking away without a backward glance.
Jodie kept her head bent. “I hear the helicopter. Please let me leave.”
“What do you plan to do? Are you keeping the baby?”
She glanced up at him, horrified. “What are you recommending I do?” Her voice was unsettling and he lowered his hand. “Why wouldn’t I keep the baby? Because it’s an inconvenience for you? Because it isn’t yours?”
Did she think he was that kind of monster? His stomach twisted with dread. Jodie had seen him at his worst and this is what she thought of him?
“The sight of you sickens me. Get out,” he said in a threatening growl. “Get out of my house and out of my sight. Get the hell out of my life.”
“I will, Stergios. As fast as I can.”
* * *
Jodie leaned back in her chair and looked outside the window of her apartment. She had always enjoyed New York City in the autumn but lately she had struggled to see the beauty. There was a crisp bite to the late October weather and the leaves were turning crimson and gold, but all she wanted to do was hibernate.
“The apartment is just as I remembered.”
She turned her attention to her father. He sat across from her at the small table as if he had all the time in the world. This wasn’t happening, she thought in a daze but his fading blond hair gleamed under the chandelier. She watched numbly as he reached for a scone from the tiered cake stand.
Why was he here? What did he want? She thought cynically. She hadn’t been able to hide her astonishment when he had called her in the morning and wanted to drop by.
“You haven’t changed a thing from when your mother lived here,” he remarked.
“No, I’m not ready to handle that big of a project,” Jodie murmured. She had inherited the penthouse apartment months ago but she didn’t feel settled. This wasn’t home. Growing up, she had always used it as a layover.
“You look pale,” Gregory Little said as he took a sip of his tea. “Have you been ill?”
No, she was heartbroken but she didn’t dare tell that her father. The man liked to gossip and she didn’t want it getting back to Stergios. No one needed to know that she had difficulty eating and sleeping. She couldn’t focus. Some days it felt as if time went too fast and other days it dragged on.
It was painful loving someone who didn’t love her back. The burden weighed heavily on her like a cloak. She had felt unloved and unwanted many times in her life. She thought she was used to it, but Stergios’s disgust and hatred had knocked her back.
“I’ve been tired since returning from Greece,” she admitted as she reached for her teacup. “There were some people sick on the plane. I’m probably fighting off something like a cold.”
“That’s why you should have your own plane.”