“Fight for custody?” His skin went cold. “You know that I was a pawn in a custody battle between my parents. You know what happened to me and to my family. And now you want me to relive it?”
Her eyes widened. “Stergios, that’s not what I said.”
He had to get out of here before he said or did something he would regret. “I will not beg for a chance to see my child,” he said gruffly as he strode to the door.
“You cannot force me into marriage,” she called after him.
“For years I have gathered wealth and power to protect my family.” He turned around and captured her gaze. When she paled, he knew his eyes shone with bloodlust. “I have made choices that an honorable gentleman wouldn’t just to keep them safe. You will soon discover that I will use every weapon at my disposal to take care of my child.”
* * *
Jodie stared listlessly out the window while she lay in bed. She paid little attention to the glorious view of Athens. Her head still ached from her restless night. She had wept until she had succumbed to a fitful sleep.
Stergios had every right to be angry with her. To hate her. She had lied to him, held back information and created a mess in his life. She knew he was ruthless enough to take her baby. He didn’t play fair and he would cut her out of the baby’s life if he thought she was a threat. She didn’t have the power to fight him.
Jodie tensed when she felt as though she was being watched. Studied. Analyzed. She cast a covert glance at the door and her muscles locked when she saw Stergios standing at the threshold. Her pulse began to gallop. The man looked formidable in his dark gray suit and red tie. She was not ready for another onslaught.
“I haven’t been discharged by the doctor,” she told him.
“I want to apologize about last night,” he said stiffly as he clasped his hands behind his back. “I had just been informed that I was going to be a father and my emotions got the best of me. I didn’t mean to make those threats.”
She knew that wasn’t true. Stergios had meant every word. In any other circumstance, he would have kept his thoughts to himself. But the idea of becoming a father had paralyzed him. He was scared that he was going to live through his childhood nightmare.
That was why he wanted an obedient wife, Jodie decided as she studied his carefully blank expression. It was also why he pushed himself to inhuman lengths to amass incredible wealth and power. He needed to protect and rely on himself so he didn’t have to trust anyone else.
And he had no reason to trust her. She had lied to him, for him, so many times. That ended now. He may never trust her again but he deserved her honesty. “I’m sorry that you found out this way,” she said. “I wish I could make it up to you.”
“There is something you can do,” he said softly as he entered the room.
Alarm sprinted down her spine. She should have known Stergios would play on her guilt and immediately launch into negotiations. “I’m not marrying you because I’m pregnant.”
He shook his head and stepped closer to her bed. “I want you to stay in Greece.”
His request took her by surprise. Wouldn’t he want to hide her away from his colleagues and family? “For how long?”
Stergios gripped the side of her bed, his knuckles white with tension. “I want the baby to be born here. It’s very important to me.”
She knew that was an understatement and she wondered why he was downplaying it. Stergios was proud of his heritage and would want to share every aspect of it with his child. She wanted her baby to recognize his home and have an unbreakable sense of belonging. To find comfort in traditions and rituals handed down from his father.
But where would that leave her? This wasn’t where she belonged. She had constantly been reminded that this was not her home or her family. If she granted Stergios’s request, was it the first step to make her an outsider in her baby’s life?
“My...my life is in New York.” That was where her friends lived. They were her support system.
“I know that I’m asking a lot.” His eyes were watchful as though he could read her every thought. “But if you stay here, I can attend the doctor’s visits. I can be part of the pregnancy.”
An image wavered in front of her. She saw Stergios’s hand curved along her pregnant stomach. His touch was possessive and tender and his eyes were wide with wonder. He shared one of those special smiles with her as their baby kicked against his hand.
She blinked hard and the image disappeared. Jodie shifted against her pillow as she tried to ease the jittery feeling. Why had she imagined that? It was pure fantasy. She shouldn’t make a decision based on a dream. “You won’t have time to be part of it.”