The sting of abandonment registered, deep and true, those flippant words in my father’s letter burning through my brain.
‘You’re pulling out the stops to get what you want now. How do I know you’ll even want to be a father when this baby is a reality? That you won’t simply abandon him or her?’
The hands he’d shoved in his pockets slowly emerged. Purpose vibrated from him. But there was something else. A fleeting look of doubt which evaporated in the next instant as his confidence returned, expanding into the room as he strode forward and sank down in front of me.
This close, the look in his eyes captivated me, made me hold my breath.
‘I’ve experienced what it feels like to believe that fatherhood will never happen for me. The feeling is...indescribable. So perhaps this is one of the things you’ll have to take on faith. I want this child, Sadie.’
The fervour brimming in his voice...
The implacable stare.
That...yearning.
I believed him. But...
‘How long did you see this marriage deal continuing?’
He shrugged. ‘For the sake of the child’s stability and welfare, its first few years at the very least.’
‘Then what?’
‘Then we agree to whatever custody plan works in the best interests of our child.’
The response should have satisfied me, but something cold and tight knotted inside me. Neo might be in full negotiation mode, but at least he was laying all his cards on the table.
Unlike my father, who’d stuck around until the going got tough and then bailed, with a cruel little letter addressed to the daughter he’d claimed to love and cherish. His wife hadn’t even received that courtesy—only a letter from his lawyer, inviting her to sue for divorce on the grounds of abandonment. It was an option my mother was yet to take, the shock and anguish of the abrupt turn her life had taken still keeping her in a fog of despair all these years later.
Wasn’t it better this way? To know what was coming and prepare for it rather than be blindsided by it? Especially when until this morning the possibility that my child was going to start life knowing only one parent had been great? Could I pass up this opportunity on behalf of my child?
Neo leaned forward, bringing his power and his glory and that intoxicating scent into play. With one hand braced next to my thigh, he pinned me in place with his gaze for an interminable moment before he lifted the other hand to rest against my face.
Heat from his palm accelerated my pulse. My unguarded gasp echoed quietly between us, my heart wildly thundering as he slowly glided his thumb over my chin, my lower lip.
My insides were debating whether to flip over or melt when he said, ‘It’s better that we approach this with civility instead of conflict, Sadie.’
Deep, even-toned words that nevertheless gave me a glimpse of what it would be like to keep fighting him.
Jerking away before I did something stupid, like wrap my lips around that masculine thumb, I shook my head. ‘I need time. To think about this.’
Mutiny briefly glinted in his eyes before he gave an abrupt nod and surged to his full height. After a short pace round the living room, he faced me again.
‘I have a family function to attend in Athens tomorrow. A new nephew to meet,’ he said, with a hint of something peculiar in his voice.
I couldn’t tell whether it was anticipation, yearning or bitterness. Perhaps a combination of the three.
‘How old is he?’
‘I’m told he’s almost four months old.’
Curiosity ate at me. ‘How come you’ve never met him before?’
His jaw clenched for a taut stretch. ‘Because no one in my family, including my brother, knew of his existence before a few weeks ago.’
So Axios had been in the dark about his son’s existence?
‘Why?’