“Because you must never be inconvenienced,” she said mockingly. “The great Gabriel Santos must never have even a hint of family domesticity in his selfish bachelor’s penthouse!”
Silence fell over the Ferrari.
“You love your son,” Gabriel said. It sounded like a question.
Pushing up her glasses, she glared at him. “Of course I love him. What kind of question it that?”
Gabriel’s black eyes burned through her. “So how could you allow yourself to get pregnant without also giving him a father? You always told me you wanted marriage, Laura. A home near your family. A career that would allow you time to raise your children. How could you toss all that aside for the sake of a one-night stand?”
She swallowed, blinking back tears. Yes, how could she?
His eyes turned back to the road. “You quit without notice last year,” he said coldly. “That was inconvenient.”
She stiffened. “Inconvenient to replace me in your office—or your bed?”
His lips tightened. “Both.”
“So difficult, and yet you didn’t bother to even try to talk me out of it.”
They stopped at a red light. He turned on her, his eyes glinting with fury. “I let you go, Laura. For your own good, so you could have the life you wanted. But instead of following your dreams, you threw it all away. You made my sacrifice worthless. How could you? How could you be so careless?”
“It was an accident!”
“I told you.” His eyes were hard. “There are no accidents. Only mistakes.”
“And I told you, my baby is not a mistake!”
“Are you saying you got pregnant on purpose?”
Her mouth went dry.
He waited, then the light turned green. His lip twisted as he turned back to the road. “Every child deserves to be born into a stable home with two parents. I’m disappointed in you, Laura. You should have been careful.”
Laura stiffened. “Careful like who? Like you?”
“Yes.”
She longed to have the satisfaction of wiping that scornful, judgmental look off his face. She wondered what he would say if she told him that he was the father.
But she knew the satisfaction would be short-lived. If he knew Robby was his child, he might feel duty-bound to take responsibility for a child he couldn’t love, and be pinned down to a domestic life he’d never wanted. And he would hate not just Laura for that, he’d hate Robby, as well.
She had to keep the secret. Had to. Leaning back against the black leather seat, she pressed her lips shut. Just a few more hours, she told herself desperately. Tomorrow she and Robby would be on the plane back home, a million dollars richer.
“I thought family meant everything to you.”
She opened her eyes, blinking back tears. “It does.”
“I thought you were better than that.”
“Don’t you think I want a father for Robby? Don’t you think I want to give him the same loving family I had?”
“So why didn’t you?” Gabriel took a deep breath and said in a low voice, “Badly done, Laura.”
She started to deliver a sharp retort; then stopped when she saw the stark expression on his face.
“Why are you like this?” she said. “Why do you care so much?”
“I don’t,” he said coldly.