‘Thea knew.’ Of course Thea knew. Who else would Helena turn to? And why would Thea mention it to him? She could never have imagined that Helena would jump into her place so fast. No, he couldn’t blame Thea for this one. Only Helena. ‘Who else?’
‘Um...my father. And Isabella.’ Not his father, of course. If Ezekiel had known, this would have come up sooner, the moment the old man had realised they were married. He’d have rubbed this in just to cause Flynn pain.
But Thomas. Thomas had known and he’d stood there and nodded when Flynn explained that he and Helena were getting married. Had laughed when Ezekiel talked about Flynn getting Helena pregnant—and had never mentioned that he wouldn’t be the first.
‘They sent me away,’ Helena said, those bluebell eyes still wide but somehow no longer so innocent. ‘As soon as they found out they got me out of town, somewhere I couldn’t be a scandal or a bother.’ She sounded so broken, so distraught, he almost wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her. But he knew that he was still seeing her as his Helena. And she wasn’t any more. She was a stranger, one who’d lied about who she was, what she could be to him. What he could be to her.
If she’d truly loved him, if she’d really wanted their future together, she’d have told him about her baby. And if she’d told him before he fell...at least he could have discussed it rationally, seen if there was still a chance for them to make this work. Maybe not with all the hearts, flowers and romance they’d hoped for, but a pragmatic business marriage as originally planned.
But she’d let him fall in love with her then torn his heart out by telling him that his whole image of her was a lie. That she wasn’t the person she’d promised to be.
He’d told her everything—how it had felt, growing up as the spare part in the Ashton household, knowing he wasn’t wanted or needed any more, once his parents had Zeke. She must have known exactly what it would do to him, knowing that she’d done that to her own child—given it away to an uncertain fate. And she’d kept it from him until it was too late.
Until he loved her.
It was calculated, cruel, and the Helena he’d fallen for would never have done it. That was what he needed to remember. The Helena he loved didn’t really exist. Instead, all he was left with was a wife he barely knew and would never, ever understand.
‘This is what your father meant, isn’t it? When he said you were making up for past mistakes.’ Flynn lowered his head and laughed, all bitterness and no humour. ‘What? You think marrying one poor adopted boy makes up for the girl you gave away without a second thought?’
‘No! Of course I don’t. You don’t understand—’
‘You’re right—I don’t understand!’ Flynn roared, tearing himself away from the door as he strode across to the bed when she sat. He wouldn’t touch her—couldn’t bring himself to—but he wasn’t going to keep a safe distance either. Helena scooted up to cower against the headboard anyway. Another sign she’d never known him at all.
‘I don’t understand how you could have sat there at lunch yesterday and listened to me telling you how I wasn’t wanted—by my birth parents or my adoptive ones—and promised to make a better life, a better family with me, when all along you were no better than any of them.’ The shame of the secrets and feelings he’d admitted to this woman burned. Maybe she hadn’t been laughing at him all along, but she’d still let him spill his guts while she gave up nothing at all.
She’d still lied to him about the person she was.
‘I thought I knew you. Thought we knew each other,’ he said. ‘But the woman I bought that ring for could never give away her own child.’
Helena’s face paled, spots of bright red blazing on her cheekbones in contrast. Tearing her engagement ring from her finger, she threw it across the bed towards him. It clattered off the edge and on to the floorboards, but he made no move to retrieve it. What would he do with such a thing now, anyway?
‘You thought you knew me? All because you could pick out a ring I liked?’ Helena hurled the words at him as if he were in the wrong. As if she had any grounds to argue at all.
‘Because I thought we’d been open and honest with each other!’ Gripping the end of the bed frame, Flynn tried not to remember how close he’d felt to her, here in this very room.
Helena shook her head, her blonde hair curling wildly in the air. ‘No. You thought you’d found someone who fitted your plan, your schedule. You thought you could make me the wife you needed. You married me for my name, remember, nothing more. I was just your convenient stand-in bride.’
‘You know that’s not all you were.’ If that were so, why would it hurt so much now to know the truth?
‘Wasn’t I? Then why were you so desperate for me to sign my life away to you?’
‘I wanted a future with you! A family!’ He was shouting, he knew it, knew everyone in the house must be able to hear them. He didn’t care. Not any more.
‘But you never asked me if that was what I wanted!’ Helena yelled back, up on her knees now as she faced him. ‘You say you wanted a family, but all you really wanted was an heir. Something to legitimise you as a real Ashton, to give you full control of the company. Why else were you so set on marrying Thea? And why did you marry me with no contract, no agreement?’
‘Don’t you dare.’ Cold fury ran through him like a wave. ‘You think you can tell me why I wanted a child of my own? You, of all people? Who had that and just gave it away. Gave her away. You called her a mistake.’
Helena reared back as if he’d slapped her. ‘You have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Oh, I think I do,’ Flynn answered. ‘I imagine it went something like this. Poor little rich girl, doesn’t get as much notice as her clever older sister. Wants Daddy to pay her some attention too so she starts acting out—the usual teenage rebellion. Dates inappropriate boys, stays out partying—all the classics. But one day she goes too far, realises she’s pregnant. Maybe you didn’t even know who the father was.’ She flinched at that, and he knew he’d hit a nerve. Part of him took a vicious pleasure in the fact. ‘So you go crying to big sis, make her tell Daddy for you. And Daddy fixes everything, right? Sends you away to have the baby then palms it off to somebody else—no harm, no foul. No damage done—except to that poor kid’s life.’
She jerked back at his words, as if they caused physical pain.
Good. He wanted her to hurt. Wanted her to feel the same pain he did.
If he couldn’t love her any more, he had to break things between them altogether. Their marriage would never be anything more than a convenience, from this day forward.
It was all over for them now. It had to be.
* * *
Helena stared at him, horrified. How could this be the same man she’d shared this bed with the night before? Or even the man she’d worshipped at fourteen for his kind understanding? This Flynn was someone she barely recognised. ‘You’re right. You don’t know me at all.’ No more than she knew him, apparently.
‘On the contrary, I believe I’ve finally got a glimpse of the real you.’ Flynn’s mouth twisted in a cruel sneer. ‘And the sight sickens me.’
He didn’t know, Helena told herself. He didn’t know the truth of what had happened to her that night. But he wouldn’t listen either. Just like her father never had.
She couldn’t forgi
ve him for that.
‘Trust me, the feeling is mutual.’
‘What did you expect, Helena?’ Flynn threw his arms wide, the injured party, hurt and wounded at her hand. And he was, she knew. She should have told him the truth from the start, let him make his own choice with all the information. But things had moved so fast, and she couldn’t bear the thought of losing him so soon after he’d finally become hers. She’d wanted them to build a relationship that could survive the truth.
Great job, Helena.
‘Did you think you could keep it a secret forever?’ Flynn asked. ‘Or at least make me fall so in love with you that it wouldn’t matter what horrific things you’d done in your past?’
She felt the colour rise in her cheeks, warm and humiliating. That was, of course, exactly what she’d thought. Or hoped, at least.
She should have known better. People didn’t ever really forgive, not when it mattered. Even taking her sister’s place and marrying Flynn hadn’t been enough for their father to forgive either of them. Why should Flynn be any different?
‘I thought you’d respect me enough to listen to me when I told you. To hear my reasons and try to understand.’
‘You want me to listen? I’ll listen. Tell me, Helena. How did it feel to give away your own child to a total stranger? Did you feel bad for a whole day, or just until your daddy gave you your credit card back so you could go shoe shopping?’
He didn’t have a clue. Didn’t know her or care for her enough to give her the benefit of the doubt, even.
‘It’s all black and white to you, isn’t it?’ she said, staring at the man she’d thought she loved. ‘On-plan or off-schedule. Right or wrong. Us and them. It doesn’t occur to you that people might have reasons or beliefs or feelings different to yours, does it? You can’t imagine any scenario in which I might have done the right thing.’
‘The right thing? How can giving away a child ever be the right thing?’ Flynn stood gripping the frame at the foot of the bed, his arms stretched out to the sides as he loomed over her. Helena swallowed, her mouth dry as the image of him there, so much stronger and more powerful than her, took her back to another awful day. The worst of her life from the day her mother died until now.