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She lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes. “I’ve done a lot of dumb things, but you can’t seriously be questioning that—look at him! His eyes, his hair, his smile…”
“Looks don’t mean anything,” he grunted, primed for a fight. “You could’ve been fucking anybody when I was back in Connecticut during the week.”
She glared at him. “I could have been, but I wasn’t! I loved you.”
“If you loved me, you wouldn’t have dropped me like a hot potato. If you loved me, you would’ve given me a chance to explain—let me prove how I felt about you… and if you really loved me, Lena, you sure as fuck wouldn’t have hidden my kid from me!”
“It wasn’t that simple,” she hissed under her breath. “If I’d told you, Apollo would’ve found out. Once he knew, he would have forced you to marry me and—”
“Sweetheart, your brother’s a tough guy, but he couldn’t force me to do shit!”
“Mick, it was really complicated and—”
“Cut the shit, Lena.” He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “There’s more to this story and you’re going to tell me the truth. You owe me that much.”
“It’s not…” Her voice trailed off and she looked away, swiping at the tears leaking out the sides of her eyes.
“You kept my kid from me for three damn years and I deserve the truth. Talk to me. What did I ever do to make you think you couldn’t tell me we’d made a baby?”
Her tears were falling faster now and she covered her eyes with one hand.
Mick was fighting a huge surge of emotions, everything from fury to excitement to confusion. Watching Lena cry added regret to everything else he was struggling with because as frustrated as he was with her, there was no doubt she was suffering as much as he was.
“Please,” he said more softly than before. “Tell me the truth. Whether you cheated or just changed your mind—I don’t care. Just help me understand everything that happened so I can wrap my head around this. Please.”
It took a moment for her to compose herself but she used a napkin to wipe her eyes and then fumbled with her purse. Her hands shook as she pulled out her wallet. She opened it and dug behind a picture of Mihalis, taking out what looked like a piece of paper. Without meeting his eyes, she held it out to him.
He took it and frowned. “What is this?”
“Open it.”
He scowled but unfolded what turned out to be a check. It was made out to Lena in the amount of $250,000.00. And signed by his mother. For a second, he didn’t understand what he was looking at, but when he focused everything went red. The memo line had three bitingly succinct words: LEAVE MICHAEL ALONE.
11
The roaring in his ears was almost painful, and his hands dropped to the table as he tried to breathe through it. His mother had done this to him. To Lena. To their son. His snobby, meddling, overbearing mother had tried to buy Lena off. She’d disliked the woman he’d wanted to marry so much she’d given her a quarter of a million dollars to break his heart and disappear with his son. And Lena had taken the check but hadn’t cashed it. He wasn’t just furious with his mother and devastated about how much time he’d missed with his son, he was still confused about why Lena hadn’t come to him.
“I…” His voice was raspy, hoarse, and he tried to clear it.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, still not looking at him.
“I’m, uh… damn.” He rubbed his hands down his face and finally managed to look into her teary eyes. She seemed as devastated as he felt and the need to touch her nearly overwhelmed him. He reached across the table, horrified to see his hands shaking slightly, and held them out to her. She hesitated at first, but then gently took them, letting her fingers twine with his.
“Tell me everything,” he rasped, not trusting his voice but holding on to her hands like a lifeline.
She nodded slowly. “She said if I stayed with you, your father wouldn’t allow you to work at the firm because I would never fit in.” She shuddered out another breath. “That I would embarrass all of you… that my family’s little shipping company was beneath you.”
Mick’s stomach was threatening to revolt and he took a few slow, steady breaths before squeezing her fingers tightly. “God dammit, Lena… I’m so sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” She finally brought her eyes up to meet his. They stared at each other until she pulled her hands free and slowly rose to her feet. Never breaking her gaze, she walked around the table and paused beside him. She slowly reached out and put her arms around his shoulders. He hesitated a fraction of a second before letting his head fall against her stomach and wrapping his arms around her torso.
Neither of them moved for long minutes and one of her hands drifted to his cheek, cupping it, tenderly holding his face, as if she felt his pain.
“I can’t sit here any longer,” he whispered against her. “Can we walk somewhere?”
“Sure.” She stepped back as he dropped some money on the table for their wine.
“Come on.” He tugged at her hand and she slid it into his as they exited the restaurant.
