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“Yes.”
“When?”
“Is that really important?”
“Probably not.” The fact that he had known was the only thing that really mattered.
Because somehow she was beyond certain his discovery of the packet of pills had led to those divorce papers being drawn up. The only question she didn’t have an answer for was, why had he waited to have the papers served?
But then maybe she had her answer already—in their contract, the clause that stipulated he had to wait until they’d been married exactly three years to divorce her, or forfeit the stocks in Dioletis Industries.
Suddenly the whys and wherefores of his discovery and what she thought it had led to faded into the background as the full implication of his words hit.
“You want me to give you a child.” The horrified shock she felt infused every word and she made no effort to hide it.
His brows drew together as if her response puzzled him, but he said, “Yes.”
“I won’t do it.” She shook her head adamantly and then went to take a fortifying sip of the wine she’d ordered with dinner, only to have the glass shake so badly in her trembling fingers she was forced to give it up. “I won’t.”
His blue gaze narrowed, both his expression and tone taking on a calculating cast. “Not even for your sister and all of those employees you supposedly care so much about?”
“You would have me give up my own child in order to save other families?” she hissed across the table at him with a depth of pain she hadn’t realized he was still capable of drawing forth in her.
“You would not want to give up your child?” he asked, as if curious in a merely academic way.
The jerk. The world-class, professional jerk.
“Surely you know me well enough to know that?” She’d accepted he knew her with far less intimacy than she’d sought to know him, but this was ludicrous.
Even the postman knew Chloe well enough to know she’d never give up her child. Well, okay, maybe not. But the principle was true anyway.
“It is not something one can simply make assumptions about.”
“I’m not your mother, Ariston. She and your father are both idiots, if you want my opinion.” It was one she’d never voiced during their marriage, but really?
That generation of Spiridakous were a mess and Ariston had to realize it. He had almost nothing to do with them himself.
That didn’t mean he enjoyed hearing her say it out loud.
He went stern on her. “I did not ask for it.”
“No, you merely judged me by standards of behavior they set. You know me … or at least you did. You have to know that’s not something I could do.” She took a deep breath, but it didn’t help the anxiety building inside her. “I just can’t.”
“I came to realize that I did not know you at all.”
He for sure hadn’t, if he could suggest something so monstrous. Something that no matter the incentive she would not, or rather could not do.
Standing on shaky legs, she shook her head again, not wanting to look at him, but equally incapable of looking anywhere else. “No. I won’t do it.”
CHAPTER FIVE
FEELING as if she was starring in her own one-act tragedy, Chloe headed out of the restaurant.
How could he expect her to give up their child? Not only a part of her, but a part of him?
Her eyes burned, her throat going tight. She hadn’t hurt this much since the day she’d left Greece.
Even the day their divorce had become final, her grief had been muted by the knowledge she’d had no choice but to leave and the divorce had been inevitable.
His having the papers drawn up had been irrefutable proof to her that no matter how hot the sex between them, no matter how tenderly he sometimes treated her, the reality was that Ariston had seen her as nothing but a business deal. When she’d finally really accepted that, she’d known she had to walk away before she lost herself as her mother had done.
Only she’d now learned that her own actions had precipitated one of the most painful moments of her life—reading those coldly precise divorce papers.
She’d thought she was protecting herself, but in reality she’d undermined her own chances with the man she loved.
She knew how his brain worked. He would have decided she was a cheat, an operator out for what she could get without giving what she promised.
She knew she had every intention of giving the Spiridakous the heir they were so keen on—just not until he admitted he wanted her for more than three years. But he wouldn’t have assumed any such thing.
He did not have a trusting nature.
Realizing Ariston had discovered her use of birth control gave their entire marriage and the end of it a different interpretation. She’d said it didn’t matter when he’d found out, but realized that it did.
