AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know very well how the birds and bees work. You of all people should be aware of that,” he replied. “What I don’t understand is why you thought to come all this way to tell me you’re going to have a baby.”
“Firstly, you wouldn’t answer my calls.” She licked her lips, and they were dry as the outback. Her throat wasn’t much better. “Secondly, it’s your child.”
“And you have proof of that?”
“You’re the only man I’ve slept with. Ever,” Marianna replied. “Unless you think this was an immaculate conception, I don’t see how else I could have gotten pregnant.”
“Your track record for telling the truth doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.” He nailed her with a hard stare. “Let’s look at the facts. I shot down Daniel’s business deal and he was pissed. Not an hour later you give me a false name because you were pretending to be someone else for the day. You say you’re on the pill. Suddenly, you show up at my doorstep claiming you’re pregnant and that I’m the father. Does none of that sound even remotely suspicious to you?”
Marianna swallowed. Sure, when he put it like that it sounded awfully suspicious. “I told you,” she said. “I had no idea who you were when I approached you.”
“Then why the false name?”
She squirmed in her seat. “I wanted some escapism, like I said. I’m telling you the truth now,” she replied softly, fighting against the humiliation burning her cheeks. “It’s your baby.”
Silence.
“One day this child will ask about their father,” she added, her voice tight and gravel-edged. “I thought you’d want a say in whether or not they grow up knowing you.”
For a second, Nico’s hard, emotionless mask slipped, and something tender and terrified streaked across his face. But it was gone before Marianna could fully grasp what he might be feeling. Nico leaned back against the armchair and raked a hand through his hair, as if trying to process what was happening.
“What are you asking for?”
“I want you to marry me,” she said.
…
Nico sat as still as he could. He didn’t want to believe that Marianna was carrying his child. There were too many red flags about this whole situation. What did she and Daniel really want? Because Nico knew one thing for certain, people always wanted something from him. The fact that they came all this way…no, they were after something. They had to be.
Perhaps they planned to blackmail him into giving them money or supporting their business. Maybe they planned to go to the media if he said no, in an attempt to ruin his reputation.
What if she’s telling the truth?
There was a chance, no matter how slim. And something deep down in his gut told him to believe Marianna. But that inkling was dangerous. It would set him up for disappointment…or ruin of some kind. Which meant he needed to think carefully about how to proceed.
Nico had never thought he would have children, not after all that had happened to him.
But if Marianna was pregnant and the child was his…then he wasn’t going to abandon them like his parents had abandoned him. If he was to be a father, then his child would have a home. Parents. Security. A bright and comfortable future. All the things he’d wished for while lying in the darkness blanketing the dorm-style orphanage sleeping hall. He’d never let any child of his feel unwanted or unloved, even if they were unplanned.
“What if I don’t want to marry you?” he asked.
“I would understand that.” She swallowed. “But I still wanted to give you the option to be part of the child’s life.”
“We don’t need marriage for that,” he said.
Her eyes widened. “You would fight me for custody?”
“If the child was mine…of course.” He cocked his head. Sure, he sounded like a bastard right now, but pushing her buttons would be the quickest way to see if she’d crumble on her story. If Marianna was lying, this would be the time for the truth to come out. “I’m a man of principals and I will hold up my end of the parental duties. That extends beyond finances.”
“You want your child to be shuttled back and forth across the planet?” she said. Her breath was coming faster now. She was panicking. “Wouldn’t you prefer to be married so at least our child is born under legitimate circumstances?”
She had him.
He had no doubt Australia was easygoing as far as religion was concerned, but in Greece people still lived by very traditional values. A child born out of wedlock would be at a disadvantage. Looked down on. The older generations still imposed their beliefs onto those younger than them, and Nico himself had been on the receiving end of such judgement. It was the exact reason he’d been put out of a job and out of two relationships he cared deeply about. Because no matter how much he’d wanted to be accepted, he’d always be an orphaned bastard.
He couldn’t do that to his child.
“Do you believe me?” she asked.
Dammit, he did. The way she’d behaved that afternoon told him she wasn’t experienced. And though he had no reason to believe her, his gut told him she wasn’t lying. And his gut was usually right.
