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“Didn’t you suggest a DNA test at the beginning? And now you’re jumping down my throat for following your advice?”
“That’s not why I’m telling you to adult-the-fuck-up, Nico, and you know it. The DNA test is fine, it’ll give you closure on that issue and you won’t ever be able to think ‘what if’ about the baby, because you’ll know either way,” he said. “My question is, what are you going to do when you get the answer? Because hiding out here like some kind of demented hibernating bear isn’t a long-term option. There’s only two outcomes to the test.”
“If it’s not my kid, then she’ll be out on her ass.”
“And if it is?”
That was the more challenging one. Because it would confirm that he and Marianna would be connected for the rest of their lives. They would share something precious and wonderful, but it didn’t change that things were fundamentally broken between them. They weren’t together for love, she’d made that clear. She loved another man. He couldn’t stand the thought of her being in the house with him, pretending that they were one big happy family, when it was nothing but bullshit.
It was clear that when Nico got close to someone, he invented deeper feelings. He’d imagined it with Alethea, and he’d imagined it with Marianna. Was he that desperate to have a family that he would fabricate whatever his heart wanted?
Pathetic.
“What did you expect would happen?” Dion asked. “You married her knowing it was out of obligation to the kid. So I don’t see what the big deal is if she’s got feelings for someone else. And the thing about her loving that other guy…” He shrugged. “I get why you’re upset, but it’s not like you’re in a romantic relationship with her. You didn’t marry for love.”
Nico swallowed down the sick feeling in the back of his throat. But he had been romantically involved with her. That night after her appointment was real. They’d bonded. Connected on a deeper level. Or at least, that’s what he’d thought. But Marianna was obviously a better liar than he’d given her credit for. She acted so innocent and sweet, but now he didn’t know what to believe.
Was that time in the pool really her first time? Or had she been looking to hook some dumb, rich guy by acting coy?
“No, you’re right. We’re not in a romantic relationship,” Nico lied. “But I at least thought she’d wait a while before bringing another man into our house.”
“You don’t know anything has happened between them,” Dion reasoned.
He gestured around the room. “I’ve been here the last few days. For all I know, they were fucking all over my house.”
Dion sighed. “For what it’s worth, she sounded genuinely worried when I called.”
“She’s a great actress.” But even as the anger and resentment burned brightly, guilt stabbed him in the gut. The thought of her being home, worrying about him, made him feel like an asshole. That vision was quickly overtaken, however. “Is he still there?”
“Her friend?” Dion shrugged. “I don’t know.”
No doubt he would have tried to comfort her. It was obvious from the second he’d come face-to-face with Julian that the man was in love with her.
Maybe it would be better for you both if she left. They can live happily ever fucking after in Australia.
But what about their child? If it even was his…
“Ugh.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I can’t stand this. I’m going around in circles and I don’t even know what I want anymore.”
Except he did know what he wanted—the whole package. A sexy, loving wife, a gorgeous, healthy baby. Family portraits and movie nights and vacations and more babies to come. But wanting those things was terrifying, because it opened him up. Made him vulnerable. And that was something he categorically could not do to himself again.
“Don’t worry about what you want,” Dion replied. “As I said before, there are two outcomes. If it’s not your kid, then it’s not your problem. If it is, you need to figure out how to proceed.”
“If it’s mine, I’m not going to let her keep the child from me,” he said. “I won’t leave my kid to grow up without a father.”
“Has she made any threats?”
He paused. “No.”
From day one, Marianna had wanted a solution where the baby had access to both parents. It was everything else that posed a minefield of emotional turmoil. Were they supposed to act like husband and wife in public? In private? If they stopped sleeping in the same bed, did that preclude them from taking lovers? At the beginning, he wouldn’t have thought it so bad. But now…
He didn’t want anyone else, and that was a huge problem. Because wanting her put him on the back foot, giving her the upper hand. He couldn’t have it. Alethea had always been in that position—she had the family, the money, the power to choose what happened to their child. And all of it left him broken and alone.
He couldn’t go through that again.
