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‘Oh, I can, Nikos—I can.’ Fury charged through her like a tornado. Her heart raced and each breath she took became deeper. He was killing her love, shattering any hope she had harboured. Despite the turmoil her mind was in, the irrational sway of emotions, she flung the words he wanted to hear forcefully at him. ‘I’m pregnant, Nikos. I’m pregnant with your child.’
‘Why have you come all this way, Serena? What exactly do you want from me?’
He stepped closer, towering over her, intimidating. She hated the way her breath caught in her throat, hated the way her body longed for his even as his icy words splintered around her.
‘I don’t want anything from you. At least not from Nikos the fisherman—but that isn’t you, is it?’ She lifted her chin, aiming for defiance—which was far from the uncertainty she was fighting so hard to conceal.
His eyes narrowed and he pierced her with a fierce stare. ‘How much?’
Serena’s mind swam with confusion. What was he talking about? ‘How much what?’
She backed away, unable to deal with the close proximity of his body. How had she ever thought coming to the island was a good idea? She’d wanted to tell him face-to-face to convince herself that any hope of more was futile, knowing it would be the only way to prevent that what if feeling.
‘Money.’
He spat the word at her so venomously she stepped back even further, until the backs of her legs met the large rock she’d been sitting on whilst waiting for him. She’d never thought telling him would be easy, but this was totally unexpected. Did he think she was here just for financial gain?
‘I don’t want your money.’ Her head began to swim and giddiness threatened, but she couldn’t stop now. Not until she’d told him everything. ‘All I wanted to do was tell you in person and leave.’
She looked up at him, wishing things were different—that he hadn’t lied, that he hadn’t said the words that still replayed over and over in her mind. ‘You will tell me.’ The insistent way he’d delivered them had left her in no doubt that fathering a child was the last thing he wanted.
She took in a deep and silent breath and thought of her sister, and the heartbreak she and her husband had been through each time IVF had failed. It seemed so unfair to find out that she’d become pregnant so easily when her sister was breaking her heart, wanting a child. It was just too cruel, and it had left her unable to say anything to her family, let alone confide in her sister. The only person she’d told was Nikos. And right now he was making her feel alone and isolated.
Her time with Nikos had been nothing more than a holiday romance—one of many for him, she was sure. But for her it had changed everything—for ever—and he’d just confirmed her worst fear. He was going to turn his back on her and his child.
She briefly closed her eyes against the torrent of emotions that coursed through her. Pain induced by Nikos, infused with the ever-present hurt of knowing she’d been an unexpected addition to her family, forcing her parents to stay together. If only Nikos felt something for her everything might be different, but that was evidently a hopeless dream. She should walk away now—for her baby’s sake, if not hers.
‘You think you can tell me I am about to be a father and then just leave?’
He moved away from her, towards the ebbing tide, and turned to look out at the sea. His broad shoulders were tense, but she was glad she wasn’t under his scrutiny any longer.
I don’t know what to do. The words screamed inside her head as intense pain stabbed at her heart. She pressed the pads of her fingers to her closed eyes. Going down that line of thought now wouldn’t accomplish anything.
Guilt boiled inside her—as if she’d stolen something from her sister. Especially as she knew there wouldn’t be any more IVF for her after the last treatment. Her sister and her husband didn’t have any savings left.
‘How can we raise a child, Nikos?’
Her words were a tremulous whisper as she moved to stand beside him. The rush of the waves suddenly sounded loud on the beach as she looked at his profile. Not for the first time, she wondered who this man was.
Images of the handsome man she’d had an affair with filled her mind as she looked away and out across the sea. The setting sun was almost gone from the sky. But she didn’t see its beauty. All she saw was Nikos, the man she’d given her heart to, believing she loved him and that he might love her. During those long, hot days his dark hair had gleamed beneath the sun and his blue eyes had filled with desire each time they’d met.
