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So Mauri...Rico just hit him with his next question.
“You’re my father, right?”
That question had come much later than she’d anticipated. Her knees still almost gave at finally hearing it.
Every nerve quivered as she waited for Richard’s answer.
By now she knew anything she’
d ever feared on Mauri’s...Rico’s behalf would never come to pass. Richard, for all his darkness and complexities, was proving to be a better father to Rico than she could have ever wished for. He was beyond amazing with him. She believed he either loved their son or felt all he was capable of feeling for him. Rico would be safe and cherished with him. And Richard had revealed himself to be a tremendous role model, too. Powerful, resolute, committed, brilliant, everything a boy could look up to and wish to emulate. Not to mention that she didn’t think Rico could go back to a life without him.
What she feared now was all on her own behalf.
If Richard revealed the truth and demanded to be in his son’s life indefinitely, she could only continue to do what she’d been doing. Make his presence in their lives as welcome as could be. She wanted Rico to have his father.
But his desire for her had come to an abrupt end the moment she’d gone from black widow in his eyes to hardworking doctor and the steadfast mother of his child.
She could have lived with that, if only she didn’t yearn for him. More than ever. For against all her efforts and better judgment, what she felt for him made her previous emotions fade into nothing. If she’d loved him before, she worshipped him now, while he’d never felt anything beyond desire for her. A desire that had ceased to exist.
But she might have been able to put up with seeing him regularly, as she’d been doing so far, even knowing he’d rather she wasn’t part of the equation. What made it untenable was the thought that he might, probably would, one day find the one woman for him, fall head over heels in love with her as his friends had with their wives and marry her.
How could she survive watching him with another woman up close for the rest of her life, the life she knew she’d spend alone if she couldn’t have him?
A one-note ring made her jump. She felt around in her pocket frantically before she realized it was Richard’s phone.
He answered at once. “Numair?” After moments of silence, he exhaled. “Mauricio...Ricardo, I’m sorry, but I have to run. Numair, the partner I told you about, said it’s an emergency. I don’t know if I’ll be back in time to have our outing, but we’ll continue our discussion later, I promise.”
Isabella stumbled away, ran into the study. Listening to him practically run out of the house, she sagged down.
She’d thought Richard would finally tell Rico the truth and she’d start dealing with the new reality, for worse, or worst, and be done with it.
Now she had to wait. For his return.
To start a new chapter with his son.
And to close hers forever.
Ten
Richard didn’t know whether to feel thankful or enraged at Numair’s summons. He’d interrupted one of his life’s most crucial moments.
But there was one rule they lived by in Black Castle. If one partner called, everyone dropped everything at once to answer.
But what would he have done if Numair’s call hadn’t taken precedence over even Mauricio’s...Ricardo’s...Rico’s question?
He’d wanted to snatch him in his arms and tell him, “Yes. I’m your father. And I’m never leaving your side ever again.”
Now he’d never know if he would have.
Those past weeks with him, with Isabella, had turned him inside out. He felt raw, giddy, ecstatic, off balance. And terrified. As much as he’d once been for his family’s safety.
He’d been scared of making one wrong move and shattering that unexpected perfection that had sprung between them all. He’d battered his way through every personal situation in his life, because he’d been dealing with men who thrived on adversity, equals who only got stronger with conflict. But mainly because he’d known when all was said and done, he’d mattered to no one. So nothing had really mattered.
But although he’d been in constant agony needing Isabella, he’d been unable to reach out and take her. Even if she still wanted him, he’d feared reintroducing such tempestuous passion would destroy their delicate new status quo, messing up this harmony he hadn’t dreamed they could ever have.
That had only been his initial fear. He’d progressed to worse possibilities soon after. That if he pursued her, she’d let him have her again, but that intimacies would never let her see him beyond sex. Knowing the real her now, that would have never been enough. He feared she would have pushed him away sooner or later, but remained always near for Rico’s sake. He had no doubt someone as magnificent as her would have eventually found someone worthy to worship her.
He didn’t want to imagine what he was capable of doing if he saw her in another man’s arms.
