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His words did something funny to her insides. “You’re saying you want to be involved in his life?”
His laugh was completely devoid of humour. “I’m saying I’m going to be his life.” He paced across the room, moving away from her but his words seemed to bring him closer somehow. “I have had custody papers drawn up while you’ve been in hospital. Jack will remain here in Italy, with me. I will be solely responsible for his health and well-being, his upbringing. You will get the same courtesy from me now as I have received from you. In two years, we can talk and see if you still feel so righteous in the choices you made.”
Nausea crushed her from the inside out. She shook her head and tears filled her eyes. “No, Fiero. No. That’s not fair.”
“Fair? You want to speak to me of ‘fair’?”
“I’ve told you I’m sorry. Surely you can see why –,”
“I see a boy who calls me Fiero,” he growled. “Who knows nothing about me or my family, knows nothing of Italy. I see a boy who is my spitting image and yet I am a stranger to him.”
Her gut twisted painfully. She sobbed. “I know that. But please, listen to what you’re saying. You’re hurt and you’re angry but taking him from me isn’t the answer.”
“It feels like it is,” he snapped.
“That’s because you’re angry,” she whispered, the words strangled by her tears. “You’re acting out of that emotion, rather than in our son’s best interests. You’re his father and that means putting aside whatever the hell you feel and using your head to choose what’s right for him.”
“Oh, as you did, when you chose to raise him away from me?”
She swallowed. “Yes. Damn it. I didn’t want him growing up believing himself to be the cause of your marriage breakdown. And I definitely didn’t want him being raised by you and Alison, a woman who may very well have hated him – given that he’s proof of your infidelity.”
A muscle jerked in his jaw. Elodie felt as though she was drowning and yet she knew she had to stay calm. To engage her brain and think logically, even as her world was catching fire.
“We’ve both made mistakes,” she warned him carefully. “But this would be the biggest of all. My mistake was one of ignorance. This would be a mistake you wilfully choose, and he will grow to hate you for it.”
Fiero’s eyes flashed with something that – were it not for their antagonistic setting – she might have mistaken for respect. But it was gone again, just as quickly.
“So what do you suggest, Elodie? I don’t have a magical button that can wind back time, unfortunately. So?”
She thought quickly, as she’d been renowned for in her ‘other’ life. Before her parents had died unexpectedly and she’d lived and breathed for her high-flying corporate job. At twenty three she’d held a senior-management position in the successful, publically listed company, because of her no-nonsense approach to work and her ability to distil any situation down and remain result-orientated.
She brought those analytical powers to the fore now.
“You want to be a part of his life,” she murmured. “And you want that to be a considerable part, given what you’ve missed.”
He didn’t react.
“I think you know that taking me out of the equation isn’t right for Jack.”
She was gratified to see agreement shape his features. The man she’d spent the night with three years ago was in there, buried deep beneath his resentment. And it was a resentment she could understand. Damn it, she would never have wished him to find out like this!
“Which means there’s really only one option.”
He continued to stare at her.
She drew in a breath, stilling her nerves in that moment, before speaking words she was certain she’d come to regret. “We find a way to raise him together.”
Fiero shook his head. “Impossibile.”
“It can’t be impossible,” she responded tautly. “You’re angry with me, fine. But we’re his parents, and we owe it to him to find a way to do this. I’m willing to make concessions, to meet you in
the middle. I can move to Italy, Jack and I can find a place near your home –,”
“No.” His eyes were loaded with grim determination. “My son is living with me.”
The edge of the world seemed very close, and just over that edge, there was a pit of despair she was close to tumbling into. “He’s too young. He needs his mother.”
“He has a nanny,” Fiero shrugged.
