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‘And, to that end, you’d need to give up whatever you’re doing with Carlo’s business interests.’
His eyes narrowed imperceptibly and danger whipped through the air. ‘I will not do that.’
‘Then I can’t marry you,’ she said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest in a classic gesture of rejection. ‘So we might as well start talking about custody.’
He held a hand up, his nostrils flaring. ‘You would honestly be happy to give up without even trying?’
He noticed the way his accusation landed; she winced, her face scrunching up, and she looked away from him. ‘I’m here, aren’t I?’
A familiar rush of victory throbbed inside Antonio. ‘Yes.’
‘But I can’t marry a man who hates my brother and my father. They’re—’ her voice cracked unexpectedly ‘—they’re important to me.’
He couldn’t help the snort of derision. ‘So much so you change your name and hide from them in England?’
‘I’m not hiding from them!’ she retorted swiftly. ‘I’m...living my own life. And is it any wonder? With men like you waiting for me as part of the diSalvo legacy?’
He ground his teeth together, refusing to analyse why her words bothered him. ‘Fine. You love them. I hate them. That doesn’t matter.’ He slashed his hand through the air. ‘Our baby is separate to that.’
Her expression was pure exasperation. ‘Our baby is separate to that? You can’t seriously—’
‘What?’ he demanded, waiting for her to finish her sentence.
‘You’re like a child,’ she snapped, lifting her fingertips to her temple and rubbing.
He might have laughed were it not for how ludicrous her statement was. No one had ever called him childish. Even when he was a child!
‘Careful, querida, or I might be tempted to remind you of how very adult I can be...’
He was rewarded by a hint of a blush spreading through her cheeks. ‘That won’t be necessary.’ The words were so clipped and cold, yet he smiled. A wolfish smile, because he could see the fine tremble in her knees and the flush of her cheeks and he knew that whatever had drawn them together in the first instance was still electrifying the air between them.
‘I won’t raise a baby in an environment of hate.’
‘Then let’s not hate one another,’ he proposed.
‘You know what I mean,’ she said, shaking her head so pale blonde hair flew around her shoulders, catching the afternoon sunlight in a way that made him think of the beach and lazy afternoons on the deck of his yacht. ‘My father and brother will be a part of this child’s life.’
That, he hadn’t considered and the suggestion was immediately unwelcome.
‘What’s the baby’s first birthday going to be like, with you and Carlo glaring at one another across the cake?’
‘We shall have two parties.’ He shrugged, as though her concern was really so easily solved.
She rolled her eyes, a habit he should have been bothered by but instead found strangely addictive. ‘So you’re just going to pretend my family don’t exist?’
‘I didn’t say that,’ he responded instantly.
‘Oh, of course!’ She slapped her palm to her forehead in an exaggerated gesture of recollection. ‘You’re going to be busy eviscerating them financially.’
He shrugged. ‘What I do with my business has nothing to do with our child. He will not be affected by this.’
‘So you won’t raise him to hate all diSalvos, as you were raised?’
‘I was not raised to hate your family,’ he ground out. ‘Your brother almost broke my father. Your brother, your father. This is their doing.’
‘Fine,’ she snapped, crossing her arms once more. ‘They started it. So you can still be the bigger person and walk away.’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘It’s too late for that.’
