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He would have to give her the truth.
It would hurt her, but maybe that would be a good thing. Then she would know exactly what kind of man he was. Which was definitely not the kind of man she could have sex that meant something with.
She might not want to have anything to do with you after that.
His chest tightened with a regret and disappointment he didn’t want to feel, so he ignored it, placing his hands on the sill and staring sightlessly at the rooftops of Paris.
‘I was married years ago,’ he said into the silence. ‘Both of us were very young—too young, as it turned out. She found me...difficult. And Iwasdifficult. But I didn’t know that she was so unhappy.’ He paused, the words catching unexpectedly in his throat. ‘At least not until she left me for someone else.’
Leonie was silent behind him.
‘That someone else was an old enemy of my family’s,’ he went on. ‘Someone who befriended me after my parents died and became a mentor to me. I told him about my marriage difficulties in the hope that he’d give me some advice, and he did. All the while using what I said to seduce my wife away from me.’
His grip on the sill tightened, his nails digging into the paintwork.
‘And that’s not all. I didn’t realise that Anna was pregnant when she left me for him. In fact, I only found out when he came to tell me that not only was the baby mine, but he’d organised it so that legally he was the baby’s father. I could never claim him.’
There was a soft, shocked sound from behind him, but he ignored it.
‘This enemy was a powerful man,’ he said roughly, ‘and even though I tried to uncover what he’d done I was unable to. I was young and had no influence, no power and no money.’
He paused yet again, trying to wrestle the burning rage that ate away at him under his control again.
‘I felt I had no choice. If I wanted my son I would have to take him by force. And so I planned to do that. I crashed a party they were giving and tried to confront the man who’d taken my child. But I was...angry. So very angry. And I ended up frightening my son. He ran straight into my enemy’s arms—’
His voice cracked and he had to fight to keep it level.
‘I knew then I had to let him go,’ he went on, more levelly this time. ‘That I had to let everything go. And so I did.’
Even though it had cut him in half. Even though it had caused his heart to shrivel up and die in his chest.
‘I cut my marriage and my son out of my life, out of my memory. I pretended that it never happened, that he never existed. And then...then I found a woman in the streets. A woman who was defacing my car. I found out her name. Leonie de Riero. The long-lost, much-loved daughter of Victor de Riero.’
Cristiano let go of the windowsill and turned around to face the woman in the bed.
‘Victor de Riero is the man who first stole my wife and then stole my child from me. And he owes me a debt that I will collect.’ He stared at her, let her see the depth of his fury. ‘With you.’
Leonie clutched the sheet tight in her hands, unable to process what Cristiano had just told her.
He stood with the window at his back, his hands at his sides, his fingers curled into fists. His beautiful face was set in hard lines, the look in his emerald eyes so sharp it could cut. The smokescreen had dropped away entirely. He looked fierce, dangerous, and the fury rolling off him took her breath away.
What little breath she had, given that apparently all this time he’d known who she was. Knownexactlywho she was.
That’s why he picked you up off the streets. That’s why he gave you a job. You were never anything to him but a means to an end.
Pain settled inside her, though she ignored it. As she ignored the cold waves of shock and the sharp tug of pity because there was so much to take in.
He’d been married. He’d had a child. A child that had been taken from him. God, she could still hear his voice cracking as he’d told her what had happened, and that pity tugged harder at her heart.
But she didn’t want to feel pity for him.
‘You knew,’ she said thickly, focusing on that since it was easier than thinking about the rest. ‘All this time, you knew.’
His expression was like granite. ‘Yes. I went to get my driver and found him playing a dice game with one of your friends. I gave the kids a hundred euros to tell me what your name was.’ His mouth quirked in a humourless smile. ‘Everyone has their price.’
She felt cold. But it was a cold that came from the inside, something that no amount of blankets or quilts could help. ‘But...how could you know who I was from my first name?’
His gaze went to her hair, spilling down her back. ‘You were familiar to me and I couldn’t put my finger on why. But the colour of your hair gave it away. Anna and I used to go to many events hosted by your father and you attended some of them.’
