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“I’m... I’m to be your wife?”
“Yes,” he said. “You do not remember me,cara mia?”
She shook her head, and he was astonished to see her eyes filled with tears.
“What is it?”
“I can’t believe I don’t remember falling in love. I cannot believe that I don’t remember that somebody in this world loves me.”
And if he were another man, he supposed he might feel guilt in this moment. Because there was no love between them. Certainly, passion had flared that night in the tree house. There was no denying that.
But love?
Krav did not even know what that was.
He felt a fierce protectiveness for Soriya that he had never felt for any other creature on this earth. A kind of protectiveness that transcended his own sense of self-preservation. It was like having a part of him walking out in the world. He would not characterize that as love. For it was not pleasant.
It made him even more feral, if such a thing were possible.
And when it came to keeping his child’s mother here... Well, he would do anything to accomplish that. No guilt involved at all.
“Please,” the nurse said. “Mr. Valenti, with all due respect, we must have a doctor here to examine her. She needs an MRI. We need to ensure that she is not placed under any distress.”
“This is not a soap opera,” he said. “I can hardly see what knowing a little bit about her life is going to do as far as damage goes.”
This nurse... She knew nothing about their circumstances. Everybody working in the house at the moment was under the strictest confidence. He could not have the broader world knowing about Soriya, not yet. She was a month old now and had never been taken away from the estate grounds.
And, in spite of the fact that he himself understood few emotional connections, he had made sure that she had been brought into Riot’s room every single day by one of the nannies. If there was one thing he knew... It was that a child needed his mother.
He had done. Badly.
And so he had made sure that Soriya had known her mama. And that she had understood she was merely sleeping. Taking a very long nap.
And now she was awake.
“Valenti...” She closed her eyes, and she looked dizzy.
“Do not tax yourself,” he said.
On one score he did agree with the nurse, he could not immediately tell her about the baby. She did not remember anything after her trip to Cambodia, then he imagined the child would be quite the shock.
The DNA test had already confirmed that the child was his, so there was no question as to the fact that she had conceived her during that night.
And as she had no memory of that night...
It would be likely she would find the whole thing impossible.
If she found it distressing that she had missed falling in love... If only she knew. That there was no love between them, only a broken, dark passion that had exploded that night. And had undone everything he had ever believed about himself.
He was a man of great control, but never once had he thought of using protection with her.
He had her over and over again that first night, and he had not thought of it.
The doctor arrived shortly after, and examined her. “In theory,” he said, “she is in good health.”
He was speaking Italian, and Krav had the realization that Riot wouldn’t be able to understand. But that would give him the chance to explain after, and be yet further in control of the narrative, and that suited him just fine.
“So there is no reason to withhold information from her?”
