AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ariana’s cutlery clattered to the plate.
‘On what grounds?’
Now there was emotion in her voice.
‘On the grounds that I do not want my child raised in a foreign country. Taken from me.’
His eyes were levelled on her and they were not dispassionate. They were the very opposite.
‘I will fight you with everything I have to prevent that.’ He paused. ‘And I have a great deal to fight you with, and good reason to do so. Do you doubt it, Ariana?’
She felt every muscle in her body clench, emotion biting in her throat. Then it died away, defeated. In any custody battle Luca Farnese would win. He would use his money, his power, to hire the best lawyers, drag out the process, contest any awarding of custody to her... It would go on and on for years...
I can’t face that—I just can’t...
That sense of weary, bone-tired exhaustion that had made her climb into his car that afternoon now assailed her again. Defeat dragged at her...
He was speaking again, and his voice was different.
‘Ariana, do you really want that? Do not try and fight me on this. You will not win.’ He paused again. ‘And there is no need to fight me. We can do this civilly. There does not need to be any drama.’
There was something in his voice—something that made her look at him again. His face had no expression in it, nor his eyes, but there had been a tightness in his voice.
She dropped her eyes, picked up her knife and fork, resumed eating. Then she spoke. ‘We don’t need to marry, Luca.’
‘Ariana.’ His voice cut across hers. ‘Understand this from the start. I do not tolerate chaos.’
She looked at him. Whatever it was that had been in his voice a moment ago was there again.
‘If we married,’ she said slowly, not taking her eyes from him, ‘what then?’
She did not want to know for her own sake, but simply what it was that he thought might be possible—though it would not be, for she would not be marrying him anyway...
‘We legitimise our baby, establish its rights in the world, regularise its existence, secure its future.’
‘And us? What happens to us?’
Again, how did he see their future? A future that was not going to happen...
He did not answer at first. Then... ‘We divorce.’ His eyes rested on her like weights. ‘I will not chain you to me, Ariana. And...’ there was the minutest pause ‘...and you will not chain me to you.’
He reached for his wine and drained the glass, then looked at her again. His face was expressionless, as if carved from granite.
‘We are toxic for each other. Destructive.’ He paused again. ‘And that is why,’ he told her, ‘I do not want you in my life.’
His eyes rested on her. Unreadable. Implacable.
Rejecting everything about her.
Except the baby I carry—the only thing he wants of me.
There seemed to be a stone in her throat, and she looked away. But he was speaking again, and she made herself look at him, eyes blinking suddenly.
‘If we accept that it will be easier,’ he said. ‘There will no longer be any need for...for hostility between us.’
That stone was still lodged in her throat and she could not move it, could not swallow it. She pushed her plate away, reached for her water—as if water could dissolve the stone.
Once more she saw Luca get to his feet, clear their plates away and place their dessert on the table. Mechanically she started to eat it. It was something to do.
