Page 52 of Hidden Heir, Italian Wife

“What the hell, Bree?”

She fought her way clear of the sheet, spitting out another string of filthy language about where “they” could go and what “they” could do when they got there. She thrust herself into the pajamas she wore to bed in case Sofia came in.

He rose and pulled on the briefs he wore for the same reason, then he picked up her phone to see the screen was cracked.

“What’s going on?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she insisted hotly, eyes bright with tears.“I don’t care.”

“You clearly do care—Where are you going?”

She stopped at the door. “To break some dishes. I don’t know.”

“Just tell me. Is it work?”

“My stepsister is getting married. Next year. I’m invited. Do you know why? Because Laura wants me to ask you to comp them a ballroom for the reception.” She was shaking, voice quivering with fury. “She’s asking me to help her keep costs down because they’re liable to have upward of two hundred people. She wants me to do her that favor, then sit and watchmyfather walkherdaughter down the aisle when they couldn’t be botheredmeetingmy husband when you offered to go to them.”

This man’s lack of connection to his daughter absolutely baffled Jax. Did he not know what a kind, intelligent, funny person he’d sired. Why wasn’t he proud of her? Why was he so bent onhurtingher?

“Tell them to go to hell,” he said. “Block them. You don’t owe them anything.”

She only made a noise of acute anguish and walked out.

He swore under his breath and dragged on some clothes before following, but damn this big house they’d bought. He wasn’t fast enough to see where she went. She wasn’t in the kitchen breaking dishes and she wasn’t in Sofia’s room, comforting herself with a cuddle with their daughter.

It was almost March, but still very cool at night. He didn’t think she would have gone outside, but when he couldn’t find her in the house, he texted the nanny that they were outside and checked the gazebo, then noticed the wrought iron door to the beach stairs was unlocked.

Their shoreline wasn’t a sandy beach like where the tourists flocked. It was a rugged, rocky cove where storm waves crashed in to take bites out of the brittle land. There was a jetty out to a small dock, where he could tie up a runabout if he wanted access to his yacht from here, but they’d bought the house for the view, not to swim in the sea.

Bree was at the end of the jetty, colorless in the moonlight, arms hugged tight against the wind. The tide was up so the waves churned close enough to her feet to make him uneasy.

He walked out. “Come back to the shore. It’s dangerous out here.”

“I don’t understand why I care,” she said to the water, voice thick with anguish. “I try not to. I tryso hardnot to care anymore. But I still do.”

“Bree, come on.” He slipped his arm around her, heart squeezing as he saw the shiny tracks on her cheeks.

She was a column of tightly wound pain, mouth pinched and eyes staring into the horizon.

“You care because you’re a better person than they are.”

“He saves people’slives,” she said on a jagged lilt of laughter. “And he doesn’t care about the life he made. He cares more about strangers than me. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be a parent. He’s a great father to Laura’s kids. He doesn’t wantme.”

He opened his mouth, but what could he say? The man was a fool. A cruel one. If it were up to Jax, he would cut him out of her life completely. Now.

“You’re freezing,” he noted, hugging her stiff body close. “Let’s get up to the house, in case Sofia wakes.”

“I wish I could hate him. I want to, but I always come back to wanting some little shred of proof that he…” Her expression crumpled.

“All right.”

They were doing this here then, where they were raked by the wind and soaked by the mist off the water. It was cold and damp and the way she sobbed battered him like the tossing waves, knocking him against jagged emotions that tore into him, but he held her while she broke apart. He rubbed her back and kept her upright as she sobbed.

When she was weak and leaning on him, he picked her up like she was Sofia and carried her down the jetty. Then he set her on her feet and guided her up the stairs, locked the gate, and stripped her down to put her in the hot tub.

She was quiet and withdrawn now. Docile. He put her to bed a while later and promised he’d join her shortly.

Then he took his phone to the den and called Melissa.

---