Page 54 of The Tycoon's Shock Heir

‘But there are other ways to be secure—and our child might not want to be a private banker. What then?’

He looked at her as if she was completely mad, as if she’d spoken in a different language, and she saw that he had no concept of anything other than his way of life. It was ingrained so deeply within him that all other choices were completely moot. And he wanted to drag her into it too.

She thought about her own path, how deeply she had been prepared to plough her own furrow, blinkered and refusing to see any other way.

‘Matteo, maybe—just maybe—this should be left to fate to decide. You’ve been trying so hard for so long and maybe—’

‘I can’t leave this to fate. Not until I’ve tried every single thing I can do. And this—you being pregnant. I thought it was a disaster, but now I think it might just be the best thing for all of us.’

She narrowed her eyes. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean that having this added responsibility has made me even more focused. I thought Dad was going to live for another thirty years or more. I knew I was probably going to take charge—it was always hanging over me—but it seemed way off in the distance. Even when he died I really struggled to accept that this was my life now. But you...the baby. I know how my world has to be. I have to make this work. Don’t you see?’

She opened her mouth but he shook his head and walked away, and there, framed in the restaurant window, he looked so terribly alone, set apart in his own tormented world.

And she had walked right into the middle of it. Could she leave him alone with this? She needed him as much as he needed her. Maybe even more. But this—this went beyond anything she had imagined.

Her head hurt as she tried to think. But her heart was sure. Even if it had been trampled in the process. Because how could she keep herself safe from falling in love with him? It was already be too late...

‘What exactly do you need me to do next weekend?’

He spun around from the window. And suddenly he looked warrior-proud, invincible.

‘Act like you love me.’

She felt a savage squeeze to her heart as his words made her gasp, and her eyes burned hot with tears. She bit her lip, forced her chin to steady. She kept her face to the floor, desperately clawing back her composure, furious at her own weakness.

He was totally oblivious. He moved closer still. Energy rolled off him in waves. She crossed her arms over her body, rubbed her fingers on her bare flesh.

‘It doesn’t have to be true, Ruby. I’m not asking for the world. But when you came to see me you wanted to force me to acknowledge the situation. You wanted me to give you cast-iron guarantees that I would play my part. Well, now I am prepared to admit that I will. I will give you way more than you wanted.’

‘I only ever wanted one thing in my life,’ she said, ‘I only ever wanted my career and you need to know that that is still what I want. You’re not seeing my needs in all this.’

He shook his head and moved right in front of her. The rest of the room—the view of the gardens through the half-closed roman blinds, the masts of the yachts and their white blooming sails, the world beyond—was blocked out. It was hard to think, to remember who she was and what she was, when he was so close.

‘Ruby, you can have everything. Everything. Don’t you want to marry me?’

‘I’m not saying no, but does it have to be this way?’ she pleaded. ‘Do we have to be married to convince Arturo that you’re the right person to take this merger forward? People have children together and live apart all the time.’

‘He’s very religious—for him there’s no other way to raise a child but in wedlock, under the eyes of God.’

‘But we would be living a lie—isn’t that worse?’

‘To give our child the stability it needs is worse? We’ll sign a pre-nup. You’ll get a house and a car and an income. As soon as the merger is secure we can decide what happens next. Where you live and what you do. A nanny. My name. All of that.’

His words were cold, transactional, black and white. There was no emotion or love or kindness or care. His heart was invested in his bank, in his dead father’s memory, in a future that he didn’t even want for himself.

---