“I know from experience what it is like to grow up with no father and no name,” he said slowly. “To live in poverty, with a mother too distracted by her own concerns to worry about mine. She moved us to a new town every time she took a new lover. Men who inevitably despised me as a burden, who thought I deserved to be screamed at, punched, starved.”
The color drained from Hallie’s face.
“What?” she whispered. “She didn’t protect you?”
Cristiano shook his head. “She couldn’t even protect herself. When I was eighteen, her last lover beat her almost to death. When I tried to intervene, she kicked me out.” He gave a hard smile. “I learned my lesson. You can only look out for yourself.”
Her soft eyes looked horrified, as if she’d never imagined any family could go so wrong. “I’m so sorry.”
Cristiano hated the pity in her eyes. He regretted saying so much. He’d never spoken about his past to anyone. “I just wanted you to understand.” He leaned forward in his chair. “I can’t let you leave with him, then spend my life wondering if you’re taking good care of my son, if you’ve taken lovers into your house who might hate him for crying, who might pick him up out of the crib and shake him hard until the crying stops—”
“I would never let that happen!”
“I know,” he said grimly. “Because he’s staying with me.”
“But—”
“Did you give him my last name?” he interrupted.
“His last name is Hatfield, like mine.”
“Something else that our marriage will rectify,” he said.
Hallie looked down at her baby softly whimpering in her arms. Her voice was small as she said with visible reluctance, “I might be willing to talk about...about shared custody.”
Why was she continuing to argue? Repressing his rising anger, he shook his hea
d. “Marriage.”
“But why?”
“I’ve given you the reasons.” Suddenly he was finished trying to reason with her, trying to explain. He’d been far more patient and open with her than she deserved. For all the good it had done. He narrowed his eyes. “The discussion is over. We will wed. The decision is made.”
“Made by you. But you’re not my boss. Not anymore.”
Cristiano tilted his head. He said in a deceptively casual voice, “You can refuse my proposal, of course.”
“Then I refuse.”
“Then our son stays with me.”
Wide-eyed, she breathed, “Just because you’re his biological father you think you have the right to take him from me? I’m his mother!”
“And I have an entire team of lawyers at my disposal. What do you have? Nothing. You’ve already indicated you’re a liar and a flight risk. I’d request an immediate injunction from a judge to prevent you from ever leaving New York.”
“Liar? When did I ever lie?”
“Just now. When you took a hundred thousand dollars from me under false pretenses, then tried to run away with my son without telling me he existed.”
Hallie’s face was deathly pale. The baby’s whimpers rose to soft wails.
“I am a liar,” she said suddenly. “You’re not Jack’s father, Cristiano. You never were. It was all a...a plot. To get money from you.”
“You’re the worst liar I’ve ever seen.”
“I slept with five men right after you!” Her voice rose desperately. “Any of them could be his father. Here—take your money back!”
Pulling the folded check from the pocket of her sundress, she held it out to him.