Wailing.
With no one apparently trying to comfort him.
Hallie rushed to the penthouse door. She was ready to kick it open, to scratch it with her hands. “What kind of home is this if I can’t even open my own door?” she said furiously.
Wordlessly Cristiano opened the door with his fingerprint, and she rushed through it. Her baby’s crying came from the guest room, but as Hallie rushed forward, a stern older woman in a uniform blocked her path.
“Get out of my way,” Hallie thundered, pushing past her into the bedroom.
Picking up her tiny sobbing infant from the crib, she held him close to her heart, whispering and singing softly. The baby’s wails subsided. Once she’d sat down in the glider and loosened her top, the baby was able to suckle, and his crying stopped abruptly and completely.
“You’re making a mistake,” the uniformed nanny said, watching dispassionately from the doorway. “It is a mistake I see with many of my ladies. If you give in to your baby’s demands now, you’ll be his slave. The only way to have a calm household is to get the child on a feeding schedule. You must let him cry it out, madam.”
“Cry it out? Cry it out!” Hallie had never been much for swearing, but she suddenly let loose every curse she’d ever heard from her father, who’d been a coal miner and a serious overachiever in the field of swearing. “I’ll cry you out!”
The woman blanched. “I was hired by Mr. Moretti himself,” she said unfeelingly. “I have worked for princes and kings, and I am not going to be insulted by the likes of you.”
“Get out,” Hallie said, cuddling her baby.
“I’m not going to take orders—”
Her voice became shrill. “Get! Out!”
“Do as she says,” Cristiano said in a low voice from behind the nanny, who whirled to face him. His dark eyes glittered in the shadows.
“Fine,” she said stiffly. “But I expect to be fully paid for—”
“You’ll be paid,” Cristiano said. “But if you ask for a reference, don’t expect any more princes or kings to hire you.”
The woman left with a sniff. Cristiano went to Hallie, who was still sitting in the glider, trembling as she cuddled their baby. He put his hand on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “She came highly recommended.”
Hallie took a deep breath. She had to force her voice to remain calm. “You have no experience with children.”
His eyes flashed to hers, and his expression changed.
“No,” he said finally.
She lifted her chin. “You have to learn.”
His grip on her shoulder tightened infinitesimally.
“I was told she was the best in New York.”
“The best? He was hungry and she was deliberately choosing not to give him a bottle!” She glared up at him. “How can I trust you after this? You convinced me to leave the baby in your care. Yours, Cristiano. Not some stranger’s!”
For the first time, he looked uncertain. His arms fell to his sides as he muttered, “I told you. I had something to do.”
“Yes—watching our son! The son you supposedly care about so much that sharing custody wasn’t enough for you—you had to demand marriage! You insisted you wanted to be a father. Was that all just a lie?”
“No,” he ground out.
“So why would you immediately desert him?”
“I did not desert him!”
“If you don’t want to actually raise him, then what are we even doing?”