“Yes,” she said, staring up at him, her hazel-brown eyes wide.
He ripped his hand away from her. As he rose naked to his feet from the bed, the world seemed to be spinning around him. “You disobeyed me.”
She shook her head desperately. “I’m trying to save you!”
“Save me?” he ground out.
“Your mother loves you. You have to forgive her. She had a good reason for not telling you about your father!”
He sucked in his breath. “What was it?”
“I…I…” She hesitated. “I can’t tell you.”
His heart beat rapidly inside his hollow chest. There was a metallic taste in his mouth. “You betrayed me.”
She grabbed his hand. “I could have lied to you. But I’m telling you the truth. I’m telling you now, rather than doing it behind your back. I—”
He was beyond listening. “I told you what would happen if you ever betrayed me.”
She looked stricken, as if he’d just slapped her.
“Please,” she whispered. “I was only trying to make us a real family.”
He reached for his clothes and swiftly got dressed. “I told you what would happen,” he repeated.
His words were cold and even, but inside, he felt sick.
He’d never thought she would betray him like this. He’d never thought he would have to carry through on his threat, but now he had no choice.
“But, Rafael,” she whispered, “I love you.”
&nbs
p; “Love? All that you’ve proven,” he said harshly, “is that every time I start to trust you, you stab me in the back.”
“But I didn’t—I told you the truth!”
“Yes, after the fact.” How smug they must be right now, both the women in his life who’d conspired against him and made him look like a powerless fool in his own house! “I told you what would happen if you ever crossed me. Get out of my house. I’ll be filing for divorce.”
“I’m not leaving you, not now, not ever! But you can’t treat your mother so shamefully, not when she is innocent of what you think she did—”
“She told you that, I suppose?” He sneered.
Louisa started to speak, then cut herself off. She took a deep breath. “She didn’t have to tell me. I saw it in her eyes! She loves you, she would die to protect you. The same as I feel about Noah!”
“You’ll have to love him from a distance,” he said coldly. “Because I’m cutting you out of his life.”
“I won’t leave him—or you! If you want me to go, you’ll have to throw me…” she flung her arms toward the wide tree-lined boulevard of the Champs Élysées “…out that window!”
“Very dramatic,” he said acidly, following her gaze. “But your little act won’t save you.”
Now fully dressed, he strode out of the room and headed straight for the nursery. He heard Louisa rush to follow him, scrambling for a robe.
But Rafael didn’t pause. He didn’t stop. He simply collected his sleeping son from the crib. Noah immediately started to cry when he was woken up. His wails matched Louisa’s screams and sobs as she abandoned her attempts at tying her robe and clutched wildly at his arm.
“No!” she screamed. “You can’t take him away from me!”
He stared at her, feeling unmoved. Feeling absolutely nothing.