‘By...’ I swallowed around my dry throat. ‘By answering any questions you have about him. And letting you know what an incredible child he is.’
‘So you’ve told him about me?’ he asked, but it was another cynical question, his voice tense with suspicion, the anger sparkling in his eyes.
I didn’t dislodge my gaze, even though I wanted to.
‘I’ve talked in generalities with him about you. He’s never asked about his father, but he’s curious now, and I think he’ll be ready to meet you soon.’ It had only been a week since our chance encounter, but I’d already begun to prepare the ground for Cai to meet Alexi. I wanted my son to be excited about meeting his father, but I also wanted to be sure Alexi wouldn’t take his anger with me out on our son.
‘How soon?’
‘I don’t know, when did you have in mind?’ I asked, struggling to be civil in the face of his enmity. He was baiting me. This wasn’t about Cai—this was about his anger with me.
‘How about I have him flown out here tomorrow?’ he asked, stepping closer, his big body rippling with barely concealed rage.
‘No!’ I said, forcing myself to stand my ground.
‘No?’ he said, his voice rising. ‘What gives you the right to keep my son from me a moment longer?’
‘Because I’m his mother.’
‘And I’m his father. A fact you chose to forget for five years.’
‘You’re also a stranger to him,’ I pointed out.
‘And who’s fault is that?’ he shouted, the anger unleashed.
‘It’s my fault,’ I admitted. ‘Mostly.’
I wasn’t the only one to blame—maybe if he hadn’t rejected me so thoroughly all those years ago, maybe if he hadn’t destroyed my confidence and my self-worth, I might not have been scared to contact him. Scared he would reject Cai the way he had rejected me.
‘Mostly?’ The word sliced into me, harsh and unyielding.
But before I could defend myself Severo cleared his throat loudly. ‘Perhaps we could sit down and outline your offer to Mademoiselle Simpson, Alexi?’
Alexi stared at him blankly for a moment, and I wondered if he had forgotten the legal team was in the room.
‘Actually, I wish to speak with Mademoiselle Simpson in private.’
The other men nodded and started to gather the papers strewn across Alexi’s desk, probably more than happy to leave us to it, but before any of them could leave Severo surprised me.
‘Is this acceptable to you, Mademoiselle Simpson?’ he asked. I had to give him credit for standing up to Alexi, his employer, on my behalf, especially as he had to sense the animosity between us.
Heat fired across my collarbone as Alexi waited for my answer, challenge as well as contempt in his expression. He was expecting me to refuse, possibly to run away again. The way I had five years ago.
And I couldn’t deny the urge to do so.
Being alone in a room with him felt perilous for a number of reasons, but I knew I wasn’t scared of him, or his anger. Not any more. I wasn’t the naïve, easily bruised nineteen-year-old he’d rejected so cruelly five years ago, and he wasn’t the grief-stricken man torn apart by guilt for his brother’s death. He was the father of my child. And that meant we had to find a way through this. Somehow.
So I nodded. ‘Yes, I’ll talk with Monsieur Galanti alone.’
Severo nodded back before he and the other lawyers left.
‘Sit down,’ Alexi said, indicating a large leather arm chair as he strode across the carpet to sit behind his desk. I wondered if he needed to create distance between us as much as I did. Were the memories of our one night together as hard for him to ignore as they were for me?
Whatever his motives, the endorphins making every one of my pulse points pound relaxed as he stepped away from me.
He propped his elbows on the desk, those pure blue eyes skewering me to the spot as he studied me.
I waited for him to speak first.