‘It’s simple. Max’s trust fund is detailed in the first two paragraphs. The next deals with what happens if I die—how my wealth is distributed into trusts for him and any other children we might have.’ Heat ran like lava through her veins. ‘Finally, there’s the matter of your allowance and settlement in the event of a divorce.’
Her eyes focussed on that paragraph. Divorce. Her head was spinning. Just like that, it was a foregone conclusion that she would marry him, and he was even planning how they’d deal with a possible divorce.
She forced herself to read the terms carefully, then blinked up at him. ‘This looks like I get a ridiculously generous allowance for as long as we’re married, and not a lot if I decide to leave you.’
His eyes were business-like. She remembered an article she’d read a few years back, calling him ‘a ruthless tycoon’. It was the perfect description for him in that moment.
‘That’s the point.’
‘What is?’
‘Your life, as my wife, will be beyond anything you can imagine. You will have whatever you want, whenever you want it.’
It was what he didn’t say that sent a shiver down her spine. ‘And if I leave you I get nothing, and have to live like this again?’
He looked around her apartment, his eyes narrowed. ‘You will never live like this again.’ His anger was unmistakable. ‘But you will definitely find it undesirable to walk away from me.’
‘You plan to keep me as what—some kind of economic prisoner?’
‘I won’t reward you for leaving our marriage; that’s not the same thing.’
She swallowed a curse.
He reached across, putting his hand on hers, surprising her with the touch. ‘I want our marriage to last a lifetime, for Max’s sake.’
What did any of this matter? If they divorced, she wouldn’t want any of his money. Pride wouldn’t allow her to take it. She’d sooner live in a tiny flat like this again than exist on hand-outs from Dimitrios.
Tilting her chin in a gesture of defiance, she nodded. ‘Fine. I’ll sign it.’
His eyes flared with victory. Keeping one hand on hers, he used his other to lift the ring from the box and slowly push it on to her wedding finger.
‘It’s the right decision.’
Dimitrios stared out at Sydney CBD from his penthouse apartment right at the top of Papandreo Towers, a frown on his handsome face. It was the right decision. There was nothing else he could do. Support her financially? an inner voice challenged him. Sure. But then what? See their son only occasionally? Be an absent father or, worse, force Annabelle to be an absent mother? Neither option was palatable, and he didn’t have to dig very deep into his psyche to understand why.
It was history repeating itself. When he’d walked into her tiny, insalubrious flat, he’d been reminded of the first ten years of his own life, spent living in abject poverty with a mother who’d tried her best but still hadn’t been able to keep them afloat. His childhood had been punctuated by contrasts. When his father had occasionally appeared in Dimitrios and Zach’s life, he’d whisk them away for a week of luxury and grandeur—everything they wanted was theirs, only to have it all disappear when they’d returned to their mother’s. The visits were always fleeting, unpredictable and, as Dimitrios had got older, infuriating. How could his father have so much and leave their mother with so little?
It wasn’t as though Dimitrios had ever consciously promised himself he would avoid that situation but, finding himself in his father’s shoes, he was determined to act in a way that was in complete contrast to his father’s behaviour. He wouldn’t see Annabelle suffer. He wouldn’t see her worry about money for another moment.
And their son would never feel that he had to love either his father or his mother, but never both. They would be a united front for the sake of Max.
Annabelle might want to resist that, but Dimitrios understood something she wanted far more. It was in her eyes when she looked at him, in the way her body swayed towards him when they were close, in the way her breath grew rushed and her cheeks pink.
She wanted him just as much as she had the night they’d conceived Max—and Dimitrios intended to remind her of that, night by seductive night, until their marriage of necessity developed into something that would bind them in a more meaningful way. Bit by bit, he’d remind her of what they’d shared, and make it impossible for her to contemplate leaving him. All for the sake of their son.
CHAPTER FOUR
Nineteen years earlier
‘WHAT HAPPENED THEN, Lou-Lou?’
‘I’ve asked you not to call me that.’ Her older brother softened the admonition with a gentle shoulder-nudge, then grinned.
‘Lewis,’ Annie corrected, practising the eye-roll she’d been working on.
Lewis laughed. ‘Better.’ He lay back on the bed, flexing his hands behind his head. ‘Well, let’s see. The Princess escaped the tower and rode the dragon to safety.’
‘Uh-huh. And the dragon promised not to burn her?’