Chloe’s racing heartbeat wasn’t easing up. Standing just a small distance from Hendrix, his overpowering presence was making her nerve endings vibrate. He was dressed in black jeans and a pale grey shirt that emphasised the depth of his tan.
“I think you’re very brave,” he said with an intensity that made her stomach flip-flop.
“Do you?” A husky sound, her words were foreign to her ears.
His expression was one of sardonic amusement. He lifted a hand to cup her cheek, and she didn’t move away. Her large eyes stared up at him; she was lost in a raging ocean of sensation. “I do.” His smile was vague.
“Why?” She gulped, so that her throat moved in a visible knot beneath her pale skin.
“Look at what you’ve done since leaving William. You’ve had a baby. You’ve raised a girl. You’ve built a business and supported yourself. You’ve carved out a life despite the odds that were stacked against you. Yeah, I think you’re brave as hell, Chloe.”
She exhaled slowly, fluttering her blue eyes closed. “You have no idea how badly I needed to hear that.”
“You must know how remarkable you are.”
&n
bsp; “Remarkable?” She pulled a face, her eyes opening to pierce his in confusion. “Hardly. I’ve done what anyone would do in my position.”
“No.” He shook his head. “You could have sued William for a fortune. You could have been living off a healthy child support payment all these years.”
She spoke with a deadly softness to her voice. “But then he would have owned a part of Ellie. He would have had a claim to her.”
Hendrix felt a strange emotion swell inside of him – one he didn’t dare analyse too closely. “He has a claim to her, Chloe. He’s her father. Biologically and legally.”
The panic that had danced alongside her for two long years ripped through her gut. “He doesn’t want her.”
“No,” Hendrix agreed gently. “But he wants you. And he wants to hurt you, if he can’t have you.”
“What are you saying?” Now, her heart was racing like wildfire, and it had nothing to do with the desire Hendrix seemed to stoke in her soul.
Hendrix sighed roughly. Was he really prepared to do this? To wound the man who’d killed his beloved sister? His lips formed a grim line in his expression. “I’m going to do what I can, Chloe, but it’s going to be difficult to keep him out of Ellie’s life.”
She stepped away from him, wrapping her arms around her slender waist for comfort. “I didn’t put him on the birth certificate. Surely that means … something?”
He shook his head. “You gave Ellie his last name. Besides, a simple paternity test will prove that he is the father.” At her continued silence, he pushed his point, “And you run the risk of seeming petty and malevolent if you try too hard to keep him away from his own child.”
She spun around to face him, her cheeks flushed pink. “Even if I’m worried about what he might do to her?”
Hendrix nodded sympathetically. “Yes.”
“But how can that be?” Chloe implored, the threat of tears making her throat ache.
“He’s her father,” he said simply, as though it explained anything.
Chloe thought back to the last time William had yelled at her – the night she’d left him – and she shuddered. There was no way he could be left alone with their daughter. “But he could lose his temper with her. He could shout at her. He could …” The sheer terror of what she knew her husband to be capable of made her shake her head. She couldn’t even finish the sentence.
“I know,” Hendrix nodded. “I know.”
“Then you have to help me, please!” Her voice had gone up at least an octave, as true terror had set in. “What if I leave the states?”
“That will work against you in the long term, Chloe,” he said thickly. “You can’t run from this. The threat will always follow you. You’re better to deal with it once and for all.”
“But how?” She rubbed her temples as though it would relieve some of the pain that was building up in her head.
“By getting him to legally give up any claim to Ellie.”
“Okay, good,” she nodded urgently. “How?”