Skye was as white as a sheet and, in the part of Matteo’s brain that was working, he recognised that he should ease up. That he should give her a moment to breathe and reach her own conclusions. Only, Matteo had rebuilt the family empire by sheer determination alone and easing up on any of his adversaries was not something he believed in doing.
And Skye was his adversary—his enemy—not just by blood, but now also by deed. How could she not be, given the deception she’d been willing to practice?
‘Answer me, damn it!’ he demanded, and when she didn’t respond he grabbed her around the waist, pulling her body to his. Her lips parted on a wave of shock and he took advantage of the surprise, driven by a soul-deep instinct. He ground his mouth to hers, lashing her with his tongue, stirring her into the kind of frenzy that had typified their short, super-heated marriage.
It wasn’t just about possessing her. He wanted to possess all of her, to mark his claim on her as his wife, and as the mother of his baby. He wanted to claim their child. ‘This is my baby.’
Skye was frozen with shock but it didn’t last long. The second Matteo’s lips touched hers she was flashing back into the past through the days of their marriage, the nights of their passion, the need that had always defined them. She was losing a battle to the only truth she could rely on—sensual need.
‘Would you have raised him with another man?’ He asked the question straight into her mouth so that she heard the words in the depths of her soul and felt his pain as though he’d touched her there. But he didn’t break their kiss, making it difficult for Skye to answer.
‘This is my child.’ The statement was filled with judgement. ‘And you are my wife.’
Skye made another sound, a mix between a groan and a sob, a sound of desperate emotion and pain, of acknowledgement and regret.
‘I won’t let you go. Not now.’
His hands moved inwards, finding her still-flat stomach. He ran his fingers over her and he ended their kiss, moving away, looking at her with eyes that were cold despite the raging intimacy they’d just shared. Despite the heat in Skye’s blood, her cheeks, the awareness that fired in every part of her body.
‘Come home with me.’
It was not a question, yet Skye still wanted to fight. ‘It won’t work.’
Matteo’s eyes glittered. ‘Of course it will.’
‘Because our last attempt at marriage was such a success?’ Skye scoffed, turning away from him so that she could take a moment to get her blood pressure under control, so that he wouldn’t see the way she was trembling.
‘I will not let you take my child from me. I will raise it on my own, or you can choose to be a part of his life.’
‘How c-can you even say that?’ she stammered, spinning around to face him head on. ‘No court would ever award you full custody!’
Matteo’s eyes narrowed. ‘Do you know who I am?’
A shiver ran down her spine; adrenalin pumped in her body.
‘Do you know what I will do to get what I want?’
Skye’s heart stammered in her chest. He’d married her for a stupid piece of real estate—an ancient hotel long since shut down; a building in the middle of Rome in which she had no interest. Matteo’s determination to get what he wanted was indeed a force to be reckoned with.
To underscore his intent, he added, ‘I will not rest until my child is in my home, being raised by me. Here. In Venice, where he belongs. For more than a thousand years, Skye, Vin Santos have lived on this island.’ He pointed downwards, as if to indicate the ancient marshes on which the city was built. ‘We are as much a part of Venice as Venice is of us. The child you carry in your womb is of me, of Venice, and this is where he should be. I will not let you take him.’
Skye shook her head, but fear was filling her all the way to the top of her heart.
Was he right? Could he, in fact, take their baby?
She needed to speak to a lawyer, and fast.
‘If you fight me, I will spare no expense and I will stop at nothing.’ His teeth were bared, his expression vibrating with passionate resolve. ‘I will make your life hell, and you will wish, one day, that you’d never met me. And that you’d never had my child.’
Skye was shaking. She was furious! She closed the distance between them on autopilot, lifting a hand and cracking it across his cheek.
‘How dare you?’ she demanded heatedly, watching as red spread across his cheek from where flesh had connected—hard—with flesh.
‘I told you,’ he said with a look of cold indifference. ‘I will stop at nothing to get what I want.’
‘And you want our child,’ she said, turning her face away, looking towards the door of the hospital.
‘Si.’ Silence cracked between them, angry and vicious. Matteo broke it, forcing himself to be completely honest. To lay out for his wife the truth of their situation. ‘But I also want you.’