“Some confusion is to be expected,” he said. “The doctor suspects it will take three or four weeks before you are more or less back to normal. The leg will take longest, but this hospital offers an excellent rehabilitation programme.”
“Which hospital?” She honed in on that. “Where am I?”
“In Italy. Rome.”
The words flashed inside her. “What?”
“I have a villa not far from here. It made sense.”
“How…when?”
“Two days ago.” His eyes dropped to Jack and she felt a welling of concern, and a rush of fear all at once.
“My God.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Why?”
“The facilities here are world-class. It seemed prudent.”
She swallowed.
“And as I have a son to care for, I didn’t want to be too far from you. For the duration of your recovery.”
Everything about that sounded reasonable but lit greater fires of anxiety in the pit of her stomach. “So he’s been staying with you?”
Fiero nodded, his eyes flashing with something dark and incomprehensible. She turned away, looking down at Jack, the lump in her throat so big it hurt. “Are you okay, baby?”
Jack nodded. “Fiero got a pool.”
“Fierohasa pool.” Elodie’s smile was tight as she made the gentle correction. “Does he?” She could imagine what else Fiero had. When she’d woken up that morning three years earlier to find him gone – disappeared completely into thin air – she’d googled him, and seen exactly who she’d invited back to her tiny little flat, who she’d welcomed to her bed.
One of the richest men in the world, a man with yachts and planes and hotels and mansions all over the world. Most importantly though, a man with a wife.
Her anger surged like a blade, but she didn’t know how to wield it. She couldn’t object. Who else was there to look after Jack?
“Do you even know how to care for a child?” She asked, the words clearly dubious.
“Does it look like it?”
She wasn’t up to this kind of mental sparing. “He’s well-dressed, but is he eating? Bathing? Being read to?”
“Relax, Elodie.”
She startled to hear her name on his lips. It brought back far too many memories of the musical way he’d whispered it against her flesh, bringing her to climax with his lips alone.
“I have hired a nanny to help. Jack will be fine.”
The reassurance did nothing to ease her concerns. “I don’t want to stay here.” She looked around. The movement hurt. “Not for longer than is absolutely necessary.” Fear wrapped around her. “I want to go home.”
A muscle throbbed in his jaw, as though he were gritting his teeth. He didn’t answer her plaintive demand. “Come on, Jack. We should allow your mother to rest.”
But she didn’t want to rest. It felt like all she’d been doing for days. And yet, she was unbelievably exhausted, struggling to keep her eyes open.
“Will you bring him back later?”
“Tomorrow.” Fiero reached for the little boy who didn’t object in the slightest. Her heart stammered, mostly because she realised she was completely at Fiero’s whim. Despair filled her lungs.
“Please do.” The words were quivery with the threat of tears. She didn’t care.
“You have my word.” His eyes though were ice, and she felt the full force of all the things he wasn’t saying, the strength of his fury was emanating from him like an ice-cold tsunami. An answering tremble ran the length of her spine.