control and his face became its usual expressionless mask. ‘I knew you hoped for more from me—women invariably do,’ he said sardonically. ‘When you returned to England I realised it was for the best.’
‘And so you married someone else.’ Kristen felt hurt that he had lumped her with his countless other mistresses and had regarded her as needy just because she had hoped for a more meaningful relationship with him than simply sharing his bed. ‘Your Sicilian woman must have been very special for you to have overcome your objection to commitment.’
For a fleeting moment she sensed that he was tempted to talk about his first marriage, but he gave a non-committal shrug.
‘Yes, she was.’
He picked up the photo album that he had been looking at earlier and stared at a picture of Nico as a newborn baby. ‘He looked so tiny when he was born. What did he weigh?’
‘He was a few weeks early and he was just over two kilograms, but I fed him myself and he quickly gained weight.’
Sergio studied the photo, which had clearly been taken in the hospital soon after Kristen had given birth to Nico. She looked very young and scared as she clutched the tiny baby in her arms. Anger burned inside him—anger at her for robbing him of the first years of his son’s life, but a greater anger with himself because he had not followed his instincts four years ago and gone after her. She had dented his pride when she had refused to be his mistress, he acknowledged. If he was honest, her rejection had hurt him and it had been the realisation that she made him feel vulnerable that had stopped him from following her to England.
‘How did you manage?’ he asked harshly. ‘Did you have to leave university when you realised you were pregnant?’
‘No, I was able to finish my degree before Nico was born, and afterwards I was lucky to get my current job at the sports injury clinic.’
‘It must have been a struggle, though.’
‘It hasn’t been easy...especially financially,’ Kristen admitted.
Sergio wondered why she suddenly seemed nervous. His eyes narrowed on her tense face. ‘Why did you come to the Hotel Royale on Friday night?’
Her tongue darted out to lick her dry lips. ‘I...came to tell you about Nico.’
‘Why now, when you had hidden him from me all this time?’
‘I was going to...to ask you for help...a financial contribution for him. You have no idea how expensive bringing up a child is.’ Kristen faltered when Sergio’s eyes darkened with anger. But when he spoke his voice was tightly controlled.
‘You’re right. I don’t know what it’s like to bring up a child, but I wish more than anything that I could have shared the experience of caring for our son from the moment he was born. As it is, I would not have discovered his existence if you had not decided to cash in your most valuable asset. Nico,’ he explained when she looked puzzled. ‘The knowledge that your child’s father is a billionaire must have been too tempting to ignore.’ His lip curled. ‘How much money did you hope to get from me? Did you plan to demand cash in exchange for allowing me to see my son?’
‘No!’ Kristen was appalled by Sergio’s accusation. ‘All this time I believed you had a wife in Sicily. But then I saw your picture in a newspaper and read that you were going to marry an Earl’s daughter, and I decided to ask you for a small contribution towards Nico’s upbringing.’
‘So your decision had nothing to do with the fact that you have debts amounting to several thousand pounds, mainly in the form of store credit cards?’ Sergio said coldly. ‘I saw the pile of letters and final demands for payment from debt-collecting agencies.’
Kristen swallowed. She had forgotten that the folder containing dozens of letters from creditors was in the bureau where she kept the photo albums. ‘You had no right to look at my private mail.’
He ignored her and said savagely, ‘Suddenly it all makes an obscene kind of sense. You’ve maxed out on your credit cards buying designer clothes and handbags, and so you’ve decided to use me as a cash cow to bail you out and assumed you could use Nico as leverage.’
‘The situation is not what it seems,’ Kristen said huskily.
‘Then what is it?’
‘It’s complicated.’
‘No, it’s very simple,’ Sergio said grimly. ‘You want money and I want my son. Name your price and the amount will be transferred into your account within twenty-four hours—with the proviso that you allow me to take Nico to Sicily.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous...’ Kristen broke off when she realised he was deadly serious. ‘I’m not going to sell him to you. The suggestion is disgusting. The only reason I was going to ask you for money was to spend on him, not for anything else. But I’ve managed on my own for three years and I’ll carry on managing.’
‘You call this managing?’ Sergio’s expression was arrogantly derisive as he glanced around the shabby sitting room. ‘I can provide my son with a far better lifestyle than he currently has with you. My lawyer has already started the legal process for me to file for custody of Nico, but it would be better for his sake if we settled out of court and, to that end, I am prepared to make you a generous financial offer.’
‘You know what you can do with your offer!’ Kristen snapped. Inside, she was shaking, but she refused to let Sergio see how scared she felt. He was not a man to make vain threats and she did not doubt that he had already begun his legal claim for Nico. ‘You think you can buy anything you want,’ she said bitterly. ‘But nothing would persuade me to give Nico up.’
‘Everything has a price, cara.’ Sergio sounded strangely weary. He gave a harsh laugh. ‘Was that what Friday night was about? Did you use your delectable body as a sweetener, and once I had succumbed to your magic you intended to offer my son to me in return for hard cash?’
Incensed by his taunt, Kristen reacted instinctively and raised her hand but, before she could make contact with his cheek, he captured her wrist in a vice-like grip.
‘I wouldn’t,’ Sergio advised in a dangerously soft voice. He flung her arm from him and raked his fingers through his hair, feeling disgusted with himself when he saw her white face. He had not intended to frighten her, but for a few seconds blind rage had swept through him. ‘We both need to cool down,’ he muttered. ‘Why don’t you go to bed and get some sleep. You look all in. We’ll talk again in the morning.’
Not trusting herself to remain in the same room as Sergio when she was tempted to murder him, Kristen swung round and walked out of the room. Sleep! She laughed hollowly as she marched up the stairs. She felt as limp as a wrung-out dishcloth and with the threat of losing her little boy hanging over her she doubted she would ever sleep again. But when she slid between the sheets her brain mercifully decided that it had had enough for one day, and her last thought was that she must set the alarm on the bedside clock.
* * *
Sergio woke to the sensation of his eyelids being prised open. After spending a hellish night on the most uncomfortable sofa he had ever encountered, he craved a couple of hours more sleep, especially when he glanced blearily at his watch and saw that it was five-thirty in the morning. He blinked and refocused on the angelic face hovering above him. Nico was staring at him with his big brown eyes framed by unbelievably
