Chapter Seven #3
‘The right thing?’ She lifted her hands to her face and then let them drop again, clearly struggling to find the words to express herself.
‘I was almost out of my mind with worry! My grandfather is eighty-six years old and I thought…I thought…’ Her face was contorted with pain.
‘I thought it would crucify him to see that photo. I was so worried—’
‘Which is why I assured you that they wouldn’t use the pictures.’
‘But you didn’t tell me why you were so sure!’ She stood up, shock giving way to anger. ‘You arranged the photographer! You were in league with creepy Carlos!’
‘No—’ Rio interrupted her hastily ‘—that isn’t true. It was a set-up.’ He raked his fingers through his hair, wondering how, of all the difficult negotiations he’d ever made, this one seemed the most challenging. ‘But I admit that I turned it to my advantage. I had no choice.’
‘You did have a choice. There is always a choice. You could have told me the truth.’
‘I didn’t know if you were involved or not.’
‘I told you I wasn’t.’
He decided not to waste time pointing out that plenty of her sex lied for a living.
In the short time he’d known her, he’d started to realise that Evie didn’t seem to think the same way as other women.
‘By the time I realised that you were telling the truth, we were already deeply involved in the pretence. I was afraid you’d walk out on me. ’
‘So you used me. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?’
Unable to find an alternative take on the situation, Rio felt sweat prickle his brow. ‘Yes.’
‘But you…’ She jabbed her fingers into her hair, an expression of shocked disbelief on her face. ‘But we had sex—what was your justification for that? Were there cameras in the room?’
‘You initiated the sex.’
She gave a painful laugh. ‘Well, that’s you off the hook, then.’ Her eyes were glazed with tears. ‘You warned me you were ruthless and you told me that I’d find it easy to dump you—well, you were right. I’m dumping you. We now have the shortest engagement on record.’
‘I accept that I was wrong not to tell you,’ Rio breathed, ‘but don’t walk out.’
‘Why? Because you haven’t closed your precious deal yet?
What is wrong with you? You don’t need more money but you’re so desperate to win you’re willing to do whatever it takes.
’ A toss of her head sent her hair flaming down her back and she stalked back into the bedroom without glancing in his direction, flinging words over her shoulder like missiles.
‘There are some things in life that are more important than money, Rio. People’s feelings are more important.
Integrity. Honesty. And if you don’t know what any of those words mean then use some of that money of yours to buy a dictionary. ’
Rio searched his brain for slick words that would extricate him from this hole, but found none. His instinct was to leave her alone, but his legs had different ideas and, moments later, he found himself standing in the doorway of the bedroom, watching her.
‘I understood that you were worried, which is why I constantly reassured you that the photograph would not be published. You should have trusted me.’
‘Trusted you!’ She turned on him, her eyes flashing.
‘Why would I trust you? You’re impossibly arrogant.
You think you’re right about everything.
How was I to know that in this case the reason you knew the photograph wouldn’t be published was because you had it in your possession all the time?
I don’t believe this is happening—’ Her breathing was shallow and rapid.
‘You were so angry with Carlos. I thought you were going to finish him off—but why would he have arranged that photograph?’
‘Because Carlos is the brother of a woman I once had a relationship with,’ Rio said savagely. ‘It was a difficult relationship. She wanted more—’
‘Then she was looking in the wrong place, wasn’t she?’ Her tone acid, Evie scraped her make-up from the top of the dressing table into her bag. ‘Didn’t she read the newspapers? Didn’t she know that you don’t do “more”?’
Telling himself that her anger was only to be expected, Rio ploughed ahead. ‘She wanted me to marry her.’
‘She wanted to spend the rest of her life with you? Clearly she was deranged.’
Knowing that he deserved that, Rio took it on the chin. ‘She stopped taking contraception.’
Evie paused, a tube of lipgloss in her hand. ‘She became pregnant? On purpose?’ The shock in her voice almost made him smile.
‘Yes, on purpose. On purpose, Evie.’ He said the word twice, each time with emphasis, knowing that she had absolutely no idea what people could be like. She was such a crazy idealist, wasn’t she? ‘Are you going to ask me why?’
‘I’m not stupid. I presume she thought you’d marry her.’ She stuffed the lipgloss into her bag. ‘Which, of course, you wouldn’t.’
‘No, because it never would have worked.’ Rio growled the words angrily.
‘I offered her everything but that. I offered to buy her a house near me—I offered her financial support. But all she wanted was marriage and I’d made the mistake of being honest about how much I wanted to see my child.
She used that knowledge to carry on blackmailing me.
Only this time, instead of “I’m pregnant, marry me”, it was “if you want to see your child, marry me”. ’
Evie stood still. Some of the anger in her face was replaced by uncertainty.
‘She used my child as currency,’ Rio said thickly.
‘An object to be bartered with. I gave her sufficient funds to live in luxury for the rest of her life but she frittered it away on unsuitable friends and people I would not have allowed anywhere near my daughter. Because she had my child, I carried on trying to help. I even gave her useless brother Carlos a job in my hotel, under close supervision. But I was working behind the scenes to get custody of my daughter.’
‘Custody?’ Her eyes widened in shock and he gave a bitter smile because he’d seen exactly that same look on the faces of others.
‘Yes, custody. And, yes, I know I’m a single man.
A single man with a self-confessed relationship phobia.
I am no one’s image of ideal father material.
It was easy for her to build a case, making me look unsuitable.
I work inhuman hours, I have no history of commitment—’ he breathed deeply ‘—it’s possible I would never even have had a chance if it weren’t for the fact that Jeanette left Elyssa unattended. ’
‘She left her child alone?’
Rio wanted to tell her not to be so naive, but realised that would be unfair.
It wasn’t naivety that prevented her from understanding why another woman might leave a child alone; it was her nature.
He’d seen the way she cared about her grandfather.
She was warm and loving—a nurturer who believed that families stuck together and supported each other through thick and thin.
‘Jeanette didn’t ever want a child. All she wanted was a tool to manipulate me.
She doesn’t have a maternal bone in her body.
’ He watched Evie flinch as he took a hatchet to her illusions.
‘I imagine someone like you would find that almost impossible to believe, so let me tell you just how unhappy my daughter’s life has been so far and maybe then you’ll understand that there are times when “ruthless” is justified. ’
‘Rio—’
‘She was left on her own in the house because there was no way Jeanette was wasting any of the money I gave her caring for a child she never wanted. I sent her staff; she fired them. I interviewed eight nannies personally. None of them lasted a day. Jeanette said she’d care for Elyssa herself, but she didn’t.
I’ve been fighting for custody since before my daughter was born but it was only six months ago, after she had a nasty fall in the house while she was on her own, that the tide turned in my favour.
The police were called. Elyssa was taken into foster care while they reviewed the case.
It’s been a long, hard slog but we were almost there. ’
‘Were?’
‘Elyssa is Jeanette’s meal ticket,’ Rio said, struggling to keep the emotion out of his voice. ‘She doesn’t want me to have custody. She reinvented herself as a model mother. She’s been volunteering at the church, visiting the sick and the elderly, generally behaving like a perfect citizen.’
‘And at the same time she’s been trying to destroy your reputation? Make you look like an unsuitable carer for a child?’
‘Unfortunately, over the years, I’ve managed to do that for myself. I’ve made no apology for the fact that I don’t want commitment, never realising that the time would come when I’d regret expressing those sentiments in such a public fashion.’
‘So that’s why Carlos wanted me to spend the night.
That’s why he arranged the photographer.
That’s what the deal is.’ Her breathing quickened and her eyes held his.
‘This deal isn’t about money, is it? It isn’t business.
It’s your daughter. The reason you didn’t want those photographs published was because of your daughter. They were trying to make you look bad.’
Rio stood still, watching her. So much was riding on this conversation and yet, for once, his slick way with words had abandoned him. ‘I’ve worked for years to reach this point.’
‘But if your security team caught the man immediately—if you knew there was no danger of that photograph being exposed—why go through with that farce?’
‘Because I thought you could help my case.’ He didn’t flinch from the truth. ‘My lawyer told me to stay whiter than white or find a wholesome-looking woman. Until Carlos intervened, I’d settled on the first option. Then I saw you lying on the bed.’
‘I was naked,’ she said dryly. ‘Not exactly wholesome.’