Page 3 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 1-4

‘Oh, yes, that was it:“Please believe me when I say I don’t want to leave but I have to...”’

The fact that he’d omitted part of the note was small comfort. Maybe he didn’t want to remember the bit where she’d said, ‘I love you.’ Or the other part, which was why she was here...

‘Quin.’ She tried to appeal to the side of him that didn’t want to vaporise her on the spot. ‘We need to talk. We need to talk about—’

‘We have nothing to talk about,’ he cut her off brutally. ‘You need to turn around and leave right now, or I’ll have you thrown out.’

Panic clutched at Sadie’s gut. He couldn’t do this. But her limbs were turning to jelly at the thought that he might very well have her unceremoniously thrown out onto the streets, that she might not get to see—

She forced air to her panicking brain. She had to be rational and remember she had rights.

She forced herself to stand tall in the face of his white-hot anger and clear rejection of her presence. ‘I’m not going anywhere, Quin. I’ve come here because I want to see my son.Ourson, Quin. I want to see Sol.’

CHAPTER TWO

QUINSTILLCOULDN’Tbelieve that Sadie was standing before him. And uttering his son’s name out loud. It was blasphemy, coming from her. The woman who had walked out on her days-old baby. Their son.No.His son. She’d given up her rights to be his mother the day she’d turned her back on him with such callous disregard.

He of all people should have realised it might happen. After all it had happened to him. In his world mothers wreaked nothing but havoc.

The need to protect his son from this woman and whatever she wanted was overwhelming. He said, ‘How dare you even mention his name? You have no right.’

She went even paler in the dim light. Eyes wide. The colour of the ocean. He’d used to drown in her eyes. He’d fought it for a long time when they’d first met, having never really trusted anyone after his mother had walked out on him at such a young age. But day by day he’d fallen deeper and deeper under this woman’s spell, until one day he’d woken up and realised that he’d die for her. She had become his world.

That was when she’d told him she was pregnant, looking as shocked as he’d felt. But then there had been an overwhelming surge of joy and hope. He was being given a chance to do things differently...to change the script. He’d naively looked forward to witnessing a mother who loved her child enough to stay. He’d relished the opportunity to show his child love and support. Not the indifference he’d experienced from his father.

Quin had grown up with unbelievable privilege—anything money could buy, but nothing of real value. He’d learnt about that value by carving out his own path, and the thought of being able to pass that on to his child had been incredibly cathartic.

Sadie had been so happy—they’d both been so happy. Talking long into the night about all the dreams they had for their child. And each other. They’d been married in a simple ceremony on the beach, when Sadie was seven months pregnant...

‘I have every right, Quin. I’m his mother.’

Sadie’s voice pulled Quin back from the far too vivid past. He forced himself to be rational when he felt anything but. In spite of her heinous actions four years ago, he knew that as his son’s biological mother, she did have rights. Although he couldn’t imagine a court in the land regarding her favourably when she’d walked out of their lives, days after their son was born, without a backward glance.

‘What is it you want, Sadie?’

‘I want to see my son. I want to be a mother to my son.’

Anger bubbled. ‘You’ve had four years to be a mother to your son. Why now?’

Something occurred to him then, and it made his guts curdle with disgust. At one time he’d believed he’d known this woman as well as himself, but he’d been utterly naive.

She was opening her mouth, but he uncrossed his arms and held up a hand. ‘No need to say a thing. Your timing says it all.’

‘My timing?’

She looked genuinely nonplussed. Quin might have laughed if he’d felt remotely like it. Her acting skills really were superb. Another thing he’d never given her credit for, because he’d trusted her.

‘You expect me to believe it’s a coincidence that you appear back in my life on the day that I float my company on the stock market and it makes millions?’

Well, actually billions, but Quin wasn’t going to be pedantic.

She shook her head, ‘No, that’s not it at all.’ She blushed. ‘I’d been following you in the news, to try and figure out the best way to contact you, and I read about your success...but I’m not interested in that side of it. I mean...’ She stopped and then said huskily, ‘I am interested in the fact that you’ve achieved everything you’d set out to achieve when I first met you. It’s amazing, Quin, you must be so proud.’

His chest squeezed at the way she said his name like that, catching him unawares. He’d confided in this woman...all his hopes and dreams. Ambitions. He’d opened up to her in a way he’d never done with anyone else—not even his older brother—helplessly seduced by her open and loving nature, never thinking for a second that she would be the one to rip his world apart.

More fool him. At one time he’d imagined sharing this moment with her, but now the triumph felt somehow...tainted. As if trusting her with those nascent dreams was now invalidating everything.

The past was all around him, closing in, whispering in his ear and sending a kaleidoscope of incendiary images into his brain. He forced ice into his blood, but the throb of awareness was almost impossible to quench. It always had been. From the moment he’d laid eyes on this woman he’d wanted her with a primal need that he’d never felt before. He needed to push her back.

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