Page 21 of Consequence of One Reckless Night

She heard both despair and disbelief in his voice as he glared at her. A dark emotion filled his eyes before he masked it, quickly pulling on an impassive expression which chilled her to the bone.

“Answer me!”

“It’s mine!” she shot back, shocking him.

His lips thinned, and a nerve ticked frantically at his temple, the only two external indications that he was enraged. “So that’s how you’re going to play it.” Though uttered calmly, his words had a dangerous edge that warned her to stand down.

Warning messages clanged loudly in her head.Get away from him! Don’t needle him! He is dangerous!But Raquel paid no heed to the words of caution ringing in her head. She wouldn’t back down. All her life, she’d been submissive. It was the only way to exist in a family where everyone fought to excel and exceed each other’s expectations. That’s how she’d earned her reputation, too.The quiet DaCosta. The timid daughter. The mousy sister.

And she had been okay with it all because until now, no one expected anything from her. But not anymore. The child in her womb needed her to be strong—to be brave. This child needed her love and—protection.

“Are you going to pretend there is no child and go ahead with this wedding then?” Alexandre queried, one eyebrow raised mockingly.

Raquel resented his contemptuous tone. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she retorted, experiencing a perverse pleasure when pain flickered across his face. “You’d prefer it if there was no child.”

“Yes,” he replied—unblinking, killing the triumphant feeling she’d just experienced. “I’ve never wanted children, but now...”

“This child is mine, Alexandre,” she riposted, angry tears filling her eyes as his cruel words empierced her heart. She had wanted to hurt him, instead it was he who had succeeded in drawing blood. “You needn’t worry about this child. You gave up every right to it when you failed to believe this child is yours. I will raise this child myself.”

“And what will you tell Leandro?”

She pursed her lips, unable to speak past the pain radiating from her fragmenting heart. If she thought he would fight for his child, he didn’t. And that hurt even more.

“Will you take my brother into your bed and make love with him—convince him this child is his?”

Horrified by his words, she could only gape at him. Who was this cold, calculating man who had no qualms saying awful things about her and his brother? Where was the compassionate man she had given her virginity to?

“Or will you just get rid of it?”

****

Alexandre watched Raquelstorm out of the study, and despite wanting to chase after her, he didn’t. Instead, he stood in the study, trembling with rage. His heart was pounding madly, and so was his head. Fingers clenched into tight fists at his side as he struggled with the need to punch something—hard, but he knew Carlos wouldn’t tolerate chaos in his home.

They’d had more than enough for one night.

He hadn’t expected a heartwarming welcome tonight, and Erica certainly had played the part of evil stepmom well.

But he hadn’t expected to see Raquel here—in his family home!

He refused to think of her as Leandro’s fiancée—he couldn’t! He couldn’t think of her sharing his brother’s bed, not when she had graced his bed and totally ruined him.

And ruined him she had, he admitted angrily. He hadn’t looked at another woman in weeks. And he had tried.

He’d thrown himself headlong into work, working around the clock but it had done nothing to erase her from his thoughts. When he dragged his tired body home, he’d loathed the emptiness of his apartment and his cold bed. He lost count of the times he’d reached for her in his sleep and waking up aching and hungry for her had become a daily occurrence.

Frustrated with himself for behaving like a lovesick pup, he’d thrown a party on one of his yachts, intending on exorcising all memories of Raquel in the arms of another woman, but that didn’t happen. Instead, when a woman—a barely clothed one—climbed into his lap to kiss him, he was utterly disgusted, prompting him to dump her unceremoniously onto a seat before stalking off to his cabin.

It had cemented the fact that he wanted Raquel—wanted her something fierce. He wasn’t ready to let anyone—not even his brother, take what belonged to him. A tiny voice inside him reminded him that he never became seriously involved with any woman, but he knew he was past that point now.

Raquel was pregnant with his child. Could things get more serious than that?

Ruefully, he admitted that he’d behaved despicably, leaving her alone after their first night together, without a note, or even a phone number to contact him.

This morning too, he’d been just as bad.

The news of the pregnancy had been like a punch to his solar plexus, and his first reaction had been to retaliate—reject her claims. But he regretted his actions—regretted saying those horrible things to her.

And the thought of her in his brother’s bed made his blood boil. The very idea of another man claiming his child and—Raquel, sent rage flooding through his veins.

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