Page 31 of Legacy of His Revenge
Who cared whether his bizarre behaviour was being observed?
‘Where do you think you’re going?’ he gritted.
Sophie’s eyes flashed. ‘Back home! Where do you think? I can’t believe you would have the nerve to accuse me of faking a pregnancy to try and extort money out of you. What sort of person do you think I am? No. Don’t bother answering that! I know already!’ She yanked her arm out of his grasp and hit the button on one of the lifts, which obligingly opened at her command. She stepped in, eyes firmly averted from Matias, but she was all too aware of him stepping into the lift with her and slamming his fist on one of the buttons, which instantly brought it to a shuddering stop between floors.
‘What are you doing?’ Alarmed, Sophie finally looked him squarely in the eyes and then blinked and made a huge effort to drag her eyes away because, even when she was seething with hatred, she still couldn’t help finding him so impossibly attractive. It wasn’t fair!
‘We need to talk about this and if this is the only way to get you to talk to me, then I’ll take it.’
‘You can’t justdo that.’ Sophie was shocked because wasn’t that breaking the law? Normal people didn’t juststop a lift to have a conversation! But then since when was Matias Rivero anormal human being?
‘Why not?’
‘Because...because...’
‘Are you going to have a conversation with me about this or are you going to put on your running shoes the second we’re out of this lift? Because you can’t drop a bombshell like that in my lap and then try and dodge the bullet.’
‘I don’t want anything from you,’ Sophie repeated fiercely. ‘I hate you!’
‘Message received loud and clear.’
‘And I didn’t engineer getting pregnant to try and get money out of you! That’s a vile thing to say even from you, but why should I be surprised?’
‘Let’s not waste time going down that road. It’s not going to solve anything.’
‘And I have no intention of getting rid of this baby, if that’s what you’re thinking!’
‘Did I insinuate that that was what I wanted?’ Matias raked frustrated fingers through his hair. Her colour was high, her eyes were glittering like aquamarines, and she was the very essence of bristling feminine fury. He set the lift back on its way down. ‘We’re going to go to a small wine bar five minutes’ walk from this office. I know the guy who owns it. I’ll make sure we get a good seat at the back somewhere and we can have a civilised conversation about this problem. Agreed?’
Sophie scowled. ‘You used me just to get dirt on my father.’ She looked at him narrowly and with hostility. ‘We can talk about this if you like but I don’t want you to forget how much I detest you for doing what you did.’
Matias hung onto his temper. He had no doubt that she was telling the truth and, with the dust settling, the grim reality of what had happened was beginning to take shape. He was going to be a father. When it came to his bucket list, having a kid had never been on it and yet here he was, with only a few months left of sweet independent singledom because of one crazy mistake.
Life as he knew it was about to undergo a seismic change and getting wrapped up in blame and counter-blame wasn’t going to alter that.
The wine bar was half empty and they were, indeed, afforded utter privacy at the very back, where they were tucked away from the other tables. Matias ordered a coffee for them both and then looked at her directly.
‘When did you find out?’ he asked quietly, shunning anything that might lead to another emotive outburst.
‘Yesterday.’ Sophie glared bitterly at him and fiddled with the handle of her cup before taking a sip and grimacing because her taste buds were no longer quite the same. ‘And don’t think that it wasn’t as big a shock for me as well! Don’t think that I haven’t thought about how Fate could have been so cruel!’
‘Whatever has happened in the past, we have to put behind us or else we’ll be stuck on a treadmill of never moving forward and the only way we can deal with this problem is to move forward towards a mutually agreeable solution.’
Sophie stared coldly at him because every word he said, while making perfect sense, left her feeling angry and defensive. Problem? Mutually agreeable solution? She rested her hand protectively on her stomach, a gesture that Matias keenly noted, just as he understood that treading on eggshells about summed up where he was right at this moment. She had come to his office under duress and was not inclined to give him the benefit of any doubts, but she was hardly the saint she made herself out to be, he thought. She talked a lot about him using her but hadn’t she been after his money? No, she wouldn’t be in line for a halo any time soon, but, like it or not, he had to listen to his own words of advice and approach the situation dispassionately.
‘That’s easier said than done,’ Sophie said tonelessly and Matias heaved an impatient sigh.
‘You wanted me to engineer a deal with your father because you thought he might be able to help you financially if he wasn’t in financial trouble himself. Am I right?’ His voice was level and cool. ‘So when you rant and rave about what a bastard I am, take a long look at yourself and try and put things into perspective.’
He hadn’t wanted to raise this thorny issue because he didn’t see what the point of raising it might be, considering it wouldn’t advance any sort of solution to their problem, but raise it he had and he was disconcerted by the absolute lack of suitable apology on her face. Clearly a sense of guilt didn’t feature in her repertoire.
And yet that seemed strangely at odds with the person she came across as being. Surely his judgement couldn’t be that skewed?
‘Youarea bastard.’ But she flushed because he’d never given her the chance to explain about Eric and it was understandable that he had somehow ended up with the wrong end of the stick. She looked at him, her bright eyes filled with unspoken challenge. ‘And how very lucky you are that I won’t be hanging around and making a nuisance of myself by demanding anything from you. I’m not the nasty gold-digger you seemed to think I am and I wouldn’t touch a penny from you if my life depended on it!’
‘You’re telling me that you weren’t after money from me by trying to encourage me to do a deal with your father? Even though you knew that his company was on the brink of collapse? Even though you knew that he was probably criminally involved in skimming cash from the till?’ Matias laughed shortly. ‘Let’s have your definition of a gold-digger, then, Sophie...’
‘I don’t care what you think of me,’ Sophie said tightly. She’d had her tale to tell, had been ready to spill the beans about Eric because she had been seduced by Matias on an emotional level, had taken him for being someone he had not been. She’d had a narrow escape—so should she spill the beansnow?
