“I didn’t use protection that night,” he said stiffly, as if the oversight went against his personal code of honor. “I needed to know if there were consequences.”
Oh. He wasn’t worried about her as much as he was concerned about an illegitimate child. Disappointment crashed through her. She wanted to hunch her shoulders and curl into herself as if she could contain the pain. “There weren’t,” she said in a whisper.
Stergios gave a sharp nod. “I knew I had to seek you out because you wouldn’t have volunteered that information with me.”
Not necessarily. He always assumed the worst in her. “If you thought that, why did you give up looking for me? We’re talking about your child, the Antoniou heir,” she said grandly as she spread her hands up high in the air. “You would have searched the world if you thought that was a possibility.”
“I stopped looking a few months later.” His features hardened as he gave her an unforgiving look. “There was a picture of you online and you were definitely not pregnant.”
She frowned. “What picture?”
Stergios sneered from the memory. “You were on a yacht in the Caribbean with that royal playboy.” He spat out the last word as if it was a curse.
Jodie wanted to cringe. The prince had been a mistake. She had been looking for love. She had been desperate to be loved and found a playboy instead. Unfortunately, she had found a few playboys on her search for love before she wised up.
“I see,” she said calmly as she watched Stergios’s lip curl with disgust. “And suddenly it no longer mattered that I was a virgin or eighteen.”
He shrugged. “I might have been your first, but then you threw yourself at the next man who showed any interest,” he declared as he turned away. “You were no longer my problem.”
No longer my problem. The words echoed in her mind as she dazedly watched Stergios stride into the house. Once he’d decided that she “belonged” to another man, she had no longer existed.
Jodie hissed air between her clenched teeth as the pain ricocheted. He had ruthlessly cleaved her out of his life. He had moved on without missing a step. It was a fear she struggled with constantly. The fear of becoming invisible. Forgotten.
But she had no idea it was that easy.
She needed to work harder to become unforgettable to those who mattered. It was an impossible task, Jodie decided as she took the steps back to the garden, intent on getting away from the house, from Stergios. As she marched along the path she gradually realized what she had to do. She was going to use her wealth to become an indispensible member of the family. She might be unlovable now, but money could change anything.
HE HAD UNDERESTIMATED JODIE, Stergios decided later that night. He considered what he had seen at the family dinner a few moments ago and scowled. Not only had she gained her father’s attention with the mention of an expensive gift for his upcoming birthday, but Jodie had also excelled in the area that had consistently been her downfall. She had been the quintessential dinner companion, delighting the surliest of his uncles and making fast friends with the younger wives and fiancées.
Stergios reluctantly admired Jodie’s strategy. She had approached the outer circle of his family and was slowly gaining allies. He couldn’t have this.
He leaned against the marble newel post as he watched Jodie descend the staircase like a regal queen. She had reapplied her bright red lipstick after dinner and he found it difficult to look away from her mouth. He couldn’t fault her long-sleeved black dress. It should have been modest but it clung lovingly to her thighs. The white stripe zigzagging from her shoulder to her waist and hips was pure Jodie. Despite her attempts to blend in with the crowd she couldn’t wear anything that might have her fade into the background.
“You gave a worthy performance at dinner tonight,” he said as she drew closer.
She cast him a haughty look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You were very proper.” He should have appreciated the charade. Stergios remembered the family dinners she’d attended in the past. At times he hadn’t known if she’d been intentionally provocative or if she’d been unable to control her tongue. “You’re playing it safe. That’s not like you.”
She stood on the last step and met his gaze. “I know what is expected of me.”
“Especially if a wrong move will harm your chances with this family.” She wasn’t going to make a mistake soon. Jodie was using all of her knowledge from her past visits to dazzle and deceive. “What is it you want from us? Status? A favor?”
“As I have said before, I no longer want to be estranged from my father.”
She was sticking to that story but Stergios knew there had to be something more. What had happened that would cause this change of heart? What did her father have that she wanted? “Why?”
She frowned. “He’s my father.”
“He’s also the one who threw you out of this home.” And to someone like Jodie, that act would have been unforgiveable.
The corner of her mouth dipped before she looked away. “Emotions ran high that night,” she said quietly. “We said and did things we later regretted. It’s time to forgive and move on.”
Stergios raised an eyebrow at her practiced answer. “You think Gregory regretted his actions? That he wants forgiveness?”
She hesitated and glanced at the music room where her father was chatting with guests. “I can only speak for myself,” she replied in a faraway voice.
“You didn’t think the timing of that night had been suspicious?” He crossed his arms as he watched her closely. “He cast you out of his life when you were eighteen.”
Jodie’s head jerked and she gave him a cold stare. “Mairi kicked me out,” she corrected him. “This is her house and my father was obligated to agree with her.”
“And Gregory was no longer receiving child support from your mother.” His quiet tone didn’t soften the blow.
She pressed her lips before she spoke. “You think my father only tolerated me because of the money?”
There were many times when he had believed that. Gregory may have won full custody of Jodie, but he had constantly sent her overseas to any school that would take her. When she was away, it was as if Gregory forgot her existence. Each time Jodie had been expelled from a school and came here to live, Gregory had made it clear that the living arrangements would be temporary.
“He didn’t get rid of me the moment he could. I hadn’t just turned eighteen,” she reminded him. “If that had been his reason, he would have kicked me out months before.”
Stergios knew he had wounded her. Her rigid stance and cool tone didn’t give her away. It was in the way she tried to give a scornful smile. Her tremulous lips ruined the effect.
He had dug in and exposed a fear that had settled deep in her heart. It gave him no pleasure. But Stergios knew he couldn’t hold back if he wanted her to leave. He had to go in for the kill.
“It’s common knowledge that Gregory wanted to become a father so he could eventually live off the child support.”
Her forced smile tightened. “Yes, I’ve heard what was said during the divorce proceedings. That was one lawyer’s argument and it doesn’t make it true.” She took the last step and headed for the music room to join the others.
“Why would you want a relationship with a man who only showed an interest in you for the money?” he called after her.
“Perhaps