The Best Of The Year - Modern Romance. Annie West

powered by a deep sense of fear smashed through the wall of Billie’s astonishment. ‘It doesn’t matter what you allow. I’m Theo’s mother and what you have to say has nothing to do with it!’

      ‘You’re wrong,’ Gio told her succinctly. ‘I have every right to object to the manner in which you care for my son and I will be happy to fully explain to the children’s authorities why I believe my son’s current living conditions are unacceptable.’

      Gio was threatening her. Gio was actually telling her that he was prepared to report her to the social services for what he evidently saw as inadequate or neglectful childcare. The very thought made Billie shake with rage, a flush running across her cheekbones, her chin up, her green eyes defiant. ‘Well, maybe you’d be happy to tell me because quite frankly I don’t know what your problem is!’

      ‘You are living with a prostitute and leaving my child in her care. I will not tolerate that,’ he asserted with icy precision.

      Off-balanced by that condemnation coming at her out of nowhere, Billie sank weakly down on the sofa, her legs suddenly giving way beneath her. It had not occurred to her that a routine investigation of her life would also dig up Dee’s biggest secret. Pale, her clear eyes reflecting her strain and distress, she stared back at Gio. ‘Dee’s a bartender now. She’s put her past behind her...’

      ‘I don’t put a time limit on a past like that, nor do I want such a woman in close contact with my son or taking care of him,’ Gio delivered with inflexible cool.

      ‘People make mistakes, people change, turn their lives around. Don’t be so narrow-minded!’ Billie urged, stricken, appalled that he had uncovered her cousin’s troubled history and leapt straight to a disparaging conclusion.

      Dee had got involved with an older man in her teens and had dropped out of school and ended up as a drug addict on the streets. Dee had been brutally honest with Billie about her past and Billie had tremendous respect for the amount of work and effort the other woman had put into making a fresh start for her and the twins.

      ‘I’m glad for her sake that she’s turned her life around but I still don’t want her anywhere near my son,’ Gio growled without apology. ‘How do you know she’s not still turning tricks at the bar where she works at night?’

      ‘Because I know her and how much she values what she has now!’ Billie slammed back furiously.

      ‘I want my son out of this house right now,’ Gio admitted. ‘I want the two of you to move into my hotel with me until we get this situation sorted out.’

      Wildly disconcerted by that demand, Billie stared back at him. ‘No,’ she said straight away.

      ‘Say no and take the consequences,’ Gio drawled softly, chillingly.

      ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

      ‘That I will use whatever I have against you to make the case for gaining custody of my son,’ Gio advanced with measured force. ‘I will go to social services with my concerns and they are bound by law to investigate.’

      ‘I don’t believe I’m hearing this!’ Billie exclaimed jerkily, appalled by what he was telling her and cringing at the prospect of Dee being investigated once again by suspicious hypercritical officials, who would disinter the past that Dee had worked so hard to leave behind her. ‘You’re threatening me and my cousin!’

      ‘If it is in my son’s best interests, there’s nothing I won’t do for his benefit,’ Gio intoned harshly. ‘He is my primary concern here. I don’t care what it takes or who else it hurts but I will always do my absolute best for him by whatever means possible.’

      ‘How can you feel like that about a son you haven’t even met yet?’ Billie demanded shakily.

      ‘Because he has my blood in his veins. He is mine, he is a Letsos and I must fight his battles for him because it is my duty to do that while he is still too young to have a voice.’ Gio glanced down at the wafer-thin gold watch barely visible below his immaculate white shirt cuff. ‘You have fifteen minutes to pack.’

      ‘Leaving here is absolutely out of the question.’

      ‘No, it is your one chance to escape the penalty for defying me. If I leave this house without my son today, I will fight to win custody and I will use whatever means are at my disposal,’ Gio warned her with chilling bite.

      Her eyes rounding, Billie’s upper lip parted company from her lower. ‘You’re not being reasonable!’

      ‘Why would I be? You’ve stolen the first fifteen months of my son’s life from me,’ Gio pronounced with lethal cool. ‘How can you be surprised that I refuse to allow you to steal one day more?’

      In receipt of that caveat, Billie could feel the blood draining slowly from below her skin, shock smacking through her in a dizzy wave. He was angry, he was bitter, but he couldn’t possibly be thinking through what he was doing. ‘Are you crazy? Theo needs both of us,’ she told him tightly.

      His lean, strong face clenched hard. ‘Of course he does...in a perfect world. And this, I need hardly remind you, is not a perfect world.’

      ‘Where are you planning to make time for a baby in your schedule?’ Billie demanded with scorn. ‘You won’t. You don’t really want him. You’re behaving as if Theo is some kind of a trophy.’

      ‘Pack,’ Gio urged, one long brown forefinger tapping his watch face. ‘You need only bring what you need for twenty-four hours. Naturally I will cover any necessities you need.’

      Frozen to the spot, Billie stared at him, unwilling to believe that he could threaten everything she held dear in her life on the strength of what could only be a whim. ‘Gio—’

      ‘Not one word,’ Gio cut in fiercely. ‘I want my son. You’ve had all the time with him that you ever wanted. It’s my turn now and I’m taking it.’

      Billie reached a sudden decision. She would go to the hotel and allow Gio the time and space to get acquainted with Theo. Surely that major concession would cool his temper and calm him down? Sadly, she couldn’t feel sure of the outcome. Gio’s anger was shockingly new to her and she could still feel that anger sizzling from him in invisible sparks that could ignite into an explosion. Right now, opposition would probably only make him angrier and given a few hours’ respite he would surely cool off and develop a more practical outlook, she reasoned frantically.

      Billie withdrew a case from the hall cupboard and carried it up to her room. She packed the basics for herself and her son and then went downstairs to throw Theo’s feeding essentials into a holdall. In the kitchen she scribbled a note to Dee, telling her where she had gone and that she would phone.

      ‘Dee won’t be able to work tonight if I’m not here to babysit for her,’ Billie protested as she pulled on a light cotton jacket. Beneath the onslaught of Gio’s appraisal she suddenly felt like a complete mess and she turned her head away, stiff with self-loathing. Her toffee-coloured corkscrew curls were never going to compare to Calisto’s blade-straight blonde locks. Her hips were never going to be boyishly lean, nor would her boobs ever be dainty handfuls. Short of a body transplant, she was what she was. Wearing only a smattering of make-up, she looked very ordinary. It was ironic that she was so casually dressed because she hadn’t wanted Gio to think that she had made a special effort for him. It was not a comfort that looking less than her best now felt like striking an own goal.

      ‘I’ll hire a babysitter for your cousin.’

      ‘I can’t let her down like this, Gio. It took so long for her to find a job with hours that suited.’

      ‘I said I’ll take care of it and I will,’ Gio incised, grabbing her case from the hall and yanking open the front door, determined to let nothing come between him and his ultimate objective. ‘Trust me.’

      His chauffeur was waiting on the step to collect her case. After a moment’s hesitation, Billie passed over her holdall as well, snatched