His Unexpected Legacy(30)
Lizzie stopped short of saying that Sergio was equally gorgeous, but Kristen guessed from the nursery assistant’s pink cheeks that she had been bowled over by a surfeit of Sicilian charm. Hurrying out of the nursery, she pulled Sergio’s business card from her jacket pocket and entered his number into her phone with shaking fingers. Pick up, pick up... Her imagination went into overdrive and she felt sick with terror that Sergio might have taken Nico out of the country on his private plane. She had read about so-called tug-of-love cases where children had been taken abroad by one parent without the other parent’s consent. What if Sergio disappeared with Nico and she never saw her little boy again?
‘Castellano.’ Sergio finally answered the call and at the sound of his deep voice Kristen’s knees almost gave way with relief.
‘What have you done with Nico? Where is he...?’
Sergio’s reply was terse. ‘I haven’t done anything with him. I simply collected him from nursery when you failed to show up and brought him back to my hotel. He’s perfectly okay, although he was upset that you weren’t there to pick him up,’ he told her coldly. ‘I understand from Lizzie Morris that today is not the first time you have been late.’
‘There have only been two other occasions,’ Kristen defended herself. ‘And, like today, they were not my fault. The train broke down in the tunnel and I couldn’t phone...’
‘I really think you should have tried harder to get to Nico on time,’ Sergio interrupted her. ‘Have you any idea what it’s like to be the only child left waiting to be collected? The fear he must have felt that you weren’t coming for him?’
His words scraped Kristen’s already raw feeling of guilt. She had a strange sense that Sergio was speaking from personal experience—as if knew what it felt like to be a scared little boy waiting for his mother to show up. But she told herself she must be imagining things. The Castellano family was hugely wealthy and he must have enjoyed a privileged childhood. He certainly didn’t know what it was like to be a single working mother with all the responsibility that entailed, she thought grimly. His complete lack of understanding of her situation made her want to scream.
‘You’re a bloody expert in child psychology, I suppose,’ she said grittily. ‘Of course I feel terrible that I let Nico down.’ Tears suddenly filled her eyes and her throat closed up. ‘Thank you for being there for him,’ she choked. ‘I’ll come to the Hotel Royale to collect him, but it might take me a while because the trains are busy during the rush-hour.’
‘Stay where you are and I’ll send the car for you.’
Sergio cut the call before Kristen could argue. He always had to be in control of every situation, she thought grimly. His wealth gave him power, but it was more than money; his supreme confidence and arrogant self-assurance made him a commanding and authoritative figure—and his steely control over his emotions would make him a dangerous enemy.
* * *
The penthouse suite of the Hotel Royale looked very different from the last time Kristen had visited. On Friday evening the elegant sitting room had been immaculately tidy, but now it resembled a toy shop. Numerous boxes and torn wrapping paper littered the carpet; there was a train track complete with model trains in one corner, an enormous tractor, a robot figure and a model garage filled with toy cars.
Nico was sitting on the floor, pushing cars along a plastic roadway and making an engine sound. He barely looked up when Kristen walked in, before he returned to his game sending cars along the track to Sergio, who was pushing them back to him.
The biggest surprise for Kristen was to see Sergio stretched out on the floor, apparently absorbed in playing with the little boy. His tie was draped over the arm of a chair and his shirtsleeves were rolled up, revealing his tanned forearms covered with a mass of dark hairs. He looked so big next to Nico, yet Kristen noted with a pang the close physical resemblance between the man and the child.