“Go away!” she shouted at Lee SeungHyun. He towered over them, his skin an unnatural shade of gray, his eyes registering anger and a brief moment of vulnerability that disappeared before Harumi could be certain of its existence.

“I’m not going anywhere. In fact, I think it is you and your husband who need to go so Alexandra and I may speak in private of affairs that do not concern you.” Chessie opened to speak, but Harumi forestalled her. She pivoted her body so she faced Seungri fully and fixed him with a bored stare.

“My name is Harumi Hitome and I’m sure you and I have nothing to discuss.”

Since leaving her Alexandra persona behind, she’d run into former colleagues and none of them had recognized her. She’d had her hair cut short and dyed back to the rather mousy-brown color she’d been born with. She’d ditched the green contact lenses and her body at five months pregnant in no way resembled the willow thinness of Alexandra Kogemi trademark figure.

There was no reason she couldn’t bluff this confrontation with Seungri out. And a very good reason why she wanted to. She’d thought and thought about why he would tell his wife about her and the baby and the only logical solution she’d been able to come up with was that Seungri had decided that though he no longer wanted his ex-lover, he did want their child. Something dangerous flashed in Seungri’s brown eyes.

“Do not play games with me.”

“I am not playing any games. If you do not believe me about who I am, I can show you identification. I’ve been Harumi Hitome my whole life. I should know.”

“Ten minutes ago I believed you to be dead.”

“I can confirm without question that Alexandra Kogemi is indeed dead, but I am not and I am Harumi Hitome.”

He didn’t even look disconcerted. “You may be Harumi Hitome, but you are also Alexandra Kogemi and how you believe you could deny such truth to me, the man who knows you more intimately than any other, I do not  understand.” 

“I assure you, you do not know me intimately at all.”

And that was the truth. If he had truly known her, he could never have suspected the baby had been fathered by someone else. Terrible rage reflected in Seungri’s eyes before he leaned forward and swept her high against his chest, his arms as tight and inflexible as steel bands.

Chessie shrieked, “Put her down!”

Hunter strode forward to grab Seungri shoulder. Seungri glared at him, his body tense with primitive masculine aggression.

“Take your hand off me.”

“I won’t allow you to take my sister-in-law out of this apartment against her will.”

The entire situation was unreal. Lee SeungHyun doing something so uncool as to attempt to kidnap a pregnant woman from a party was beyond the scope of her imagination, much less believable reality. Seungri looked down at her, his brown gaze compelling agreement.

“Tell him you want to come with me.”

She glared back at him. “I don’t.”

Seungri stiffened and Hunter became more menacing, but in his fury, Seungri shrugged off Hunter’s restraining hold as if it were nothing more than a wispy cobweb. He spun to face Hunter.

“I’m not going to hurt her. She’s mine. She’s pregnant with my child and we’re going to talk.” After that, neither Seungri nor Hunter spoke for what seemed like several minutes, but was in all probability only seconds. Then something passed between the two men and much to Chessie’s dismay and Harumi’s irritation Hunter nodded.

“You can talk to her, but you’ll have to do it here.”

Harumi tried to shove herself out of Seungri arms. “I’m not talking to him.”

His hold tightened. “Be careful. If you fall, you could hurt the baby.”

“What do you care about my baby?”

If possible, his expression turned grimmer. “I care.”

Those two words scared her more than the thought of giving birth to a child. He was going to try to take her baby from her. She knew it. “I’m not giving you and your British paragon wife my baby. I’m not!”

He shook his head. “Talk. Alexandra. We need to talk.”

“You didn’t even believe the baby was yours at first,” she said, giving up any hope at deceiving him about her identity.

Emotion passed across his chiselled features. “I do now.”

“What changed your mind?” she demanded, ceasing her struggle against the increasing pressure of his hold. He smelled like whiskey, expensive after shave and sweat. Something had made Seungri sweat.

In fact, his hairline still showed evidence of moisture. The thought of losing his baby must have really destroyed him. She could almost feel sorry for him, but she refused to be so weak. He’d denied his paternity of their baby. He deserved what he got.

“I spoke to a doctor. He told me it was actually quite common for a woman to have one or even two menses after conceiving a child.”

“So you believed some stranger over me. I’m impressed, SeungHyun. It certainly shows where our relationship fit in the scheme of your life.”

“He’s not a stranger. He’s a friend.”

Who cared how well he knew the stupid doctor?

“I’m not giving you my baby!” she reiterated while inside she cursed the doctor who had put her bond with her child at risk like this.

“If you don’t put my sister down this instant and leave my home, I’m calling the police,” Harumi’s sister interrupted. Eyes deadly with intent, Seungri met Cessie’s gaze with his own inflexible one.

“Go ahead.” He turned to Hunter.“I’m not going anywhere without her.”

Hunter sighed. “You can talk out here. We’ll close off the doors to the house so you’ll have some privacy.”

Harumi shuddered. She didn’t want privacy with Seungri. “If I have to talk to you, I’d rather do it somewhere public.”

“You don’t have to talk to him at all,” Chessie’s angry voice interjected.

Hunter squeezed Chessie’s shoulder. “She’s pregnant with his child, my love. They have to talk.” Her sister her husband with murder in her eye.

“I suppose that’s some macho code all arrogant men try to live by, but I’m not standing by and watching him rip my sister into emotional shreds again. Don’t you remember how she was when she got here?”

As much as she loved her sister and appreciated Chessie loyalty, Harumi did not want Seungri to know how much he had hurt her. Her pride would not take it.

“Put me down. We can go to somewhere public,” she said. Seungri and Chessie said no at the same time. Harumi opted to deal with her sister first.

“Chess, I want this settled.”

Chessie eyes filled with tears. “I don’t want you hurt again.”

Harumi shook her head, very certain of that if nothing else. “He can’t hurt me anymore. I despise him.” Seungri body jerked. She ignored the reaction and asked him, “Why can’t we go to outside?”

“We tried to talk nicely in a public venue once and it did not work. Did you see the photos? They were all over the papers the week after my engagement to Phoebe was announced. My grandfather relapsed and had to have emergency by-pass surgery.”

Harumi stifled her urge to offer sympathy. Seungri got nothing from her from this point forward. Nothing.

“Talk out here. You don’t want your circumstances bandied about any more than Lee SeungHyun does. If pictures of you make it into the scandal rags here, your mother may not have a heart attack, but the hissy fit she’ll throw won’t be much of an improvement and it will all come down on your head.”

Chessie glared at her husband, but agreed. “Hunter’s right. If you are going to talk to this swine it might as well be here where no sleazy journalists are waiting to quote an overheard conversation or take damaging pictures.”

Seungri’s patience was wearing thin and Harumi could feel his anger mounting. Some things, it seemed, had not changed. She could still read him like the other half of herself. She found the thought so disturbing, she buried it immediately.

“You’re right. Mother is already prepared to disown me and make up some story about my early demise. We’ll talk here.” She would have mistaken the breath Seungri expelled as a sigh of relief, but she no longer believed he was capable of feeling enough vulnerability to be relieved.

With a few dire warnings to Seungri and concerned looks at Harumi, Chessie allowed Hunter to lead her from the terrace after turning on the small gas outdoor fireplace. The sound of metal sliding against metal indicated one set of doors closing.

A minute of silent waiting and the second set of doors closed from the inside of the apartment. As the vertical blinds slid across the doorway and then turned to create a visual barrier against the rest of the party, Harumi felt trapped. She was alone with a man she used to love—a man she no longer trusted.

Seungri didn’t speak. He didn’t move. He just stared at her and then at the football-size bump that indicated their baby living and growing beneath her heart. Tension arced between them and she became aware of the feel of his hard, muscular chest against her side.

“Put me down.” He seemed to snap out of a trance and his gaze shifted to hers.

“Your eyes are golden. They used to be green.”

“Color contacts.”

“Even at night?”

“The lights were dim, or off.”

“You cut your hair.”

“Yes.”

“It’s darker.”

She shrugged. He, of all people should know her natural hair color. He’d been the only one to see it in the last six years since she’d had her first bleach job and landed her first modelling contract.

“I like it.”

That made her angry. He had no right to like anything about her anymore. He was a married man.

“I don’t care.”

His eyes narrowed and his mouth set in a firm line. She refused to cower before the signs of his anger.

“As fascinating as this discussion is, I thought you had more important issues you wanted to talk about.”

He nodded. He gently lowered her into a wicker armchair before seating himself in its twin on the other side of a small wicker and glass table. Both were well away from the broken whiskey glass and first-aid supplies, but near the fire place whose gas lit flames generated some heat.

Contrarily, she missed the warmth of his body as a slight autumn breeze caught the strands of her chin-length hair and lifted them to chilling effect. She shivered.

“You are cold. We should talk inside.” Where someone might hear?

“No. It was just a breeze.”

He shucked out of his coat and tucked it around her shoulders before she knew what was happening. She tried to shrug it off, but he held it in place by the lapels.

“Do not be stubborn.” His nearness was doing something to her hard won emotional distance so she agreed in order to get him to back off. It didn’t do a lot of good. The coat carried his scent and warmed from his body, it was like having his arms closed protectively around her.

Stifling the image that thought provoked, she focused on getting down to business. She smoothed her oversized, sage green cable knit sweater over the baby, reminding herself that possession was nine-tenths of the law and no one could deny that right now, she was the one in possession of their baby.

“What is it exactly you think we have to talk about?” she asked, going on the offensive.

He looked her in the eye, his brown gaze dark with purpose. “I want my child.”