Damen was just a step away from him now.
Again, panic struck and he lunged forward, going for Damen’s throat, but Damen met Cleon’s thrust with his own hand.
Pain didn’t seem to register with the other man as he held Cleon’s knife by its blade, its sharp side pressing hard into his palm. Blood started to flow, endlessly, but Damen didn’t seem to feel a thing.
Cleon whitened. “S-stop—”
Damen’s bleeding hand moved again, so fast that the next thing Cleon knew, Damen managed to pull the knife out of his hold and throw it away.
He looked at his attacker wildly. “No! Please! I’m begging you—”
A fist smashed into his face, hard enough to throw Cleon back to the floor. Before he could gasp out in pain, the same fist drove into his face. Again. And again. And again.
****
The next day, shock rippled through Greece’s high society as they read the headlines emblazoned in every newspaper.
A certain middle-aged professor named Cleon Frangos had been arrested for subjecting women ranging from ages 13 to 34 to sexual harassment and, in some of the worse cases, repeated incidents of rape. His last victim, the only one who had managed to fight him off, was allegedly Mairi Tanner, the woman believed to be Damen Leventis’ fiancée once.
When asked why he had thought he could get away with attacking someone connected to such a high-profiled individual, Cleon, whose face was badly beaten and nearly unrecognizable, had given a short answer. “I thought no one would help her since everyone in Athens knows doing so would make them an enemy of the Kokinos and Esther Leventis.”
Damen
~ Six ~
News of Cleon Frangos’ arrest and the story behind it spread like wildfire, and before the day was over the entire country knew about it. The masses were in love with the story. They thought it romantic that a Greek billionaire like Damen Leventis would do everything to protect the woman he loved.
Those who belonged to Greece’s wealthier classes were, however, divided. Half were quietly dismayed at the results of the black propaganda that Esther Leventis and the Kokinos clan had launched against an American nobody. The entire incident was very bad business, as they knew how patriotic American businesses could be. In public, they swore about having nothing to do with the conspiracy and nepotism implied in the article. But in private, they simply washed their hands of the matter. They would not take sides. They would not be involved. They would simply wait and see which of the two warring parties would win.
The other half, however, were acutely appalled. These families did not hesitate to offer Damen Leventis their support as well as the promise to shun the opposing camp, exactly the way Esther and the head of the Kokinos clan had once conspired to make everyone shun Mairi.
The tide was slowly turning against his enemies, but victory was bittersweet for Damen.
Nothing truly mattered if he did not have Mairi by his side, and Damen remained indifferent as he watched the press conference that his mother’s PR team had quickly set up to prevent her name from being thoroughly dragged through the mud.
It was the same for the Kokinos, and its cold-hearted patriarch Yehor was rumored to have suffered from a near heart attack due to rage upon finding out that his own daughter and heiress Alina had allied herself with Damen Leventis.
Her interview had been short, but it was clear for anyone to see that she had been extremely shaken upon learning of the fate that Mairi had almost suffered in the hands of Cleon Frangos.
“I am ashamed that my own family had a hand in this. If I have played any kind of role that could be attributed as a cause for Ms. Tanner’s pain or suffering, I publicly beg for her forgiveness.”
****
It took less than a day for the scandal to leave the continent and explode in the United States as its own network of media companies picked up the news. Tabloids, gossip websites, and TV shows – all of them did their own coverage of the controversy, and in every report Damen Leventis was painted as the big bad wolf, a heartless billionaire who had made fun of a romantic dreamer.
Damen did not feel anything as insult after insult was hurled at him by the American media. He forced himself to watch every show and read every article, and the only time he felt himself nearing the breaking point was when some of the more creative outlets would include a reenactment of what had happened between Cleon Frangos and Mairi.
Always, they would hire someone who closely resembled Mairi, and always he would be unable to breathe as he watched the events unfold, his chest constricting so tightly Damen sometimes found himself just waiting for his heart to give up from the sheer pain of it.
Every time he watched Mairi’s attack reenacted, it would not be some unknown actress’ face he would see white with fear. It would be Mairi’s. It would be Mairi he would hear crying out for help that would not come, Mairi whose sobs would break him over and over as she sought haven in a goddamn spa because she wanted to feel clean…for him.
That goddamn spa…
As more facts had been unearthed and the date of Cleon’s attack became certain, Damen had been able to connect the dots and with it, his list of sins only grew. He remembered that day with painful clarity. It had been one of the seeds that grew into doubts about Mairi’s love. He had thought her shallow and frivolous, but now he knew that particular expense was the only way Mairi could bottle up her fear inside her and not break down.
How many times had Mairi suffered to prove her love for him?
The answer to that was a bitter pill to swallow. More than she should have.
What could he do to make it up to her?
It was a question Damen feared had no answer, simply because there was no way he could make it up to her. He might just have hurt her too much.
****
Damen had always known that his mother and Yehor Kokinos would strike back. The question had only been when and how, but in truth he had not really been bothered. Unfortunately, it was a mistake to underestimate the two, and a costly one at that, something he realized too late.
Damen stared coldly at the papers in front of him. His board – his own f**king board – had signed a petition to have him removed on the grounds that his actions were no longer for the better of the company.
“This is legal?”
His lawyer appeared hesitant to answer.
Damen could easily guess why. “You believe my mother either bribed or blackmailed them into signing this?”
Pippo’s voice was pained when he answered. “Yes, Mr. Leventis. I believe so. It will therefore appear legal at present and though I am confident I’ll be able to expose this as being invalid, it will take some time.” Again, his voice trailed off uncomfortably.