Chapter Sixteen
It was late morning the next day when their solicitors succeeded in getting Stavros and Damen released. The two Greek billionaires shook hands, a mutual understanding having formed between them. Damen would grovel, and Stavros would be there watching.
“Drive me home.”
It was a good half hour before they reached his home. As he retraced his steps to the front door, his heart began to beat faster and faster – and it was not doing so in a good way.
With every beat of his heart, he felt like he was suffocating.
By the time he reached the front door, Damen was on his knees.
In his mind, the picture of the last time he had seen Mairi was complete, tortuously vivid and inescapable.
The remembered sound of her sobs rang in Damen’s mind, growing in volume until it was all he could hear.
Mairi was begging.
Please, Damen—
A choking gasp came out of Damen’s throat, the memory tearing him open.
The front door flew open. “Sir!”
Damen pushed past the surprised-looking housekeeper, his breaths coming out in erratic gasps as he practically ran to the bedroom he once shared with Mairi.
I love you. A vision of a happy Mairi danced in his mind.
Please, Damen—
I miss you. Mairi on the bed, a loving look on her face.
Please, Damen—
He threw the door open, his gaze falling dumbly to the sight of mismatched shoes on the floor.
In his mind, he could see Mairi, being woken up in the middle of the night, exactly as he had planned. He had wanted her flustered, Damen thought with vicious self-hatred, and she had been flustered, so much so she had ended up wearing mismatched shoes.
Please, Damen—
Damen groaned out loud. “I’m sorry.”
Please, Damen—
His hand shook as he reached for his phone and called the man he had assigned to tail Mairi incognito since the day he had declared his love for her at GAYL.
“Tell me everything, what she has been doing, who she was with – every f**king thing you know.” He still could not explain why Mairi had seemed to act like she had been happy with the role of an idle woman of luxury, but Damen knew now that whatever the reason was, it would be a good one.
His employer’s words were an answered prayer.
All the time he had been following Ms. Tanner, Christophe had wrestled with his guilt, wondering when it was the right time to intrude. Mr. Artini had been clear – he was not to let Mairi Tanner know he was around unless her life was under threat.
But what if she’s being disrespected?
Then we pray that she will be able to handle it.
Mr. Leventis’ orders had also been as ruthless and explicit.
You are not to let me know anything unless it is about her life in danger in any way.
Mairi Tanner’s life had never been in danger, but her heart had been dying since the very first day.
“No school, no business – no one in Greece was willing to hire her in fear of retaliation from the Kokinos clan or your mother. In the end, Ms. Tanner accepted a virtual job.”
The amount that Christophe named as Mairi’s wages made Damen flinch, and the hours that such work entailed made Damen hate himself even more.
“She used the money she earned to buy a fish spa setup. It should be in your bedroom.”
His gaze swiftly scanned the room.
There.
Damen slowly crossed the room. A fish spa. In an aquarium that seemed to have been designed by a man with a fetish for an alien’s br**sts. On the armchair near it was a card, and he picked it up.
Happy First Month Anniversary, my love!
I wanted to give you a gift that no one else would have thought of giving you – did I succeed?
I want you to know that you’re my dream come true and you’ll always be so.
There is nothing I won’t do for you, so please, lean on me – I am here to share not only in your success but your troubles, too.
I’m stronger than you think, you know.
I love you.
Your precious,
Mairi
The letter fell from his fingers.
His eyes closed.
He saw himself, no better than the lowliest bastard as he exploited her weakness. I can’t believe I chose you over a real lady like Alina.
He saw Mairi, her heart shredded by his words, her dream ripped apart by his cruel actions.
Go back to Manolis. He can have my leftovers. I had you in every way—
Damen spun around, his fist hitting the glass of the closest window, the sound of its explosion no different from how he imagined the sound of Mairi’s preciously innocent optimism being raped by his brutal attack.
STOP. Please, please, please stop.
Damen pounded the wall with his bleeding fist, again and again and again until a large crack formed on the blood-stained cement. He wanted to whip himself, sleep in a f**king bed of thorns – but he knew no self-punishment would be enough.
“I’m so f**king sorry, Mairi. I’m so f**king sorry.”