“I called Barry, his secretary, and he says there wasn’t any meeting penciled in Damen’s schedule.”
“It could have been unplanned.”
“He asked me how he looked in his new suit. He never does that.”
“Maybe he finally realized he’s not as good looking as he thinks he is?”
A choked laugh escaped Mairi, the sound hiding the trail of tears on her cheeks.
Drake cursed. “Mairi—”
She shook her head vigorously. “I’m okay.” Mairi unconsciously placed a protective hand on her tummy, where her unborn child rested. “I just…” Her shoulders lifted in an awkward shrug, and she gave Drake an embarrassed smile. “I thought I could do this, you know? Be with Damen while pretending I don’t love him? I thought I could control it because now I knew what I was getting myself into. But it didn’t happen that way. I just…I just fell in love with him more, and I don’t think that’s right.”
Mairi willed her voice not to shake as she continued, “I think Damen’s about to have an affair with Alina Kokinos.”
Her words stunned Drake. “Mairi, you know I’m not exactly your husband’s greatest fan, but—”
She cut him off, saying softly, “I don’t think he’s been unfaithful to me. I don’t think he ever will be, but…” Mairi choked, throat clogged with sobs she didn’t want to come out. “I love him too much to keep him with me if he no longer wants me, Drake. You understand, don’t you? If…if Paige loves someone else, even if it’s someone you don’t like for her, you’d end up letting her go, won’t you? Because you love her.”
The look on her face killed him, but it was her words that rendered Drake frustrated with his impotence because everything she said was true. Drake wanted to reach for Mairi, but he knew that was one thing he could never ever do. He had crossed that line once, and even now, they were still paying for its consequences.
The problem with the two of them, Drake thought harshly, was that they only knew how to be selfish for the wrong reasons. Another person might have advised Mairi right now to fight for her love and for the right to keep her husband and the father of her unborn child. But he was not another person. He and Mairi were the same, and it was always all or nothing for them.
“Drake?”
His fists clenched at the trembling in Mairi’s voice. “Yeah?” She was one of the nicest and gentlest persons he knew, and it killed him to hear her hurting like this.
“Could you find out where Damen is?” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears, and they matched the determinedly brave smile that curved on her lips. “I just want to know…I just want to see…if he’s really with her.”
“And if he is?”
She said simply, “Then I have to go.” She saw Drake’s gaze lower to her belly, and her hand tightened around it, the instinct to protect her child coming to Mairi naturally. “We’ll be okay. I don’t think it’s good for the baby if I stay. If I did, my baby might see me breaking day by day and that’s gonna happen if I don’t…”
A sob slipped past her lips, her emotions taking over.
“Damen might not know he doesn’t love me anymore, but I'll know, and that’s what matters. What I feel for him, it’s like my key to his heart and he doesn’t know it yet, but his heart’s changed locks and it’s a different key.” Her chest heaved and she sobbed. “He’s locked me out and I don’t think he even knows it.”
Chapter Twelve
She said: To wed a Greek billionaire, one must be ready of exes dropping by…all the time.
(Long pause)
He said: Technically, she was not an ex-girlfriend. Rather, she was my ex-fiancée.
She said: And the distinction is a good thing because?
He said: You truly have to ask, sweetheart? She became my fiancée for purely practical reasons. You were my only girlfriend – the only woman I chose with my heart and not my head.
(Long pause)
(Note to Editor: Could you take that out? I think that ended up sounding too sappy.)
(Note to Editor: Willow, I’ll be forever in your debt if you keep that line.)
(Editor’s Note: We’ll keep this. I estimate additional one week on the NYT bestselling list if I use it as a new excerpt for the book.)
“I must confess I had expected you to contact me a lot earlier than this.” Damen took the initiative to speak first, mincing no words as he did.
Seated across him, Alina Kokinos was as beautiful and elegant as ever, her every movement graceful and precise as she curled her fingers around the stem of her wineglass to take a sip. Her face was expressionless, but her stiff posture belied her inner tension.
The restaurant they were in was dim and low-key, its tables and chairs, made of varnished pallets and glass, projecting a rustic chic charm. But more importantly than that, its location was obscure and frequented only by town locals, making it the perfect place for Damen to meet the woman he had once used to make Mairi feel worthless. The memory of it still stung, enough to have Damen take a sip of his wine as well.
When he lowered his wine glass, he saw Alina gazing at him. The vulnerability he glimpsed in her eyes had Damen consciously softening his tone as he said, “We can postpone this if you want.” Even though it was unlikely for him and Alina to resume the friendship they once had when he was still reeling from Mairi’s loss, he would always consider himself indebted to the younger woman. She had been one of the reasons that he had not stopped looking for Mairi, Alina’s silent support giving Damen reason to hope that maybe…maybe he was not such an evil man that Mairi would be unable to forgive him.
The gentleness of Damen’s tone enabled Alina to smile even as her heart continued to ache at the mere sight of him. He was dressed in another one of his exquisite handmade suits, his hair styled perfectly. The latter was rare for Damen, who she knew had not one vain bone in his body. It prompted her to ask haltingly, “Do you have somewhere important to go to after this?”
Damen’s lips curved in a slight smile. “Is it that obvious I took the time to comb my hair?”
Alina’s own smile widened, and the world around her seemed to be just a bit more colorful at the sight of Damen’s amusement. Oh God, she was so hopelessly in love with him.
If only there was something she could do to make Damen Leventis feel the same about her.
Swallowing back the lump of pain in her throat, Alina said teasingly, “I wasn’t even sure you were Damen Leventis when I first saw you.”