Damen feigned a grimace. “Ah. That bad then.” He watched Alina laugh, the tension gradually leaving her body. An air of fragility surrounded her, and it had him biding his time. He didn’t want to accidentally say or do something that could have her walls crumbling down.
When the sound of her laughter faded, Damen took it as his cue to speak and he asked carefully, “Are you still living in Stavros’ apartment?”
“No. I’m staying at one of my friends’ apartment.” She paused. “I don’t think I’ll ever come back to my father’s house. It might be more comfortable there, but it really was like a gilded cage. I like my life better now. I like being able to make my own decisions.”
He nodded. “That is how it should be.”
An uneasy silence fell between them. Alina placed her hands on her lap so Damen wouldn’t see her wringing them. Esther Leventis’ words echoed in her brain.
Damen will never listen to me, and I cannot blame him. I have betrayed him too many times. But you, Alina, he trusts you. You must make him see reason. You must make him see the truth about the woman he’s married. You must be the one to protect him because no one else can.
“Alina—”
She said in a rush, “I love you.”
Damen stilled, the rest of what he had to say obliterated by Alina’s unexpected admission.
She gazed at Damen’s handsome face searchingly, hoping for a hint of softening. But there was none, his silvery eyes as inscrutable as the rest of his expression. Alina’s heart started to crack, but she forced herself to continue, reminding herself that she was doing this for Damen’s sake.
“The American with you all the time—”
“Morrison,” Damen said, stiffening even more.
She looked him in the eye. “He’s Mairi’s lover.”
Seconds passed before Damen responded, two short words that tore her world apart. “I know.”
A cry of anguished surprise burst out from Alina. “And you still took her back?” She shook her head in pained confusion, the crack in her heart getting bigger and bigger as she was confronted with the reality of Damen’s love – of how he loved Mairi Tanner so damn much he was willing to turn a blind eye on reality.
“How could you, Damen?” she whispered. “How could you still marry her and…if what the tabloids are saying is true…you’ve even let that man live with you?”
The unspoken implication of Alina’s words slashed into him, but Damen pushed them away. He didn’t give a f**k if Alina and the whole world thought he was a fool for allowing Mairi and her ex-lover live under one roof. They would never understand that having Mairi close was the only way for him to keep living.
He said tightly, “What happened between them is firmly in the past—”
“You can’t know that for sure—”
“She always sleeps in my bed—”
She cried out, “She doesn’t need to be in his bed to betray you! She doesn’t need to f**k him to be in love with him!” Tears ravaged her voice as she whispered, “I know because you never had to take me to bed to make me fall in love with you.”
As she bent down her head to cry, she heard Damen say, “I’m sorry.”
And she knew that there was no way for her to win.
Damen would always love Mairi.
She didn’t lift her head when she heard him move, didn’t move a muscle even when she sensed Damen’s hesitation. He was standing right next to her, and Alina could feel his desire to touch her. She craved that touch, even knowing that it would only be Damen wanting to comfort her and nothing else.
Please. Please touch me.
But in the end, he did not.
“I don’t want you to think I do not appreciate your concern. I can’t see how you found out about it, but that doesn’t matter. I appreciate that you thought I needed the warning about…them…” Damen shoved his hands deep in his pockets. “You’re a beautiful person, Alina. Inside and out, and I hope that one day you’ll find the man who’s deserving of your love. But that man isn’t me. I love Mairi. She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved, and I’ll always love her…even if I end up losing her to another man.”
****
Outside the restaurant, a cab was stationed across the road. The woman seated at the backseat wore a large pair of sunglasses, which effectively concealed her tear-stained gaze as she stared at the couple seated at the back of the restaurant.
A part of her had foolishly hoped that even after all the clues, she would still end up being wrong. But that part of her had died little by little, starting from the moment she had seen Damen walk inside the restaurant and straight to where a beautiful Alina waited for him at one of the tables.
When Damen stood up and acted as if he was about to reach for Alina, Mairi’s head whipped away. She didn’t think she could survive it if she saw Damen touching another woman. Meeting Drake’s gaze through the rearview mirror, she whispered, “I’ve seen enough.”
Instead of telling the cab driver to resume driving, Dark turned his head to study the couple inside the restaurant. Something didn’t add up here. If he had to bet his life on it, he would have bet that Damen Leventis was in love with Mairi and would rather kill himself than hurt his wife again.
But if that was the case, why all the secrecy? And why meet Alina Kokinos?
“I’ve sworn to myself never to interfere between the two of you, Mairi, but don’t you think you should ask Leventis about this first?”
Ask Damen?
Oh, how she had always risked asking Damen Leventis, had always been foolish enough to give him the benefit of the doubt.
She remembered the first time she had learned about Alina Kokinos’ presence in his life. The memory burned vividly in her mind, pain shredding her heart as she remembered Damen capturing her wrist when she attempted to touch his face. She had asked him what was wrong. She had asked because even though she had a sick feeling in her stomach that something was wrong, she had goddamn asked him because she wanted him to prove her wrong.
Damen? What’s wrong?
What exactly do you think we are now, Mairi?
Are you worried about the labels? We don’t have to be girlfriend or boyfriend. We can just be…an item.
An item…that will eventually lead to marriage?
Eventually, yes.
But how can that be when I am still engaged to the Kokinos heiress?
Mairi squeezed her eyes shut, but more unwanted memories flooded her mind. She remembered, God how she remembered, the pain still raw, the time she had goddamn asked Damen when he wanted to throw her out of his house.