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Everyone wore identical expressions of amazement at the threat and all that his words implied. Everyone but Chloe.
She wasn’t surprised at all. Underneath the warmth of family love that Takis Spiridakou wore with such ease was a man who could both run Spiridakou & Sons Enterprises and teach Ariston to be the business shark that he was.
Her beloved old man had a titanium spine and her father would do well to remember it.
Warmth spread through Chloe at the realization that she’d never been as alone as she’d felt. She turned to meet her father’s still gaping countenance.
From her position of security with both these amazing Spiridakou men at her back, she extended her hand in welcome. “Father.”
“Ariston thought you would want me here,” he said almost diffidently, grasping her hand and holding on rather than shaking it.
“He was right.” She smiled up at her soon-to-be-again husband while extricating her hand from her father’s hold. “Thank you.”
“When you told me of the healing nature of your last phone call, I thought you would want a chance to see him in person.”
“You were right.”
Ariston preened under the pronouncement and she found herself smiling even as her father hugged her and whispered the second “I’m sorry” of his life toward her along with an emotional declaration of fatherly love.
Perhaps even old business sharks really could change.
She hugged him back and told him she loved him too, but then grinned. “That doesn’t make me any less happy to hear Pappous made sure the company paid for you thinking I was just one of its assets, though.”
Her father gasped, but Rhea just laughed. “You all forget that while Chloe’s a lot more like Mom than I am, she still carries our dad’s genetics.”
At that, her father looked proud if still a little shocked. Ariston didn’t look surprised though and Chloe hadn’t expected him to. He’d already commented on the fact that she had a ruthless streak even she hadn’t been aware of.
He said now, “It is something I have come to appreciate as true.”
“Oh, really?” she asked.
“Yes. You knew what you wanted and you went after it.”
She wasn’t sure how he came by that conclusion, unless he was talking about how determined she’d been to save Rhea’s marriage. She didn’t deny it though, because she, at least, knew it was true.
“That sounds more like you than my father,” she teased.
“He and I are not so unalike.”
Chloe had to look away at that reminder. She believed that their differences were enough that she wasn’t setting herself up for a lifetime of hurts like her mother had endured. If she was wrong, neither of them were going to come out unscathed.
The prenup had pretty much guaranteed that for Ariston.
“Enough talk. Let us have a glass of ouzo to celebrate this day and then get this wedding on the road.” Takis brandished a bottle he’d no doubt brought all the way from the home country.
Like the first time five years ago for their courthouse wedding, the court came to them.
The same Supreme Court judge, who was an old friend of her father’s, arrived to preside over the civil ceremony. Minutes later, the two lawyers who had witnessed the signing of the prenuptial agreement joined them.
As Chloe looked around the room, she realized the players were all the same as five years ago.
Takis was the only person who had not been in this very room before to witness an identical ceremony.
It was all the same. Soft strains of classical music played in the background, just like before. Another buffet luncheon was laid out on the sideboard of the dining room for after the ceremony. Not so much as a lamp had changed in the decor of this room either.
As her sense of déjà vu grew, the hope and security that had buoyed Chloe up bled from her in a steady, inexorable stream. Why did she think this was going to work any better than it had the first time around?
Because she was more aware? Less naively hopeful that Ariston would fall in love with her?
Her gaze slid to Takis Spiridakou. The reason for this event. Had he not stubbornly refused to acknowledge the divorce between her and Ariston, her ex-husband would have gone looking elsewhere for a mother to his children.
Chloe was honest enough with herself to admit that reading in the society pages about Ariston marrying another woman and giving her children would have killed her. It was time for a little more honesty as well.
She wasn’t marrying him for Rhea’s sake or that of the employees at Dioletis Industries.
No, agreeing to this marriage was all down to her.
And ultimately, no matter what came of it, she’d agreed for one reason and one reason only—her abiding love for the Greek billionaire.
