Page 72 of The Billionaire's Timed Wife

Admirable.

“I came because you told my assistant that you wanted to speak with me,” she begins. “And I can only assume it’s somehow related to your brother.”

After taking my seat across from her, I study her face for any trace of guilt or fear when she mentions Naim.

Nothing.

The only thing I see there is contempt.

“Does your husband know you came here?”

“No. Odin’s traveling. Why?”

“If I were him, I wouldn’t want my wife meeting with the enemy.”

“You’re the enemy?”

“Your attitude so far has made that perfectly clear.”

She sighs, looking tired. “Let’s make this brief because I’m sure neither of us wants to be here. I can’t give you answers about your brother’s whereabouts, but I can tell you who he was and why my husband and I want this story buried once and for all.”

“You came to defend the two of you?”

“For me to have to defend us, we’d need to be guilty of something,” she says sharply, and I realize that whatever her husband did to Naim, Elina herself is innocent. “But if we were guilty, so what? In our home, I’m not subservient just because I’m a woman. Decisions about our lives are made together.”

She speaks slowly, and I recall reading in an interview that she’s dyslexic. In a world obsessed with appearances, Elina Lykaios is remarkably brave to own that publicly.

I can see the restrained fury in her, despite her calm façade. There’s no doubt how much she hates Naim.

“Tell me about your relationship with my half-brother.”

“Half-brother?”

“Yes. His mother was my father’s first wife.”

“There was no relationship. My father sold me to him.”

For the first time since she arrived, I’m fully engaged, momentarily forgetting I’m supposed to be analyzing her, not getting drawn into what she says.

What she reveals is so shocking it commands my full attention.

“What do you mean,sold?An arranged marriage?”

“No. My father, Leandros Argyros, traded me for a fortune.”

“I know who your father was,” I say, choosing to ignore—for now—the part about the money.

“Then you must also know he was bankrupt. So he thought it was a good idea to sell me as your brother’s fourth wife.”

As unbelievable as her words sound, the pieces begin to fall into place.

“Go on.”

“The problem, besides the fact that they treated me like merchandise, was that neither of them bothered to ask my opinion. And of course, I had no interest in being involved with Sheikh Naim.”

“Why not? He was wealthy. As his wife, you would’ve had many privileges.”

“Setting aside the obvious, that I was never and will never be for sale, even if that weren’t the case, there isn’t enough gold on earth to make me marry Naim. He was, along with my father, one of the most despicable people I’ve ever met.”