Page 56

“You were never given a choice about this marriage, Spiro.”

He was so far inside himself, he almost didn’t hear her, but when her words penetrated, all he could think was, Don’t.

“What if you’re pregnant?” he asked.

“I’m not.”

It was another blow. He hadn’t been able to give her that, either. “You don’t want to keep trying?”

“You didn’t.”

“No. I didn’t want you to feel—”

“That it was our only reason to stay married?” she asked over him. “It was. You woke up married to someone you didn’t know. You made the best of it and I will forever be in your debt for making Yaya’s last days as good as they could be, but we both got what we wanted out of this marriage, Spiro. It’s time to end it.”

“There’s nothing more you want from me?” He couldn’t help that he sounded bitter. He was.

“Don’t say it like that.” She twisted to look up at him, eyes glistening. “Like I was only in it for what I could gain. I’m trying to end it here so you don’t feel like I’m taking advantage of you any more than I have. I won’t force you to stay married to me just because I’m afraid to be on my own.”

Was that the only reason she might stay married to him? Those words of hers really had been empty, hadn’t they?

“You want me to leave you here, too,” he bit out, throat thick. “Doesn’t that make me as bad as whoever did that the first time?”

“No. This time it’s my choice.” She was sallow and her bottom lip was trembling, but she met his gaze, searching. Steady.

“Fine.” If that’s the only thing he could give her that she really wanted, she could have it. “You know where to find me if you change your mind.”

* * *

“Where is Alia?” Julian strode into Spiro’s city office.

It was the end of his workday and Spiro had already sent Florian home, but he hated the emptiness of the villa so he worked until he couldn’t see straight, then went home and swam himself into exhaustion.

“I dropped in at the villa, but she wasn’t there,” Julian continued. “Your staff wouldn’t say where she might be. She’s leaving me on Read.”

“Perhaps she finds you too intrusive,” Spiro said acridly. He’d been in an unrelentingly foul mood for the last two weeks. This didn’t help. At all.

“Did she stay on the island?” Julian asked.

“No.” Spiro knew by her bank statements that she had left Karpathos by ferry the day after he flew back here. “She’s renting a room near the university.”

Her credit card showed him she had paid tuition for the coming semester and was seeing a therapist. Wages from a coffee shop were being deposited into her account and she bought groceries and other incidentals within that budget. It was all the stalking he needed to reassure him she was alive. He refused to actually hunt her down, no matter how badly he was missing her.

“Why in hell would you end it without asking me to be there to support her?” Julian went from worried to livid in the turn of his heel. “I knew you would break her heart!”

“She broke mine,” Spiro near shouted, then swore and moved to the coffee nook where a bottle of scotch sat on a tray with four glasses. He turned over two of them and poured generously. “She ended it, if you must have the truth, not that it’s any of your business.”

“Why? What did you do?” Julian asked in accusation.

“What the hell didn’t I do? I bought Herena’s house for her. I gave her everything that’s in my power to give.” When he turned around, however, his father stared at him from the portrait above his desk, silently asking, Did you? “She wants to be left alone.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Julian said flatly. “She hates being alone. Where is she? I’ll go get her.”

“Julian—” Spiro pinched the bridge of his nose, hating to imagine her waking in the night, terrified. He hated their empty bed himself. “If she wants help, she’ll ask for it.”

“No, she won’t. She’s independent to a fault. Do you know her at all?”

“Do you? She’s also loyal to a fault,” Spiro snapped. “She stayed in a place that brings her nothing but pain, held herself back from moving forward with her life because Herena needed her. Then she married an unconscious stranger because you asked her to.” He jabbed his finger in a point. “What do you want me to do? Make her think she owes me something? We both got what we wanted.”