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And the answer must have showed on his face, because then she said, ‘Don’t you understand, Castor? She loved you. And that’s what love is. It’s forgiveness.’
Something shifted in his chest, pressing against the heart he kept telling himself was dead. That heart that was painfully, agonisingly alive after all.
‘I can’t remember,’ he said raggedly. ‘I can’t remember...what that feels like.’
Glory stepped away from the door, then she held out her hand. ‘Come to me,’ she said softly. ‘Come to me and I’ll show you.’
He felt frozen then, on the edge of something immense, the feeling in his heart too big for words. Too big for anything.
And abruptly he was back in his house in Malibu a month earlier, only it had been him holding out his hand to her. Offering to show her what it was like to be close to a man.
It seemed appropriate now that she should be the one holding her hand out to him, offering to show him what love felt like.
Except he had a feeling he already knew.
Love was grief and pain and heartache. Love was Ismena.
But love was also joy and pleasure and contentment. Love was Glory in a red dress. Glory poking interestedly around the Colosseum in Rome. Glory coming down the stairs in a golden gown.
Glory throwing off her cloak and offering him her virginity.
Love was Glory.
And he could not walk away from her.
So he took a step. And then another. And then another. Then her hand was in his and he was pulling her against him, or she was pulling him, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that she was finally where she belonged, safe in his arms.
‘I love you, Glory,’ he whispered into her hair. ‘I love you so much.’
She went still and then melted into him, burying her face against his chest, and for a long moment they stood there together in silence, just being together.
Then Glory looked up and said, ‘She would have wanted you to be happy. You know that, don’t you?’
And he did. Finally, with Glory against him, he could even feel it. ‘Yes. But you’ll have to show me how happiness works,mikri alepou, because I think I’ve forgotten that too.’
She smiled, pressing herself against him, her eyes shining. ‘Oh, you haven’t forgotten, Castor Xenakis. In fact, if you kiss me, I guarantee you’ll remember.’
So he kissed her and it turned out she was right, he did remember.
He remembered very well.
EPILOGUE
‘STOPLOOKINGSONERVOUS,’Glory murmured. ‘You’ll be fine.’ Then she stretched out her hands for the baby currently in Castor’s arms.
Castor gave his son a final kiss on the forehead before he reluctantly handed Lucas over to Glory.
He’d never been nervous in his entire life but he was nervous now.
The helicopter had landed and in another couple of moments she’d be here.
Castor took a moment to ground himself by looking at his wife and son, the joy of which he still couldn’t believe was his.
The past year had been a busy one. First, he’d used the information he’d managed to get from the heads of the trafficking ring, passing it onto the authorities, and just in time for them to intercept one of the ring’s biggest ‘shipments’ to date. Not only had the authorities managed to save all of the people trafficked, they’d also taken down the heads of the ring itself, just as Castor had hoped.
The news of their capture was a great source of satisfaction to him as he’d disentangled himself from the rest of the web of traffickers he’d once been part of, letting Castor Xenakis, playboy, fade slowly from public life. He was a family man now. He had no need for anything else.
But that didn’t mean he’d stopped his mission. No, it had only changed direction. He and Glory had decided to make all his residences safe houses for women in dangerous situations. Any woman could turn up, no questions asked, and they would be taken care of. It had turned out to be a rousing success.
