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She said it as if it mattered. and it did—it had—but she upended his brain and shook the contents out, and he struggled to hold on to logic as she continued.
‘I slept with you, but more than that I gave you my heart. I was absolutely prepared for it to be broken, absolutely prepared to walk away as per our agreement, but never like this...’ She was closing up her luggage. ‘You should have believed in me...’
‘You make no sense.’ He just could not see it. ‘I know you are struggling. I have struggled too, in the past, and I am saying that I understand.’
‘You don’t,’ Mary retorted. ‘I am always the first one they point the finger at.’
‘They?’ Costa reared. ‘Who isthey?’
‘At school, at work, in the foster homes I was sent to. It was always easier to blame Mary Jones.“Her dad’s in prison and she’s always short of money. Oh, and she’s a bit odd, you know.”’
‘And Mary Jones lies,’ Costa pointed out. ‘An awful lot.’
‘Yes,’ Mary said. ‘But I told you how much it hurt me to lie to your mother and to you. You should have stood up for me, defended me.’
‘Mary...’ he said as the retreat’s car arrived. ‘Barely a word you’ve said since we met has been true...and now, when it suits you, I’m supposed to believe you’re telling the truth?’
‘I haven’t told you anything. You never even asked. But, yes.’ She nodded. ‘Hell, yes.’
Let her go, Costa told himself.Let Mary from London, with her penchant for kleptomania, get the hell out and let me return to my life.
Except he liked it better with her here.
‘Mary...’ He watched her stomp angrily out to the car. Of course members of the security team were there, and no doubt his mother was watching too.
God, he loathed it here at times.
He almost charged out to haul her back, to halt her and have a good old row with her. But then for the first time in his life Costa Leventis froze.
Because hedidbelieve in her. And he hadn’t even asked her... Even if it defied logic, he absolutely did.
His guts turned to ice.
Costa called to the driver to wait, went inside and grabbed a package, then walked back to the car and knocked on the rear window. She ignored it, but the driver knew who was boss and the rear window slid down.
‘Here.’ He emptied his wallet of notes and dropped them into her lap. ‘You might need—’
His lips pressed into a grim smile as the notes fluttered back and drifted off to the pool as she refused to accept them.
‘Don’t throw this back,’ he said. ‘You need a phone.’ He dropped the one he had bought her into her lap and thankfully she didn’t fling it back. ‘I’ll call you.’
‘Please don’t.’
‘Na proséhis.’This time he used the more fitting farewell.Take care. In the process.Yet her little phrase book might not capture the true affection behind the term.
And then she was gone.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘I’MSORRY, DAD.’ Mary pushed out a smile. ‘About last week.’
‘It’s fine, Mary. They got a message to me and I’ve always said you don’t have to come every week.’ He looked at her. ‘You’ve got a suntan...’
Mary felt more wretched with each passing day, yet somehow she looked healthy and glowing.
‘Yes,’ Mary said, and took a breath. Certainly she didn’t want to tell her father about her weekend. But... ‘Actually, I do have some news...’
She’d been using the phone Costa had given her. She loved it, actually, and had learnt from some friendly backpackers at the hostel she was staying in how to set it up. And how to recognise and block calls from Greece!
