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CHAPTER TEN
THOUGHTESSACOULD scarcely believe it, the next day things launched from bad to worse. A friend texted her the headlines: Heiress Ice Queen. An article followed full of drama and misinformation, quoting a lengthy conversation Jonathan had had with a one-hit-wonder pop star also residing in the Celebrity House, in which he’d cried his heart out about his unfeeling ex-wife, relaying minute details of their marriage, as well as many, many points of fiction. She read it with a strange sense that she was choking.
‘Good morn...’ The greeting died on Alex’s lips when he saw her face. ‘Theresa?’
She nodded, numb, unable to speak, then pulled her phone from her pocket, flicked it to life and handed it to him, the offending article on the screen. ‘It’s never going to stop, is it?’
She watched him at first, but after a moment the look on his face was too much to bear. She turned her back, bracing her palms on the counter, staring out at his stunning infinity pool and, beyond it, Athens.
‘This guy is a pig,’ Alex muttered with cold derision.
Tessa flinched. ‘Yes, but he’s a pig that’s going to keep squealing for the rest of my life,’ she said softly, the reality of that driving any brightness from her mind. ‘I made a mistake when I married him, I know that, but I am going to have to keep paying for that mistake for a very long time.’
Behind her, Alex stiffened. Not if he could help it. This had gone on long enough. From the brief details he’d gathered from Theresa, their marriage had been borderline abusive. Oh, Jonathan might not have hit her, but he was coercive and a bully, and had undermined her at every opportunity. Emotional abuse was still a torment, and he was continuing to chip away at her. To see beautiful, intelligent, funny Theresa cowered by her ex-husband’s indiscretion made him want to punch something. It sure as hell made him want to wrap her in cotton wool.
But hadn’t she had enough of that?
Hell. He dragged a hand through his hair, two sides of Alexandros at war within him. His first instinct was to protect her, to make her feel safe and happy, and he could think of one sure-fire way to do that. But his second instinct was to give her the space to work this out for herself, because he knew that was important to her, and her independence would be more meaningful if she found her way there on her own. She’d been protected all her life—over-protected—and she’d hated it. Wouldn’t she come to resent him if he tried to coddle her? Wouldn’t she hate it, and possibly him, if he got involved?
He knew the second instinct was what he should listen to, but maybe there was a way to do both?
‘Let’s go back to Epíneio,’ he said, his voice firmly insistent.
She turned to face him, eyes widened, and he knew then he’d found the right option. It was obvious that she was tempted. ‘That won’t solve anything.’
‘Won’t it?’
She shook her head sadly. ‘This is my life now.’
‘That’s the point.’ Screw it. He closed the distance between them and lifted her up, sitting her on the edge of the kitchen bench so he could stand between her legs, their gazes level. ‘It’s only your life if you let it be. On Epíneio, did he enter your head, at all?’
She frowned, eyes searching his.
He pushed on, regardless of the fact she hadn’t answered. ‘He is going to try to spin out the secrets of your marriage—’
‘And lies,’ she interjected hotly.
‘Yes,’ he conceded. ‘For as long as there’s commercial value in him doing so. But no one who knows you will take any notice. He’s providing salacious gossip, it’s true—’
‘And I’m at the heart of it,’ she moaned, shaking her head softly.
‘Which is frustrating,’ he was quick to agree, because the last thing she needed was to have her feelings rendered invalid. ‘But you are a much better person than him. Every lie he tells, every story he sells, that hits the bottom-feeding tabloids, and every day that you stay silent, speaks volumes about his character—and yours. You have so much integrity, Theresa, whereas I doubt he even knows how to spell the word.’
She blinked slowly, then focused on a point over his shoulder. He wasn’t getting through to her.
‘You married me for two reasons. One of them was to drown out his stories with news of your own. The other was for your father.’
Her eyes met his and she nodded slowly.
‘Every day that your father believes our marriage to be real, and us to be happy, is a gift to him.’ Alex leaned closer, truth and wisdom in his eyes. ‘But there is a third reason perhaps you weren’t aware of. Let’s call it a silver lining.’
‘Oh?’ she whispered. ‘What’s that?’
‘On Epíneio you are happy, and you deserve that. Isn’t the best revenge living well?’
She bit down on her lip. He was right, but what about the inherent risks of being close to him? On Epíneio she was in the most danger of forgetting their boundaries, of imagining this marriage to be real, of hoping it might morph into everything she’d ever wanted.
‘Let’s go there, today. Let me help you forget.’ He expelled a sharp breath. ‘You wanted to change the narrative? So change it here.’ He pressed a finger between her breasts, feeling the steady thumping of her heart. ‘Free yourself from him. As long as he can upset you, he wins.’
