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Mairi stiffened. “Drake, I don’t...”
He made his voice colder and harder. “Inside or outside, Mairi?”
She squeezed her eyes shut. If only, she thought numbly. If only she could wish the world away. How pathetic she had become, but the pain that kept stabbing her heart made it difficult for Mairi to remember that she was better off than others.
Other people lost the ones they loved to death. Other people lost the ones they loved to war, to slavery, to prison.
She had not lost anything or anyone – she had only lost her heart.
Drake spoke again. “Make your decision or I’ll make it for you. Either way, you need to settle this now.”
Mairi forced herself to open her eyes. “Outside.” Her voice was thin. “I don’t want Damen Leventis taking one step inside my home.”
Chapter 5
All breath was knocked out of Damen when the door opened and the stranger he saw on television stepped out...and he was holding Mairi’s hand.
As the door closed behind them silently, the man escorted Mairi to the other side of the brightly lit porch. Light from all corners beamed down, allowing Damen to see her completely even as rain and the heavy darkness of a moon-less night shrouded them.
Mairi unconsciously held on more tightly to Drake as she found the guts to meet Damen Leventis’ gaze. He had changed so much. His beauty did always have a cruel feel to it, but now the thinness of his face made that cruelty blatant. There was something different about him, something subtle but important, and yet she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
Did he seem less arrogant? But how could that be? This was Damen Leventis, the Greek billionaire who had it all. The one man she had ever loved, the one man whom she had given the power to hurt her. Again and again.
“Mairi.”
Damen’s voice made her inhale hard. It was a voice that she hoped to never hear again. But she had, and that voice alone made every despicable and humiliating memory of their last time together come back.
“Get out of my fucking house, you gold-digging bitch.”
“I can’t believe I chose you over a real lady like Alina.”
“Go back to Manolis, he can have my leftovers.”
“I had you in every way.”
“I’m sorry, Mairi.” The words sounded like they were ripped out of him. And that was fine, really, since hearing those words made her feel like he was trying to rip her heart into pieces once more. With those words, Mairi knew three things.
She still loved him.
She would always love Damen Leventis.
But she could never go back to him because this soon, he was already destroying her.
For a moment, the whole world failed to register in Damen’s consciousness. In that single moment all that existed was Mairi, the woman he had hurt over and over to his everlasting regret – and the woman he knew he would never stop loving.
She had changed into more casual clothes, wearing an oversized college sweater and denim shorts. Her hair was tied up, but several locks of hair had again escaped its hold, framing her delicate face. Her eyes were large and luminous as they slowly met Damen’s, with too many emotions for Damen to read. But the rest of her face was expressionless, and he could only rely on the tense posture of her body to gauge her mood.
He also noted that she was gripping the stranger’s hand rather tightly, and the sight of those entwined fingers was like a dart dipped in acid striking Damen’s heart.
No.
He wanted to roar his denial and protest.
Mairi could not...
Mairi would not...
He didn’t want to believe it.
But then the stranger moved again, pulling Mairi close to his side, his fingers unclasping from Mairi’s to curve around her waist. His hand rested on her hip, fingers splayed on her skin as if branding her.
Denial turned into a terrible sense of dread inside Damen as he waited for Mairi to move away, to stop another man from touching her like this, but with each second that passed, Damen’s hopes began to crumble.
The stranger pulled Mairi closer to him, and this time the side of her breasts pressed against the side of his chest.
And yet Mairi did not say a word, did not move an inch, did not give Damen anything to cling to so that he could believe he had not completely lost her.
Finally, he dragged his gaze away from where Mairi’s body was connected with another man. Finally, Damen found the strength to look into her eyes, those wondrously expressive eyes that could never lie to him.
And in those eyes, he saw the truth.
Mairi had given herself to another man.
No. No. No. He wanted to deny the reality he saw in Mairi’s eyes, but he had never been one to lie to himself. He had a feeling he would never want to sleep again. If he did, he was damn sure he would have nightmares about this, and there would come a day when the pain would eat him alive and he would never wake again.
