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Genuine contrition was an emotion foreign to her, but Esther’s survival instincts made her strive to mimic it as she raised her hand in an appealing gesture to Damen. “This war between us is senseless. I see it now, Damen.” She waited for him to speak, but he didn’t. Trying again, she murmured, “I realize I was wrong to not let you explain yourself—-”
A mirthless laugh slipped past his lips. “We both know there is nothing for me to explain. I have always acted for the good of the company—-” His lip curled in distaste. “—-despite the false evidence presented against me.”
“I can make the evidence disappear—-”
His tone bored, he cut her off, saying, “Please don’t, Mother. I’m having too much fun now. It would be my greatest pleasure to rip your side’s evidence into pieces and expose it for the lies they truly are.”
Panic stirred inside Esther at Damen’s words. “We can still work together on this—-”
“Enough.” Weariness hit him, and Damen shook his head, a dismissive gesture that stung Esther’s pride. “It’s too late, Mother. You need to go. I cannot afford any kind of threat now.” He paused. “I don’t have just a wife to protect. I have an unborn child to keep safe as well.”
Any hope of reconciliation was lost as Esther gazed at Damen’s face, unable to see even a slightest hint of softening. The invisible noose around her neck tightened to the point that she felt like she could no longer breathe. Panic and frustrated rage had her ignoring her common sense, and she screamed, “You are really going to choose that slut over me?”
Damen’s lips tightened. “Call her that one more time—-”
“Slut!”
He exploded, “She isn’t that. You are!”
“How dare you?” Esther screeched. “I gave birth to you! You owe your life to me—-”
“If I could pay it back, I would,” he snarled back. “If I could have a choice of who my mother would be, I’d rather pick someone who didn’t have a single cent to her name—-”
Esther laughed coldly. “But you can’t, can you? And no matter what you do, it’s like I have always told you. You will always be my son, and you will always be bound—-”
“Leventis.” Drake stepped forward. “I think this is what your wife does not want you to be a part of. It would be better if you go and follow her inside.”
When Esther Leventis started to speak, Drake snapped his fingers, and out came the security agents that Damen had hired. He said politely, “I’m afraid you are in danger of trespassing, Mrs. Leventis. If you do not leave the premises in a minute, these men have the wherewithal to make you leave and, if necessary, have you arrested as well.”
When the woman seemed to be preparing herself to scream, Drake added evenly, “If you think my men are the type to play nice, Mrs. Leventis, you will find yourself sadly wrong.”
Esther scanned the faces of the men around her and knew that Damen’s bodyguard wasn’t lying. Who the hell was this nobody anyway, and how dare he talk to her like they were of equal footing? Lifting her chin, she whirled around and walked back to her limousine, knowing it was better to concede this battle. There was still the war for her to win anyway, and if Damen thought she had shown all her aces already, she would soon prove him wrong.
As her chauffeur drove her back home, Esther took out her phone from her purse and made a call.
“Mrs. Leventis?”
“Yes, it’s me, Alina...no, no, I’m not calling you on behalf of your father.” She paused, as if having a hard time speaking. “I need your help about Damen. You may be the only one to make him see the danger he’s in because of the woman he married.”
Chapter 15
She said: Secrets abound when you wed a Greek billionaire.
He said: But not all of them are the bad sort.
She said: I disagree. Every secret is bad, but you probably won’t ever see it my way. You’re a Greek billionaire, Damen – and not an ordinary one at that. There’s not a day that a part of me isn’t terrified you’ll suddenly realize I’m not good enough for you and so the secrets...they make me insecure. Because I love you so much—-
(Editor’s note: To be continued tomorrow. Couple had sex. Again.)
“HIT ME WITH IT.” THE words came from Willow Somerset, the newest junior editor of Hamnet, Greece’s most prestigious publishing firm. Even though the half-Greek brunette was only twenty-three, she looked more like the office’s resident frump with her plastic-framed glasses, shapeless mud-colored three-piece pantsuit, and a pair of murderously heavy-looking clogs.
Without missing a beat, Damen bent forward, acting as if he was about to hit the bubble of gum that his editor was trying to blow into a huge pink balloon. Although no one else was inside the conference room with them, the walls around them were entirely made of glass. If just one of Willow’s bosses saw their junior editor right now, that was it for them, their deal possibly being nullified even before it reached acquisitions.
