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And trouble, as it happened, was once again brewing just around the corner, if rumors were to be believed.
Damen pressed a feather-soft kiss on his little girl’s forehead, not wanting to accidentally wake Nala up. She was her mother through and through, except for her hair, which was dark like his. Three months had already passed since her birth and yet he was still awed by her.
His daughter.
His and Mairi’s.
A miracle of love he would cherish his entire life.
“I hope she didn’t give you any headache,” Damen murmured to Mairi’s aunts even though his attention remained firmly focused on the child he cradled in his arms.
“She didn’t ever cry,” Vilma said proudly.
“Which means she took after Mairi’s mother rather than us,” Norah admitted ruefully. “She was a well-behaved baby, the only one among us three.”
Taking a seat next to her nephew-in-law, Vilma exchanged glances with her sister, asking Norah silently if now was the right time to speak of their concerns.
Attuned to the sudden undercurrents in the room, Damen looked up. “What is it?”
“We have been hearing things,” Vilma confessed. “We’ve still been keeping track of your mother’s actions. Recently, we’ve heard reports about Esther frequently meeting with unsavory members of the press.”
Damen frowned. “Unsavory in the sense of...?”
“They specialize in hacking celebrities’ accounts then blackmail those same individuals. If they don’t think they can get away with it, they then auction off the information and the highest bidder gets to dish out the dirt before anyone else.”
Damen’s lips compressed at the news. If he had his way from the start, he would have taken everything away from his mother. Revenge wasn’t even his motivation. All he wanted was to ensure she could never do his wife harm.
But Mairi, the woman Esther had hurt the most, was also the one who had stopped him from doing anything. His wife had pleaded with him. ‘Let’s just put the past behind us,’ Mairi had told him.
And because he had wanted to please her, he had reluctantly promised to do as she said.
But now...
“Thank you for letting me know.”
Norah repressed a shiver. Although Damen’s voice was gentle, it had a cold note that boded ill for his own mother. “You won’t do anything drastic, won’t you, dear?”
“Absolutely.”
When Damen left, Nala in tow, Norah glanced at her sister anxiously. “He won’t go off the rails on his mother, would he?”
Vilma shrugged. “As long as he can keep our niece out of harm’s way, I don’t really care what he does to Esther Leventis. Too much power’s made that woman crazy. It’s time she’s taught a lesson.”
Chapter 6
“Do we have a deal then?” Leaning back against her chair, Esther Leventis raised a brow.
Irwin nodded. “It’s a deal of a lifetime. I’d be crazy to resist.”
“Just don’t take any foolish chances,” Esther cautioned the reporter with a frown. “Although my son has become completely asinine in his choice of women, he is not, unfortunately, as stupid in other matters.”
“I’ll take extra care, Mrs. Leventis.” Wetting his lips eagerly, he asked, “And the money?”
“Fifty percent of the promised sum has already been deposited to your account. If, by the time I fly to Florida, everything has gone to plan, then the other half will follow, plus a hefty bonus.”
Irwin’s eyes glittered with greed at the mention of additional payment. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. I got this covered,” he bragged. “Everyone wants to be a star in America these days. I’m betting some of the women I talk to won’t even have to be paid. All they want is their fifteen minutes of fame.”
“Exactly what I want to hear.” When Esther came to her feet, Irwin hastily followed, knowing how the older woman disliked any sign of rudeness. A strange thing, considering what she had hatched against her own daughter-in-law. Then again, Irwin thought, that was the rich for you. Too much money had them wanting the craziest things.
WHEN MAIRI ENTERED her last class for the day and saw who was in it, she was extremely tempted to turn around, run away, and never look back.
She didn’t really need the money, did she? If she quit now, Damen would even be overjoyed, and she wouldn’t ever have to admit to him what happened. It was a win-win situation.
But even as the panicky thoughts ran through her head, Mairi found herself slowly walking inside the room and climbing the teaching platform. Oh God, why did You have to make me care so much about principles?
Quitting was the easy way out, but all her life, she hadn’t ever taken that path. She wouldn’t start now.
The teacher’s table was positioned in one corner of the room, next to the white board. It took her a while to get the necessary things out of her bag, with her sprained and bandaged left wrist currently out of commission.
