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Alexandra had been right. His revenge would not have given him that satisfaction. It would only have driven the hate deeper.
So, he had absolutely nothing now. Except his wealth. And his desperate need for a woman he’d left behind.
But he was Lysias Balaskas. He did notdo withoutwhen he could accomplish and obtain everything he wanted. Unfortunately, she was no simple want.
How could he go back to her, knowing what he stood to lose? How could he risk every wall that he’d built, that had allowed him to become Lysias Balaskas, billionaire, success? She threatened everything.
Everything...that she had turned into nothing. How could he live without her?
There was some commotion behind his door, then it swung open, and he heard someone arguing.
“Never mind,” a female voice said quite firmly. “I’m sure he will see his fiancée regardless.”
That voice. And then she glided into his office as if she belonged there, followed by his stuttering assistant.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Marcus said, stumbling.
“Never mind,” Lysias muttered, never taking his eyes from Alexandra. “You may leave us.”
She was here. He nearly went to her. Without thought. Without hesitation. He wanted her in his arms. He wanted his mouth on hers. He wanted to hear her voice. He’d thought the payoff, the disappearance would insult her enough that she would realize she did not love him, need him.
But here she was.
“Well, what do you have to say for yourself?” she demanded. She was wearing all black, like some kind of avenging ninja. Her eyes were fierce, her voice fiercer.
And he had no words.
“Diamandis’s assistant heard your little...whatever you thought you were doing,” she continued, prowling over to the wall of windows and peering down at Athens below. Then she turned to him, cut him in half with that dark brown gaze. “You didn’t enact your revenge. You asked for very little in return.”
“I asked for everything I required, and even that he could not give me if you know about it,” he said, but his voice was rough, and his hands itched to grab her. Hold on to her. Bury himself in the scent of her.
“What about whatIcould give you, Lysias?”
“Your love?” he said, trying to sound disgusted, uninterested. Even as it thundered within him. The only answer to all this nothing was herlove.
“Yes. My love. My forever. Belonging. A home. A family.” Her mouth began to curve, which made no earthly sense. “I know you love me.”
He wondered when he’d fully accepted the simple truth of that. It had been gradual, not sudden. In retrospect, the more he’d felt out of control in Kalyva, the more focused on revenge, the more he’d been trying to avoid the simple fact.
The unavoidable fact. A truth of life even he could not bend.
Yes, he loved her.
She closed the distance between them, put her small hand over his heart, where the ring he’d given her glittered in the light. “You think love is pain, and you are not wrong, but this is why you surround yourself with it. So when loss inevitably strikes, you lean into the love you still have. The love that can grow. I know you did not mean to, but you have opened a new world for me. You have given me my family back. More love than I dreamed—and I want more of it, Lysias. Not less.”
More not less.
“You can run away from me like a boy, but you are not one anymore. You are a grown man, so this is only cowardice. And I will not be afraid. I will chase you down. I will follow you to the ends of the earth to prove my love to you.”
“That sounds like stalking, Alexandra.”
But her smile only widened. “Then convince me, Lysias, somehow, someway. That you do not love me. I will leave you alone forever if you do.”
He lifted his hand to cover hers and he watched her stiffen. As if she were bracing herself for him removing it. As if she weren’t as sure as she acted.
It struck him then, that this truly was an act of courage. She had doubts, but she loved him enough, believed in him enough, to set them aside. To put her heart on the line. To chase him down and insist he face the worst parts of himself.
She had asked him to spare Diamandis, and he had. Now she only asked for his heart, and was that really such a terrible thing to give?
