The Art of Forgiving a Greek Billionaire (6 page)

Always, they would hire someone who closely resembled Mairi, and always he would be unable to breathe as he watched the events unfold, his chest constricting so tightly Damen sometimes found himself just waiting for his heart to give up from the sheer pain of it.

Every time he watched Mairi’s attack reenacted, it would not be some unknown actress’ face he would see white with fear. It would be Mairi’s. It would be Mairi he would hear crying out for help that would not come, Mairi whose sobs would break him over and over as she sought haven in a goddamn spa because she wanted to feel clean…
for him.

That goddamn spa…

As more facts had been unearthed and the date of Cleon’s attack became certain, Damen had been able to connect the dots and with it, his list of sins only grew. He remembered that day with painful clarity. It had been one of the seeds that grew into doubts about Mairi’s love. He had thought her shallow and frivolous, but now he knew that particular expense was the only way Mairi could bottle up her fear inside her and not break down.

How many times had Mairi suffered to prove her love for him?

The answer to that was a bitter pill to swallow.
More than she should have.

What could he do to make it up to her?

It was a question Damen feared had no answer, simply because there was no way he could make it up to her. He might just have hurt her too much.

****

Damen had always known that his mother and Yehor Kokinos would strike back. The question had only been
when
and
how,
but in truth he had not really been bothered. Unfortunately, it was a mistake to underestimate the two, and a costly one at that, something he realized too late.

Damen stared coldly at the papers in front of him. His board – his own fucking board – had signed a petition to have him removed on the grounds that his actions were no longer for the better of the company.

“This is legal?”

His lawyer appeared hesitant to answer.
 

Damen could easily guess why. “You believe my mother either bribed or blackmailed them into signing this?”

Pippo’s voice was pained when he answered. “Yes, Mr. Leventis. I believe so. It will therefore appear legal at present and though I am confident I’ll be able to expose this as being invalid, it will take some time.” Again, his voice trailed off uncomfortably.

Damen said abruptly, “While it is still enforced, all assets I have tied to the business will be out of my reach.”

“I am sorry, Mr. Leventis, but yes, you have it correct.”

A few months ago, this would not have been a problem. His personal wealth had always been significant and independent of the assets of the family’s business empire. But with the merger between the Kokinos and Leventis not pushing through, Damen had been forced to use his own money to keep their corporation afloat while searching for new investment partners. The search had been time-consuming and difficult, for Damen had not only needed to find someone with serious wealth but also one who would not mind going against the Kokinos.

“Essentially,” Damen said flatly, “you are telling me I am temporarily broke.” He had a few thousand dollars left in his private account, but such funds would not last him forever, considering that the costs associated with searching for new business partners were significant.

Pippo mumbled, “Yes, Mr. Leventis.” He had always wanted a chance to prove himself to his billionaire employer, but not like this. Never like this.

Damen’s lips twisted. “I guess I should be thankful the woman I love is not a gold-digger then.”

Pippo paled. The indirect mention of Mairi Tanner reminded him of another unfortunate piece of news he had to deliver to his employer. “About that, sir…I have received the latest report from our newest team of investigators. They, too, have hit a dead end. They cannot find any sign of her.”

When his lawyer paused, Damen asked sardonically, “You do not need to go easy on me. Tell me the worst.”

“The cost of having them continue searching for her might not be something you can afford at the moment.”

“Then it only means one thing,” Damen answered stoically. “I will need to look for her myself.”

Alina

~ Seven ~

One month earlier

“You really have no need to accompany me to the airport.” Damen Leventis’ words were spoken in a gently admonishing voice as he gazed at Alina with wryly amused eyes.

When she reached him, she said breathlessly, “Of course I had to. I know how spoiled you are. You might faint dead away after your first encounter with the public airport lounge.” She managed to deliver the joke in a perfectly light voice, hoping to lighten the mood.

She succeeded, and Damen’s lips curved into a slight smile. His smiles had always been rare, but now they were even rarer still.
 

Upon watching her interview, Alina’s father had not hesitated in disinheriting her but even so, she had not regretted a single thing. She had been ready to carve her own future, but to her surprise, Damen had been the first to offer her help, generously allowing her to stay in his home while she tried to figure out how life would be for her now that she was no longer the Kokinos heiress.

She had enough friends left to feed her closely guarded news, and from them she learned that Damen had found himself in a plight similar to hers. But in his case, it was sheer deception that had made the former billionaire unexpectedly bankrupt.
 

Alina wondered if she should try to engage him with more small talk, but the decision was taken out of her hands when his cab arrived. Her throat worked painfully as she watched Damen thank the driver before loading his own luggage.
 

A few months ago, this would – could – never have happened. Damen Leventis was one of the world’s richest men, one of the most powerful billionaires in Greece. He did not need to carry his own luggage, and he certainly had no need to call for a cab when his own fleet of cars numbered in the dozens.

And yet now, he was reduced to doing exactly that, but there was not even the tiniest hint of discomfort on his face. All Alina could see was a grim resolve, and her heart ached at the way his love for Mairi Tanner eclipsed everything.
 

Living with him, Alina had come to discover the softer side of Damen Leventis, a side that only Mairi Tanner’s loving and gentle nature had been able to bring out, a side that Alina had never thought existed. But now she knew. And now she was in danger of falling hard for a man who was once hers but never again.

The ride inside the cab was spent in silence. Alina did not speak, knowing by the tense set of Damen’s shoulders that he was again thinking of Mairi. Sometimes, there was a crazy part of her that wanted to beg Damen to give her a chance. To give
himself
a chance to see if maybe he could love her.
 

But in the end, Alina never spoke of anything that hinted of the feelings that she couldn’t stop from growing inside her. To do so would be selfish, and she did not want to add to Damen’s problems.

When they reached the airport, Alina had to blink furiously to keep herself from crying. She was going to miss him. It was a funny thought, considering how months ago she thought she was the luckiest woman on earth to be free of Damen Leventis.

“I have asked Stavros Manolis to look after you,” Damen told her when they reached the very last gate, one where only passengers with confirmed flight bookings could pass through.

Alina was startled. “Stavros?” The man who was once believed to be his sister’s suitor but had been recently exposed as one of the Greek billionaires after Mairi?

Damen nodded. “If I know my mother – and your father – I’m certain they have something planned against you, and they will push through with it the moment I leave and you are alone. Stavros will make sure that you will not be vulnerable to them.”

“But I hardly know him,” Alina protested, her face flaming at the thought of having to inconvenience a stranger.

He smiled. Even though they were opposite in physical appearance and demeanor, there were certain moments when Alina would poignantly remind him of his Mairi. Now was one such moment, and Damen stroked her hair as he would a younger sister. “You have nothing to worry about,” he assured her quietly. “You will be in safe hands with Stavros so please, if you do not want me to worry about you, then say you will let Stavros look after you.”

“I’m not a child.”

“No. You are not. But you may be made vulnerable…just like Mairi was.”

Of course.

Of course it all went back to Mairi,
Alina thought with hurt misery. Her head bowed. She did not want Damen to see the tears she felt sparkling in her eyes, wanting to be set free. “I understand,” she whispered.

“Good girl.”

She should let him go now. Alina knew that, but she just couldn’t. She needed to ask him one more time. “Damen?”

“Yes?” He already sounded distracted. His mind was firmly focused on Mairi now, Alina knew, but she did not let that stop her.
 

“Are you really sure you’ll be able to find Mairi?”

“Yes.”

Her head jerked up, and her eyes were wide with incredulity as she asked, “But how? You no longer have unlimited money at your disposal.”

Damen answered simply, “Because I will not stop looking for her. It is like asking me to stop breathing, to stop remembering that I
have
to breathe to live.”

“A-and if you see her?” Alina whispered. “If you see her and she does not love you anymore, what then?”

“Do I need the air in this world to love me back for me to breathe it? I just need it to be there. The same way, I just need to know that she is…fine. That I can love her in whatever way I’m able to.” Again, his lips twisted. “I need to prove to her that I love her, Alina. It doesn’t matter if it’s only to convince her that she has the power to destroy me. I need her. I love her. Endlessly.”

~ Eight ~

Miami, Florida

Present Time

Vilma Tanner’s gaze was cold as it raked through the man standing before her from head to toe.
He was
, she thought dispassionately,
even better-looking that the photos had led her to believe
. He was dressed in a dark gray leather jacket, a t-shirt, and jeans – ridiculously plain even for a former Greek billionaire like Damen Leventis.
 

His face was thinner now, but somehow it made him more beautiful – cruelly so. Her heart hardened at the thought. Was his cruel beauty the reason why he had been able to turn Mairi’s head completely, the reason why he had gotten away with making her forgive him so many times when the smarter thing to do would have been to leave him?

Damen paled as her gaze, which spoke of her contempt for him, met his, but he did not look away.
 

She was reluctantly impressed. What would Norah have done in this position? Probably walk away and have nothing to do with him. But Vilma had never been that type of person, would never have become the most successful divorce lawyer for Tinseltown if she had backed away the minute she came up against someone bigger and stronger.

They had played this cat and mouse game for too long
, Vilma decided. It was time for one of them to draw blood.

“Have you added stalking me to your list, Mr. Leventis?” She spoke with just the right volume, soft enough for her voice to be considered quiet and private, but loud enough for the occupants of nearby tables in the hotel’s café to hear her easily.
 

From the corner of her eye, Vilma saw their eyes widen at her words just a moment before their heads quickly swiveled, looking away from the source of gossip they were so eager to impart. Most of them now had their phones out, their fingers busily moving over the keypads. One even had the temerity to snap a picture of them. Vilma was pretty sure that photo would soon go viral, together with the news that Damen Leventis had been stalking Mairi Tanner – and now one of her aunts as well.
 

Looking at Damen’s face, she saw that he was not unaware of the undercurrent of intense interest in their conversation rippling around them. Seeing her eyes back on him, Damen inclined his head as if to say, ‘
This round is all yours. But is that all you have??’