The Art of Trusting a Greek Billionaire (8 page)

When she returned to her seat, Ms. Thorn resumed making announcements. Her tone was quite excited as she revealed this year’s sponsors and donations. “We are up by a million dollars this year, mainly due to our two VIP guests.” She beamed. “First is Ioniko Vlahos—”

Mairi clapped her hands with the rest, but not as strongly because it felt like she was betraying Damen somehow.

“And secondly, Mr. Damen Leventis and his fiancée Alina Kokinos.”

Mairi paled the same time a few pairs of eyes went her way. Velvet and Mandy, who were concerned, Diana, who was anxious, and Charity, who was smug and knowing because she had seen something she wasn’t supposed to see a few weeks ago and she was only biding her time, waiting for the right chance to reveal the ace she had up her sleeve.

Conscious of several people’s gazes, Mairi slowly lifted her hands up again to clap with the rest of the crowd. With each clap, it was as if she was breaking her heart into two, over and over.

When lunch break came that day, Mairi quickly hid herself deep in the school’s gardens, her back against the trunk of a large old oak, knees tucked under her chin.

She wasn’t in the mood to answer the questions that her friends would surely ask. How could she answer those anyway?
 

Mairi played with her phone, waiting for it to ring. Anytime now, it
would
ring, she told herself. Damen had changed completely. He was different now. He might not realize he had fallen in love with her yet, but he cared for her and Mairi believed him when he told her he never wanted to hurt her.

The minutes ticked by, the silence becoming more painful.

When her phone finally rang, she couldn’t answer it fast enough.

But it was not Damen.

“Mairi? It is Ioniko.”

“Oh.”

“You are disappointed?” Ioniko asked gently.

His gentleness undid her. She tried to speak but couldn’t. She was too busy holding back tears.

“I have just spoken to Katya. My sister told me you now know about this weekend?”

Clearing her tear-clogged throat, Mairi said tremulously, “Y-yes. I know that you’re one of our guests. We’d be honored—”

“Mairi, small talk is wasted on me. You know that. I called because I wanted to be sure you are fine with what would happen?” He paused. “Will you be able to bear seeing them together in person?”

This time, she just broke down.

The sound of Mairi’s tears made Ioniko’s fingers clench around his phone. “Mairi—” But he was cut off by a beep. He knew it meant another incoming call, and Ioniko would bet his entire bank balance that it was Damen.

“Go on,” he told her. “Answer it. You can call me after – if you need to. I am always here for you.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing it was effective to ward off the pain of knowing Damen should have been the first one to call her, not Ioniko.

“Thank you,” she choked out.

“It is nothing. Now, no more delays. Answer the call.”

And so she did.

“Mairi?” Damen’s voice came out controlled.
 

The more worried he was, the colder his tone became, but Mairi did not know this. All she knew was that he had called her too late, and he didn’t sound like he cared.

When she didn’t answer, Damen’s heart dropped to his stomach.
She already knew.
He had a feeling the announcement would be made today, but he had delayed calling, not knowing what to say.

I did not have any reason to make Alina refuse the invitation.

It was the truth, but it sounded incredibly lame and more suited as a reasonable lie.

The silence lengthened, becoming tense and awkward.

He gritted out, “Mairi, speak to me, please.”

But she didn’t and even now, Damen could not figure out what to say. He tried to come up with something else to talk about. “Were you talking to someone before I called?”

This one, Mairi gained a little pleasure in answering, never mind if it was not fair. “Yes,” she whispered. “I was talking to Ioniko.”

Damen stiffened. “And?”

“He asked me…if I was okay with what would happen tomorrow.” She then asked bitterly, “Are you having second thoughts about asking the same thing?”

Damen knew now was the right time to explain, but he just couldn’t get past the fact that she had been talking to Ioniko Vlahos. It was his worst fears realized, and as the fear mingled with pain, he said with unconscious sharpness, “What did you tell him?”

“Nothing.”

He snapped, “You didn’t tell him about us?”

She snapped back, “
Is
there an us?”

Damen cursed. “What does that even mean? Don’t fucking play games—”

The sheer unfairness of Damen’s words had her crying out, “You’re the one who’s playing games! Why didn’t you call me sooner?”

She had the right to ask him that, he knew. But guilt was still not an emotion he was used to feeling, and so was jealousy. Together, the two was a dangerous combination, effectively messing with his head.

“Mairi—”

“Cut the bull and answer me!”

His temper heated up, and he growled, “You are not my fiancée to have a right to make me answer your question!” The moment he said the words, Damen knew they were completely the wrong thing to say.

Her skin took on a sick pallor at his words. She thought he had changed. She had really believed he had.
 

“I wish I was in love with Ioniko instead,” she whispered, just to hurt him as much as he was hurting her.
 

The words were like a gunshot directly aimed at his heart. It made every cell in his being burn with fierce possessiveness and jealousy. A part of him knew that things had probably escalated out of their control. They were hurt and had both said things they didn’t mean.

He wanted to be fair and take it all back, but he couldn’t because in his mind he still heard her saying that she wished she was in love with Ioniko instead.

“If you want to be with Ioniko, I’m not stopping you.” He should stop here and now, but he was hurting too goddamn much to stop just like that. “I just hope he’s willing to settle for my leftovers.”

Chapter Ten

To trust a Greek billionaire, you must not give up on them on the first try, or the second, or the third…

She said: Get ready to be hurt a lot of times.

He said (wincing): Think of it this way. We get a lot of practice begging, too. The next book can be The Art of Groveling.

He still hadn’t called.

It was the uppermost thought on her mind as she showered and changed into a cerulean wraparound dress. As she applied her makeup, she told herself that it was because he hadn’t yet figured how to apologize to her without losing face. Greek billionaires were terribly arrogant, after all. She couldn’t even think of a single Harlequin title that had a
humble
Greek billionaire in it.

Also
, Mairi thought stalwartly as she worked her hair into a chignon, humble was good on paper but in real life? It was so
not
sexy.
 

So all in all, this was good and healthy for their rela—

Her thoughts stuttered to a stop, and she mentally scrambled for the right word to describe what they had.

Lover and cheater.

Mistress and benefactor.

Slut and client.

Mairi ran to the sink to throw up.

Two hours later, she was hurrying towards the auditorium, face scrubbed clean of tear-ravaged makeup and dressed instead in an elegant but simple cotton candy pink sheath dress.

Velvet and Mandy were already in their seats when Mairi joined them. “Where’s the pretty dress we bought yesterday?” Velvet asked, surprised.

“Wardrobe malfunction,” Mairi lied, thinking that should cover the fact that she had thrown up all over it because of sheer nervousness…and heartbreak.

“Oh…and your makeup?” Mandy asked.

“Umm…application malfunction?” She pretended she didn’t notice her friends throwing her suspicious looks after that.

Finally, Velvet cleared her throat. “Okay. Yay you for all the mishaps then.”

Even Mairi had to crack a smile at that.

Mandy gave her a quick hug. “Break a leg, okay? And chin up. I have no idea what you’re going through again to say all those silly lies, but I’m certain it has to do with your Greek billionaire. Whatever it is, remember we’re here for you.”

She did her best to remember that, especially since the award ceremony had started and the usual red carpet had been rolled out for the VIP guests.

“Ladies and gentlemen, a warm round of applause for the first of our guests of honor, Mr. Ioniko Vlahos.”

Ioniko walked down the red carpet in a swift pace, looking absolutely gorgeous and sexy in a black three-piece suit and a crimson necktie. He looked at her only for the briefest moment, his eyes warm. And then he was walking past her and ascending the stage to take his place on the VIP row.

“Thank you, dear students and teachers. And now, another round of applause for our next guests of honor, Mr. Damen Leventis and his lovely fiancée, Ms. Alina Kokinos.”

Hearing the words spoken in her presence hurt a lot more than she had expected.
 

She closed her eyes, unable to bear the sight of them together. There was a heightened sense of excitement in the crowd at the sight of them, and she squeezed her eyes shut more tightly when she began to hear them talk about how Damen and the Kokinos heiress looked so good together—

Oh.

He was walking past her now. She knew it was so, without even looking, because she knew his scent.

He was walking past her now, another woman by his side.
His fiancée. His side.
A place she might never have.

Mairi literally found herself swaying on her feet, but her friends helped her stay upright as they kept their arms around Mairi’s waist like three bosom buddies.

Mr. Damen Leventis and his lovely fiancée, Ms. Alina Kokinos…

The names and words became louder and louder with every echo in her mind. She wanted to cover her ears and stop herself from hearing it, but she knew it was impossible.

Mandy suddenly squeezed her hand. “Ms. Thorn just called your name.”

Mairi forced her eyes to open and tried to think past her erratic heartbeat and the gnawing pain inside her. Ms. Thorn had the crowd applauding her now, and she knew she had to move. And she would, just as soon as she remembered how to do it.

“You don’t have to do this,” Velvet muttered under her breath, her heart breaking at the blank look on Mairi’s face. It was as if she had just realized that fairy tales were just…fairy tales, and they were never meant to happen in real life.

“I’m okay,” Mairi whispered to them, not wanting her friends to worry about her. She didn’t want to look at them after that, knowing that seeing their concern might cause her to break down.

Damen schooled his face into an expressionless mask as he observed Mairi’s ascent to the stage.
She looked too pale
, he thought, his chest tightening at the sight of her makeup-less face.

It made him want to reach out to her—

At the other end of the row of seats, Damen heard Ioniko greet Mairi warmly and he turned sharply to look at them, quickly enough to catch sight of Mairi giving Ioniko a grateful smile in return.

The gratitude hit him like a ton of bricks, jealous rage creating an inferno of bitter feelings inside Damen. It hurt, it fucking did not make him feel good to see that smile on her face.

She was supposed to smile like that at him
only.

As she walked past Ioniko and towards his direction, Damen waited for Mairi to look at him. But when it was clear she would not, he heard himself saying to Alina, “Have I told you how beautiful you look today?”