Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 234281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1171(@200wpm)___ 937(@250wpm)___ 781(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 234281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1171(@200wpm)___ 937(@250wpm)___ 781(@300wpm)
“Trouble in paradise this early?” Ioniko asked mockingly and was rewarded with a darkened expression on the other man’s face.
“Fuck you.”
“I would rather fuck—-”
Damen’s fist slammed into the table. “Don’t,” he bit out. “Or I swear to God, I’ll thrash you—-”
Ioniko’s laugh cut him off. “Do you think that scares me?”
“Mairi is mine, Vlahos. Don’t make the mistake of forgetting it.”
He looked at Damen Leventis, whose face was inscrutable. His instincts told him that something had gone wrong between Leventis and Mairi, thus giving him the chance that he had long been waiting for.
With every second that passed and Vlahos still hadn’t spoken, Damen became tenser and tenser. “She’s mine.” Damen felt like he needed to repeat the words.
After a beat, Ioniko only raised a brow as he questioned, “Is she?”
It was clearly meant to goad Damen into a temper, and his teeth clamped together at the effort it took him not to rise to the bait.
“Don’t forget that I, too, have a sister studying in the school she teaches. When you ask the right questions, you get the right answers, Leventis. And I do know what to ask.” Ioniko leaned forward, wanting the other man to see the determination and ruthlessness in his eyes.
“Mairi is no longer yours and this time, I will not take no for an answer.”
“AREN’T YOU GOING TO answer your phone?” Mandy finally demanded in exasperation, her ears already on fire after hearing her friend’s phone ring nonstop during the past hour. It had been a tiring day for the entire faculty, with the requisite meeting with the school board and the interview-slash-interrogation that came with it emotionally draining.
It was only eight in the evening but all Mandy wanted to do was sleep – and she would, right after she figured out how to silence Mairi’s incessantly ringing phone.
The ringing stopped.
Just as Mandy started to sigh with relief, the ringing started again. “Mairi! Answer it!”
“No.”
Mandy blinked at the curt tone, which surprised her enough to make her sit up on the bed. She gazed at Mairi worriedly, who was lying on her back, her eyes on the ceiling. “Are you okay?”
The ringing stopped then resumed again for another series.
“Dammit!” Velvet, whose bed was next to the windows, jumped to her feet and stalked to Mairi’s bed. She grabbed the phone from the bedside table.
Mairi whitened. “Don’t—-”
Velvet’s jaw dropped. “Damen Leventis is calling you?”
“Yes,” she managed to say, fighting back the urge to cover her ears and make Velvet take the words back. The name alone had her swallowing convulsively as she tried to stop the hurtful memories from once again attacking her mind.
“You don’t want to speak to him?”
She shook her head.
“Really don’t want to speak to him?”
She nodded.
“Okay.” And then to her shock, Velvet answered the phone. “Hello?”
It took a moment for Mairi to recover. “Velvet!”
“Oh? You’re looking for Mairi? Well, she’s not here. She’s dead and you fucking killed her by being the world’s greatest asshole. So, Mr. World’s Greatest Asshole, don’t ever call her again!”
She was still gaping by the time Velvet returned the phone on the bedside table with a satisfied look on her face.
“Velvet...” Her voice trailed off. Mairi didn’t know what to say.
Velvet gave her a dry look. “You’re supposed to thank me.”
Mairi flushed. Sometimes, it just wasn’t good to have really smart friends.
“Thank you.”
Padding back to her bed, Velvet said over her shoulder, “Even though you don’t sound like it – you’re welcome.” She switched her night light off, plunging the bedroom into darkness.
The softest sound reached Velvet, and she knew that Mandy also knew it was Mairi, doing her best not to cry.
Shit. She hated men. She really hated them. They were all jerks – how could they be anything but jerks when they had the gall to hurt someone as sweet and, well, childish and gullible as Mairi?
“You cry too much,” she said gruffly and heard Mandy groan. She knew that it meant Mandy was very close to killing her for being her usual tough-girl self.
Mairi didn’t answer.
Velvet wanted to punch someone. The silence was even more awful, somehow making Mairi’s pain more intense, like a wound that bled so much they could smell the metallic scent of blood emanating from it.
Should she give Mairi stupid false words of hope just to make her feel better? She wanted to. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. Men like Damen Leventis were just...
“Mairi, he’s not worth crying over.”
It took her friend so long to answer that by the time she did, Velvet was halfway asleep.
“I know, Velvet,” Mairi whispered, closing her eyes, and when she did all she could see was him. “I know, but I just can’t stop.”
Chapter 5
To trust a Greek billionaire, you must remember that he also gets hurt and because he’s hurt, he may want to hurt you, too.