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)
At the sound of footsteps coming towards him, the man started to snivel. “Please let me go—-”
“Shut up,” Ioniko said in a cold voice that had the man snapping his mouth closed even as his body trembled. He was covered in his own sweat, his clothes dirty and torn in some places. He also smelled distinctly of piss and fear.
Ioniko said contemptuously, “His name is Cleon Frangos. He works as a dean in one of the schools here. Mairi was unfortunate enough to have tried applying for a post in his school.”
Damen stiffened, finally realizing the connection between this despicable man...and Mairi. He could feel himself shaking, his fists clenching in hapless rage as he waited for Ioniko to speak.
Ioniko looked at Cleon with distaste. “Now Frangos, I want you to repeat exactly what you told me about what happened when Ms. Tanner applied.” When Cleon refused to speak, he calmly moved forward and gave the other man a swift but hard punch to his guts.
Cleon groaned in pain. “I-I’ll speak. Please d-don’t hurt me anymore.”
Ioniko moved back. “I won’t ask nicely again.”
Cleon struggled to speak past the pain. “W-when I learned that Mairi Tanner was a-applying, I t-thought she was fair game...”
The words had Damen whitening. His first thought was of Mairi. He was surely the reason, Damen thought in sickening realization, Mairi had been forced to apply for a post in Cleon Frangos’ school, a situation that had made her so damn vulnerable – and she had not even known it.
“She was supposedly Damen Leventis’ fiancée, but I thought it couldn’t be true if she was looking for a job. Like everyone, I knew that Esther Leventis and the Kokinos clan had it out against her. So I thought sh-she would not protest...” Cleon paused, his body shaking harder. The last time he talked about this part, he had gotten beaten. Badly. Enough to knock out a couple of teeth.
Fear made Cleon stop with his narration. Instead, he whined, “I would never have done anything to her if I had known—-”
Ioniko stepped forward. In the next second, his fist connected with Cleon’s face. “Stick with the story,” he said harshly.
Cleon’s face felt like it had been turned into a painful mass of flesh. He had to swallow convulsively and spit out blood before he could speak again. His voice hoarse, he mumbled, “I made h-her wait. I t-thought if she was willing to wait for hours for her interview, it meant she was desperate.”
Damen closed his eyes, knowing what the man’s next words would be.
“And she waited.”
And it meant that Mairi had been desperate.
In his mind, he saw her again. Young, beautiful, so full of love for him that she was willing to do everything to prevent him from worrying about how her life had been ripped apart the moment she chose to stand by his side.
She had loved him so goddamn much, and in return all he had done was hurt her, over and over.
“I locked the door. I knew...my s-secretary would not interfere because she did the same thing for me. She knew I’d f-fire her if she interfered.”
Damen did not want to hear any more. He only wanted to kill Cleon Frangos because this man before him – this pitiful excuse for a human – had dared to hurt what was his. Rage flared inside him, and the urge to snap the man’s neck was intense, but Damen made himself ignore it. Refusing the urge was his own way of inflicting punishment on himself.
He did not deserve to kill Cleon Frangos because he knew he had hurt Mairi even more.
And so now, he continued to listen, another form of self-punishment he welcomed because he deserved it.
“Sh-she was wearing a blouse and a tight skirt. Th-the skirt showed a l-lot of her legs.” Cleon bit his lip hard.
But Ioniko would not allow Cleon to withhold anything. He said coldly, “Don’t stop now.”
The silent threat that followed made Cleon swallow. Why did this man want him to repeat every damn thing he had said? Why the focus on the details? Was their conversation being recorded and would it be used as a confession – evidence submitted to the police for his arrest?
“I’m getting impatient.”
The sound of cracking fists had Cleon mumbling hurriedly, “I saw her and I wanted to fuck her.”
Something in Damen died with those words.
This man. This bully. This sex maniac.
This asshole had wanted to fuck Mairi when he had seen her, and in that situation this man had been the one holding all the cards and Mairi...Mairi had none.
Mairi. God, Mairi. If only he could shout her name and have it heard throughout the world – if only there was something he could do that would ensure she would hear him.
I’m so damn sorry, Mairi. I’m so damn sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me.