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)
Words so foolish she couldn’t bear to think of them tried to rush out of her throat, but Mairi determinedly forced them down. She wanted so badly to touch Damen’s face, to tell him that she would be his strength, his shield, his everything. But she could no longer be that. She now had her baby to think of, and it was for their baby’s sake that she had to kill this love for him once and for all.
“I believe in you, Damen.” The whispered words were all she could afford. They were the truth, too, even if it also meant she was weak and silly. Stupid Mairi, never ever learning, never ever losing her faith in Damen no matter how many times he had hurt her.
Even if the absence of love in her words made Damen feel physically sick, he clung to the hope that came with Mairi’s avowal of trust. Something, he reminded himself doggedly, was always better than nothing. Something meant he could hope that one day Mairi would not need Drake Morrison to stop Damen from ever reaching her heart.
Damen opened the door and waited for Mairi to follow him.
“Damen?”
He turned.
“Do you trust me, too?”
His answer was unequivocal. “With my life.”
A tremulous smile formed on her lips. “Then will you trust me when I tell you that there’s something I have to do out here? I won’t be of much help for you inside, but here...”
Damen’s gaze flew to the swarm of reporters and photographers behind Mairi. “The media?”
She shook her head. “No. Not them exactly. I’ve thought about this for a long time, Damen. I know the day that all your peers will accept me may never come. I thought I should change myself to make it happen, but that’s just going to make things worse. I want to help you, Damen, while still being myself.” Mairi stopped with bated breath, wondering what Damen would have to say after her spontaneous speech. When no words appeared forthcoming, Mairi forced herself to meet her husband’s gaze.
When she did, that was when he spoke. “I’ve learned my lesson, Mairi. I’m no longer afraid, I’m no longer a coward. Nothing I do in this lifetime will make me worthy of having you as my wife, but I’ll do everything I can to make me deserving you anyway.” His lips twisted. “If I wasn’t so selfish, I’d tell you to aim higher. You don’t deserve a billionaire, matakia mou. You deserve a trillionaire.”
Rough sincerity underlined each word, every syllable that fell from his lips heard by the crowd because Damen had made no effort to keep his voice from being heard.
Laughter and applause erupted from the crowd at Damen’s sardonic humor, and she smiled even as she blinked furiously to keep herself from shedding tears. Coming from the man who had once said that she was not a real lady – the same man who had once accused her of being a gold digger - those words were the ultimate apology.
Knowing Damen would need to see her strong and smiling before he entered the courtroom, Mairi smiled. Smiling as widely as she could, to the point that her lips felt stretched beyond the breaking point, she said gravely, “Trillionaires are too poor for me now. Personally, I’d aim for a bazillionaire.” She pointed to the doors behind Damen. “So if you want to keep me as your super beautiful and sexy wife, go win this case and add fifty zeroes to your bank balance.”
The smile he gave her was full of arrogance. It was Damen Leventis, the Greek billionaire at his finest, and she could have wept at the sight of it.
He turned around, and just when she thought he’d be entering the courtroom without another word, he said over his shoulder, “Fifty, matakia mou? You truly wound me. A hundred would be more like it if you believe in me.”
The doors closed behind him, the sound of Mairi’s choked laughter a treasure he tucked away in his memory like a lucky charm.
Outside the courtroom, Drake stepped close to Mairi. “What do you plan to do now?”
“I’m going to talk to the press.”
Drake raised a brow. “I thought your plan had nothing to do with the media.”
“It doesn’t. But I need them to reach the people I really want to talk to. I may not ever have the power to win the support of Damen’s peers the way someone like Alina Kokinos can,” Mairi conceded painfully, “But there are other people involved in this case, and those are my people.”
“THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR help, Stavros,” Damen said as he shook hands with the other man, who occupied the first row bench behind Damen’s all on his own with the exception of one bodyguard seated at each end. The men were dressed completely in black, and the forbidding expressions on their faces were enough to prevent anyone from sitting next to their employer.