Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56653 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56653 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Bobby hastily got to her feet, not wanting Leandro to be involved in any kind of newsworthy incident that could hurt his father’s chances. “You’re causing a commotion, kópanos.”
Leandro stiffened. This time, the Greek term did not sound like an endearment. This time, it did sound like exactly what it meant – a jerk. Or better yet, an arrogant jerk, a stupid asshole for swallowing Bobby’s every word as truth.
Bobby’s smile started to waver when Leandro only looked at her, his stormy blue eyes cold. “L-Leandro?”
“Congratulations,” he said bitterly. “We’ve both successfully fooled each other.”
She shook her head in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
He gritted out, “Who is he? Can you tell me that at least?”
“Lower your voice. People are looking—-”
One of the waiters approached them. “Ms. Granger, is this man bothering—-Mr. Christopoulos!” The waiter’s exclamation had shock rippling through the engrossed crowd as they realized that this was no quarrel between an heiress and biker scum. It was something far more delicious.
“I don’t give a fuck what they hear. What’s there to be ashamed about? We both played each other for a fool—-”
His words finally sunk in. “Y-you played me for a fool?”
Leandro laughed hollowly. “Are you fucking serious? You have the gall to look hurt when I’ve just caught you with another man? Valerie—-” He saw both Bobby and her unknown date stiffen at the name and he said coldly, “Yes. It was Valerie who told me that I’ve an unfaithful bitch for a girlfriend.”
“And you?” she asked hoarsely. “H-have you been unfaithful to me, too?”
“You really think you have right to—-”
“Answer the question!” she screamed.
He shouted back, “No. I wasn’t unfaithful. I just never loved you in the first place.”
She stumbled back at his words, and she would have fallen if not for the other man being there to catch her.
“Don’t touch her,” Leandro lashed out before he could stop himself, but the words didn’t even seem to register, the other man’s every moment speaking of fierce protectiveness towards Bobby.
Bobby didn’t want to cry. She hadn’t even shed a tear when Blaine had dumped her so publicly in high school but oh God, this...she really had thought it was real. “I’m going to answer you now,” she whispered. “Sean is deaf.”
His heart almost shattered at what that meant. That was why she felt so close to deaf children then. “So you built a foundation for him?”
“Yes,” she agreed tonelessly. “Because I love my half-brother that much.”
No.
How could he have gotten it so wrong?
By the time Leandro got past the painful shock of how fucking mistaken he had been, Bobby and her half-brother were out of the restaurant. “Bobby?” He ran out, his heart beating furiously. He had to make her understand that he had just been so out of his mind with jealousy that he had leapt to the wrong conclusions.
He needed to make her understand—-
Leandro skidded to a stop when he saw Bobby standing at the curb while her brother took the keys to his car from the valet.
He said hoarsely, “Bobby.”
She turned to him, and that was when Leandro saw she was holding her phone.
Bobby said dully, “I just received a message from Priscilla – your cousin. She’s been trying to call me but since she couldn’t get to me, she thought she could text me everything about what you did. She’s so very sorry, you see.”
The phone dropped from her fingers, as if Bobby was too weak to hold on to it.
And Leandro’s heart dropped with it, knowing that there was a good chance his heart wouldn’t ever recover from seeing the pain that he had caused Bobby.
PART TWO
Prologue
“O Theos na ton anapafsi.”
May God rest his soul, and the hundreds of invited guests murmured them over and over to the family of the deceased. Their soft voices echoed throughout the hallowed halls of the church, their tones painfully bleak.
Tyler shifted uncomfortably on his feet and pulled on his collar. He knew he should be thankful, being one of the lucky few who had been selected to cover the first death anniversary of Greece’s most beloved public official. But if Tyler was honest, he would rather be covering the opening of the 10 millionth hotdog stand in Central Park. Memorial services depressed the hell out of him, and this one was fast proving to be one of the most depressing.
Everyone inside the church had grim looks on their faces. If he didn’t know better, he’d have assumed Orion Christopoulos had just died yesterday instead of a year ago. Had Orion Christopoulos really that been great, Tyler wondered. Since his job only required him to follow society gossip, Tyler had no idea at all about politics, much less news that had to do with governments outside America.
A shadow fell over Tyler, briefly covering the light streaming from the stained glass walls of the church’s balcony. When he looked up, Tyler did his very best not to gape.