Chapter Eleven
CHAPTER ELEVEN
L EO LOOKED OUT at the Aegean from the coastal path on his parents’ island. He’d taken the helicopter and arrived the night before, forgetting that his parents were away visiting friends in France.
But he was thankful for it. He told himself that he wanted to be alone. That after seven days of nothing but Helena it would do him good. He told himself that he didn’t care that the place felt empty, that he didn’t somehow know that any place would feel empty now.
He picked up a rock from the ground and hurled it into the sea, where it was consumed by grey, angry waves. He had woken up after a restless night, tossing and turning, to find the sun clawing its way into a startlingly cold and grey morning. The wind whipped cruelly around the island and pulled and pushed at the trees on his parents’ estate.
Lonely. He felt lonely.
That’s what happens when you turn yourself into an island. Just like the one you’re standing on.
His brother’s voice had been getting louder and louder and much more frequent in the last week than it had ever been before. Leo’s head hurt from the tug between the past and the present, his brother and Helena.
And that’s what happens when you don’t fight for what you want , the voice taunted.
Leo growled, turning around, half expecting to see his brother striding towards him from the house, but there was no one there. He wanted to fight, to lash out, to get rid of this feeling in him. The feeling of guilt, of shame, of helplessness, because the voice was right.
He hadn’t fought for what he wanted. Because, deep down, all along, he’d known that Leander wasn’t happy, hadn’t he? He’d pretended not to see it; he’d pretended to be shocked by his choice. Oh, it had still been utterly horrifying to experience—his brother choosing the money over him. But he couldn’t lie to himself any more. He couldn’t afford to.
What Helena had said about Leander was right. Leander would have been utterly miserable at Liassidis Shipping. He was a risk-taker, a daredevil, who would have been suffocated by the company that involved the more grounded and staid work that Leo relished. Because he suited that .
And why hadn’t he fought it? Why hadn’t he tried to face Leander all those years ago? Because, deep down, he couldn’t shake the feeling that even if he had fought for his brother to stay, it wouldn’t have changed a thing. Because he wasn’t enough. So it had been easier to paint Leander as the guilty party. As the one responsible for it all. For Leo to emerge blameless, the martyr who had sacrificed all for the greater good of the company.
A sacrifice he’d made all over again.
Helena.
Just the thought of her was a sucker punch to his gut—enough to make him double over in pain. And in that moment he realised that what he’d felt when Leander had walked away was almost nothing in comparison to the earthshattering loss of Helena.
He braced his hands on his knees and groaned, dropping to the ground.
What had he done? He’d let his brother walk out of his life. He couldn’t let Helena do that. No, he’d not survive it. He needed her. The montage in his mind of the week he’d just spent with her, of Helena daring him in the art gallery, of her laughing with Leander’s friends at the nightclub, or her smiling at the waiter in the small fishing village, and of her looking up at him, playing with that damn necklace that he should have given her himself that Christmas. That Christmas, when she had wanted to give him a present...the one that she’d put in the...
The cubbyhole.
He’d turned back to the house before he’d even realised it and what started as slow steps turned into a jog, driven by an urgency he couldn’t name. He shoved through the front door, taking the steps of the staircase two at a time. He came to a stop opposite the painting, imagining a fifteen-year-old Helena outside his room, hearing that she meant nothing to him. Christós , his heart buckled in his chest, each beat agony.
With his breath captured in his lungs he lifted the painting, behind which was a small, dusty shelf on which sat a crumpled box wrapped in faded festive paper.
He reached for it at the same time his phone chimed. Once, twice, and then again. With the present in one hand and his phone in the other, he looked at the message beneath his assistant’s name.
Check the news. Right now. Then call me.
Nausea ate at Helena’s empty stomach. The moment she had discovered what had happened, she’d called Kate to warn her. And no matter how many times she’d seen the grainy pictures of Kate and Leander passionately kissing, she couldn’t stop herself from hoping that somehow the headlines would change.
Twin-Swap Scandal!
Who Married Helena Hadden?
Liassidis Twin Deception!
With shaking hands, she’d scanned an online article written by a blogger who had intended to write an exposé on Californian homes owned by famous Greeks, but had instead stumbled onto an international scandal. He’d identified Leander by spotting him at his home when he’d expected him to be away on his honeymoon and then bribing an usher at a club to photograph Leander with Kate.
Her heart pounded in shock. She’d brought the weight of the world’s press down on her two best friends, on Leo; she had ruined everything . The guilt was so strong that it blotted out any delight that the two people she had always secretly thought perfect for each other had finally come together.
While reporters had gathered outside the villa, she’d had one harried phone call with her assistant in the UK, and several fraught conversations with the board of Incendia, taking full responsibility for the situation. It was her plan, her choices, that had led the people she cared for most to be caught up in this impossible scandal. All she’d wanted to do was to save Incendia. All she’d wanted to do was to prove that she could , that she was worthy to be CEO. That she was enough .
But maybe, just maybe, for once there was no fixing it.
It would devastate her to have brought shame to Incendia because of this scandal, but the loss of the money—the issue that would cause them to fail the financial review—that wasn’t on her. She had tried to fix it, but it wasn’t her fault.
And finally she was beginning to see what Leo had meant.
‘It needs to be enough for you, Helena.’
She had tried her hardest. And she had to be okay if that wasn’t enough. She had to be. Because her mother wasn’t going to suddenly be the person Helena wanted her to be. And as much as she could hope that her father would have been proud of her, she had to be proud of herself. And the only way she could still be proud of herself now was to be honest and to face up to the chaos that had happened when people she cared for had tried to help her.
She would put this right as best she could. And there was only one way she could do that. But first she needed to warn Kate what she was going to do.
She picked up the phone and saw missed calls from Leo. She wanted so much to reach out to him, to make sure he was okay. But she couldn’t. Not yet. He must be furious at the damage this would do to Liassidis Shipping. Helena could only hope that her plan would deflect as much negativity from him and his company as possible.
She hit call beneath Kate’s name on her phone screen.
‘Kate?’ she asked when the call connected.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Kate said, her words thick with emotion. ‘I’ve ruined everything.’
‘Don’t cry,’ Helena begged as her best friend’s sobs poured out of the phone. ‘Please, Kate, don’t cry. This is all on me. I begged you to find him when—’
‘You didn’t.’
‘I did. I was so wrapped up in my own problems that I ignored the signs that something was happening between you and sent you to him,’ she said, realising the truth as she said it. While Helena had hoped that both Leander and Kate would find the love that they so very much deserved, she’d ignored what was right in front of her in her desperation to make things right at Incendia.
‘Nothing was going on before the wedding, I swear. I never meant for anything to happen.’
‘I know you didn’t,’ Helena said, softly and honestly.
‘He’s coming back to you today, and—’
‘I can’t be married to Leander, not now. Tell him to stay in California. It’s a feeding frenzy here and it’s going to get worse before it gets better because I can’t do this any more. I’m calling a press conference. There have been so many secrets and lies and so many people hurt that I can’t do it any more. I need to tell the truth and—’
‘Helena, don’t! You’ll lose—’
‘I have to. I have to put things right. I’ve hurt so many people,’ Helena confessed, shame unspooling in her chest.
‘You haven’t. You tried so hard to do the right thing and it was for the best of reasons. I’m the one who’s screwed everything up.’
‘What happened was inevitable. You and Leander are meant to be together,’ Helena insisted, thinking of just how perfect they had looked together in the photos. How much in love they’d looked.
Kate’s silence on the other end of the phone reached out to Helena’s heart. ‘It’s over.’
‘Oh, my love, I’m sorry,’ Helena whispered, devastated that they were both feeling the same pain.
‘Oh, Helena. Did it happen for you too?’
Helena could barely confess, ‘Yes. And it’s over too.’ She tried so hard to hold back the tears—for herself, for Kate and Leander... They were her family and she had cost them greatly. ‘I wasn’t enough for him,’ she admitted, pain a slow anguish that tightened around her heart with every beat.
‘Helena?’ Kate’s voice was almost a whisper.
‘I’m here.’
‘Were the Liassidis twins born unfeeling bastards or is it something they cultivated individually as they got older?’
Helena laughed in the way that Kate had always made her laugh, startled, deep and loving. Helena asked Kate about Borneo, promising to come and visit, also promising not to kiss any orangutans. And once the laughter had died down, Helena knew that it was time to say goodbye.
‘I’m going to make this right,’ she swore.
‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ Kate asked.
‘No, but I have to.’
‘I wish I could be there to hold your hand through it.’
‘I wish you could be too. Have a safe flight to Borneo.’
‘I will. Loves ya.’
‘Loves ya too,’ Helena replied.
After hanging up the phone, she wiped at the trails tears had left on her cheeks, some from heartache and some from laughter. She knew now with absolute certainty that she was doing the right thing.
Leo’s pulse raged in time with the whirring of the helicopter blades. The bottom had fallen out of his world the moment he’d seen the first headline. The intense speculation about why the brothers had swapped, who Leander had been caught kissing and who had Helena actually married made his head spin.
His first thought had been Helena. All his thoughts had been Helena.
He’d not been able to get her on the phone, so he’d called his assistant and had him send a security team to the villa. But the moment he’d hung up his phone had exploded with phone calls.
He blocked all unknown numbers, and then ignored calls from the Liassidis Shipping board. He could only imagine how terrified they were of stocks and share prices dropping. They probably were, but honestly? Leo couldn’t care less. All he could think about was Helena and making sure she was okay.
They landed about ten kilometres from the villa, unable to get closer because of the news helicopters crowding the airspace. The car Leo had arranged waited on the tarmac and as he slid into the dark, cool interior he pulled out his phone and selected a number he hadn’t used in years.
He probably should have thought more about this call, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that once he got his hands on Helena he wasn’t going to let her go. His world-renowned focus would be on her, only on her, for the rest of his life. So he needed to do this now.
The phone rang—and a part of him wanted it to keep on ringing. This entire conversation would be easier if he could just leave a message, but he owed it to his brother, owed it to himself, to face up to his responsibility. Only then could he finally move forward. Hopefully, with Helena by his side.
‘Naí?’
‘It’s me,’ Leo said.
The pause was so long that Leo had to force himself to relax the grip on his phone before he broke it into a million pieces. There was so much to say. Too much. But if he could at least say the most important thing...
‘I’m sorry,’ Leo said, his head hung in shame in the back of the car with no one to see. ‘I blamed you for so much. Too much. And I shouldn’t have.’
A breath was all Leo heard to let him know that his brother was still on the line. His silence was deserved, Leo had earned that, but at least Leander hadn’t ended the call.
‘I was...devastated when you chose the money,’ Leo admitted. ‘I tried to tell myself it was a complete shock to me. That you’d lied to me and that your betrayal was why I was devastated.’
‘Leo—’
‘Wait, please. I need to say this,’ Leo asked, desperate to say his piece. ‘The lie was mine, Leander. Because I told myself that I hadn’t seen that you were unhappy, that I didn’t know you would hate working at Liassidis Shipping, because I was so desperate to cling to our dream. So I pretended that I didn’t know, and that I couldn’t tell, that it wasn’t something you wanted,’ he confessed, the dark, furious guilt and anger lessening from telling the truth. ‘And I shouldn’t have. I’m your brother.’
‘ Maláka , I worked damn hard to make sure you couldn’t tell. Give me credit for something,’ Leander said, sounding offended.
Against all hope, Leo barked a laugh, a flicker of love spreading throughout his chest.
‘You tried to reach out to me and I... I wasn’t ready,’ Leo tried to explain.
‘But you are now? Because of Helena?’
Leo looked up, tilting his head back, hoping that the dampness in his eyes didn’t betray him in his voice.
‘Is she okay? She told me not to come.’ The concern in Leander’s voice was as clear when he was talking about Helena as the distance in his tone when speaking to him.
‘I’m on my way to make sure she is, right now,’ Leo replied with ruthless determination.
There was another long pause.
‘Leo, believe me, I appreciate what you’re saying, but right now isn’t a good time for me. I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess and please, tell Helena that I’m sorry for letting her down.’
Leo gritted his teeth. He knew that his brother’s coolness was justified. Five years of complete silence couldn’t be undone in one phone call.
‘You cut her off from everything and everyone she knew.’
He had done the same to Leander, his brother, his conscience cried, and guilt opened like a fresh wound across an already battered heart.
‘I need to go,’ Leander said. ‘When I come home we’ll talk properly. Okay?’
‘Okay. I’d like that,’ Leo replied truthfully, thankful for the sliver of hope Leander had created in the darkness.
‘So would I,’ his brother said before disconnecting the call.
It wasn’t the hearts and flowers reunion he might have hoped for, but neither was it an absolute no. It was somewhere to start, and he was okay with that. But it was a very different matter when it came to Helena. As the car took him closer and closer to the villa where he and Helena had arrived only seven days before, Leo grew more and more determined that he would see this through to the end; Helena Hadden was going to be his by the end of the day, no matter what it cost him.
Helena fisted her hand to try and stop her fingers from shaking. The press gathering outside the front of the villa had trebled since the news of her impending statement had been released. She risked a glance through the blinds of the windows that looked out at where they were gathered and felt sick.
A line of black-suited men in dark glasses held back the press, preventing them from trying to gain access to the grounds, as one reporter had done just as they’d turned up. Leo had sent them, she knew it.
But she pushed it out of her mind, pushed everything out of her mind, other than what she was about to do. She steeled herself and the nerves went. Because she knew this was the right thing to do. And she knew that, no matter what the outcome was, she would have done everything in her power to protect those she loved. And that was enough for her. It might not be everything she’d ever wanted, but she was at peace with it.
He had seen her. Leo had. He had recognised her as good at what she did. Celebrated that with her. But he’d been right. No one could give her what she needed. Not him. Not her parents. She had to give that to herself. She had to be enough for herself .
Helena smoothed down the dress she had chosen to wear—a simple cornflower-blue muslin V-neck. Her hair, blonde and down, made her feel pretty, feminine and her . That was how she wanted to meet the press.
She opened the front door and walked on the grey stone slabs towards the gate to the villa, where one of Leo’s bodyguards stood to attention, hands clasped in front of him.
‘Ma’am.’
She nodded and he pulled open the gate, and the sudden cry of voices and stuttered flashbulbs hit her like a meteor shower. Drawing on an inner strength she didn’t know she had, she walked out into the villa’s courtyard, where Leo’s other men were holding the press at bay. She waited until the press had calmed themselves, until the camera flashes slowed and the questions halted.
‘I’m going to make a statement which will cover as much as possible at this time,’ she explained. ‘And if you have questions, I will try to answer them honestly.’
A few flashes went off, but predominantly the paparazzi remained quiet.
‘Six months ago, I was made CEO of a charity I not only believe in, but personally benefitted from after the sudden death of my father when I was sixteen years old. Incendia raises not only money but awareness, grief support, therapy and research into rare cardiac diseases that are of no financial interest to big pharmaceutical companies. In short, it’s a godsend to those who need to rely on it,’ she said, a sad smile coming to her lips.
She took a breath. ‘Shortly after taking up the position, I discovered that an employee had stolen nearly one hundred million pounds from the charity and disappeared.’ She pushed on through the gasp of shock. ‘The previous CEO had failed to renew the business insurance and the charity will likely fail the financial review in December.
‘But what does all this have to do with the Liassidis brothers?’ she asked rhetorically.
She smiled when one reporter cried out, ‘Yes!’ much to the amusement of many present.
‘My father left me an inheritance. An inheritance that will mature when I am either twenty-eight years old or when I marry. I had hoped to use that inheritance to cover the gap in Incendia’s finances. I know that this was wrong, but I was desperate for Incendia to keep on doing the good work that it does,’ she said truthfully, feeling the damp heat of tears against the backs of her eyes.
‘Leander Liassidis offered to loan me the money, but... I have the money...or would have it in two years’ time, but for an arbitrary bit of wording that would have taken too long to challenge legally. So we decided to marry.
‘Please. Let me explain. I love Leander. Truly. But only like a brother. And while no one, not even he, thought he’d ever settle down, he did meet someone. A very special someone, whom I love dearly. But that story is theirs to tell.
‘When Leander left, Leo Liassidis stepped in so that I wouldn’t be humiliated in front of the world on my wedding day. He too wanted nothing more than to help me. And words will never express how much that meant to me,’ she said, her throat becoming thick with emotion.
‘I assure you that the marriage certificate will never be submitted to the registrar’s office and, as such, the ceremony from that day is not legally binding. Leander Liassidis and I are not married.
‘I want to make it very clear that the Liassidis brothers did nothing but try to help a family friend in trouble. They are two of the most honourable men I have ever met and I am lucky to have them in my life.’
Was lucky, she mentally clarified, the thought striking her silent.
‘Are there any questions?’ she asked.
‘Did he sign his own name, Helena?’
She frowned into the crowed, unsure where the question came from and unable to see from the lights that had been set up to point at her.
‘I don’t know,’ she said honestly. ‘I signed first so I didn’t see the signature.’
‘Was the priest involved?’ another faceless questioner asked.
‘Absolutely not. Again, to make this clear—this entire mess was of my making. When Leander and I decided to marry, we couldn’t have imagined the press interest in the relationship, and from there things spiralled out of control. Please know that I am solely responsible for this and the Liassidis brothers have done nothing that I didn’t ask them to do first.’
‘So you have no feelings—no romantic feelings—for Leander Liassidis?’ someone asked, the voice slightly drowned out by other questions, but oddly familiar.
‘No,’ she confirmed. ‘Absolutely not. Nothing has or ever will happen between us in that way.’
‘But what about Leo Liassidis?’ the same person asked, slowly pushing their way through the throng. Helena’s pulse began to pound in her chest, goosebumps rising across the delicate skin on her forearms and the back of her neck.
‘Excuse me?’ she asked, hesitating for the first time since stepping out into the throng of reporters.
‘Do you have any romantic feelings for him ?’ the person prompted again, this time the crowd parting enough for Helena to see Leo Liassidis standing before her—in the middle of a sea of reporters ready to cast the news around the world.
‘What are you...?’
Didn’t he realise that she was trying to extricate him from this mess? That she was trying to protect him? He was throwing away everything he had for her when all she could do was ruin him.
‘Do you,’ Leo asked, his eyes locked onto hers, hope and more filling her with every passing second, ‘have feelings for me?’
A gasp of shock rippled through the press watching with unabashed interest.
‘I...’
‘Because I have it on good authority,’ he said, to the general laughter of the men and women around him, ‘that he has feelings for you. Very strong feelings. In fact,’ he said, all cocky arrogance and handsomeness, just like he used to have before the separation with his brother had made him hard, ‘I’m pretty sure he’s in love with you.’
Her heart soared, breaking through the agony of the last twelve hours. Tears came to her eyes and a sob filled her chest, even as her lips pulled into a shocked smile.
‘If you’re only pretty sure ...’ she replied with teasing hesitation.
‘I love you,’ he called out loudly, without question and without any of the cocky arrogance from before. The moment was caught by a billion flashbulbs exploding as they stared at each other across the courtyard.
A feeling of effervescent completeness filled her. It was a high that she would never come down from. He was everything she had always wanted. There had never been anyone else for her, no one had made her feel as wanted, as cherished, as loved .
He loved her. He loved her even though she could ruin Liassidis Shipping with the bad press that would surely follow this scandal, and he was smiling at her as if he didn’t care.
‘I love everything about you,’ he confessed. ‘I love how much you care, I love how hard you try, and I love how much you inspire me and others to be better than ourselves. You are funny, and sexy and smart and I want to marry you. Again. Under my own name this time,’ he said to the laughter of the press. ‘I’ve known you for many, many years, but,’ he said, taking something out of his pocket and holding it up, ‘“sometimes you have to go it alone to know your own worth”,’ he quoted.
Helena shivered—it was the watch, the silly watch she’d bought him all those Christmases ago. The battery must have died long ago, but the inscription she’d asked to be put on the back of the watch probably still clear as day. It was an inscription that had been—at the time—about him and Leander, but somehow was even more fitting for them .
‘We’ve both done it alone and we know how strong we are, so now let’s find out how unbeatable we are together?’
Leo’s breath was locked in his chest.
He could see the tears glistening in her eyes, feel the pounding of her heart in time with his own. He’d meant every word he’d said and he genuinely didn’t care if Liassidis Shipping disappeared tomorrow, as long as he was by Helena’s side. In seven days she had become his world. She was the light, the sky, the ground beneath his feet, the sun, moon and stars above; she was the only person he would ever need in his life.
Her smile wobbled as she took a tentative step towards him. It was all he needed as he closed the distance between them in a heartbeat, taking her into his arms with a kiss that sent off another thousand sparks. A kiss that would appear on headlines around the world for years to come. A kiss that had many names, but the only one of real importance was theirs: true love’s kiss.
‘I love you,’ Helena pressed against his lips. ‘I’ve always loved you,’ she said again.
‘I’m sorry it took me so long to get here,’ he said, thinking of how long it had taken him to realise how much he lived for her. ‘You are the most precious thing in the world to me and I’ll not let a single day pass without letting you know that,’ he promised.
‘Okay,’ she said, looking up at him with a love so strong and so sure he could barely believe it.
‘Okay?’ he asked, unsure what she was agreeing to.
‘I’ll marry you,’ she said. ‘Again.’ And through the resounding cheers of celebration from the reporters around them, for the first time in years Leo felt the missing part of his heart return and completeness filled him as he gave Helena his heart, unchecked and untamed.
He kissed her again then, the first of many that would litter their lives like stars in the night sky. Theirs was a happiness proclaimed to the world as true love, from that moment until their very last breaths.