Chapter 1
T HREE MONTHS EARLIER
Athens, Greece
Rage and despair turned Damen Leventis inside out as he stood alone in his home’s office, waiting for a call that he knew in his heart would not yield good news. Outside his window, Athens’ cityscape glowed like a jewel in the night, a mixture of historic sites and impressively modern structures. Its beauty, however, did not just leave him cold. He was also blind to it for memories of this morning were all he could see. It had started with another call, one he had not expected.
His phone had rung, and he had been wary when he saw it was Ioniko Vlahos, someone he never considered a friend and one who had turned into a rival when Ioniko made it plain he also wanted the woman who had captured Damen’s heart.
“Vlahos.” Years of etiquette drummed into Damen forbade him from being discourteous for no reason, although worry over Mairi and sheer jealousy made him want to snarl at the other man.
“I will not make this longer than it should be. I learned that Mairi is missing and that you are unable to find her.” A pause. “I have done my best to search for her as well without any success.”
Damen’s heart had withered a little more at that, but he told himself doggedly that it was nothing to be worried about. Her aunts were just damn good at hiding her, but there was nothing to worry about. Nothing had happened to Mairi Tanner. He would know if something did. He would know, dammit.
“However, in my efforts to look for her, I’ve found out about something that probably everyone indirectly involved had been terrified to tell you.” Vlahos’ voice had turned cold. “I believe that you have the right to decide what to do with...what I have uncovered.”
It had taken Damen only half an hour to meet Ioniko at his meeting place of choice, a newly built shipping yard that belonged to the Vlahos’ business empire. The place was curiously empty, with only a few men around. None of them were yard workers. All of them were part of Ioniko’s own security, and the fact made Damen grim. He did not have a good feeling about this.
Unlike Damen, who had been dressed in a business suit, Ioniko had been dressed much more casually. He was wearing faded jeans and a gray shirt that had specks of blood on it. It made his stomach churn in fear, but again Damen told himself it did not mean anything had happened to Mairi. He would know if something had gone wrong and Mairi was not in a good place. He would know.
Ioniko said without preamble, “I have taken certain precautions to ensure that the person inside the warehouse would not be thought of as missing by his family and colleagues. However, that excuse will only last until tomorrow.”
Damen only nodded.
The warehouse was just as abandoned as the rest of the shipyard, with only one utilitarian-styled pendant light switched on. Yellow light beamed down from it, centered on a fat middle-aged man, blindfolded and tied to a chair. More of Ioniko’s security surrounded the man, all their faces impassive.
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.
“I asked her if she was Damen Leventis’ fiancée.”
And again, Damen knew what the answer to the question was even before Cleon said it.
No.
“She said no.”
Mairi would say no because she had not wanted anything to get back to Damen, had not wanted to cause him trouble because she loved him.
How many times, Damen wondered bleakly, had Mairi suffered for the sake of her love for him?
Cleon’s voice shook. “I swear, if she had said yes, I wouldn’t have touched her. If I had known she was your woman, Mr. Vlahos—-”
Ioniko’s voice was hard as he snapped, “This is your last warning. Finish the story or it will be the last words you’ll ever say in this lifetime.”
At those words, Cleon couldn’t help it.
Not a single expression crossed Ioniko’s face as he watched the other man pee himself in fear.
Cleon started to sob like a fucking crybaby. “I told her we could come to an understanding. I saw in her eyes that she understood. She was frightened of me...”
The words made Damen’s heart crack into a thousand pieces.
If any of the gods could hear him now, let them take his life in exchange for turning back time and preventing Mairi from ever knowing that Cleon Frangos existed.
But if there was indeed a god listening to Damen, it was the god of vengeance and he struck ruthlessly, filling Damen with visions of a pale and shaking Mairi, fearful and alone, with no one to turn to for help as she found herself locked inside a room with Cleon Frangos.
“I was aroused by her fear. It made me want to fuck her even more. I couldn’t stop staring at her breasts...”
Pure instinct had Damen taking a step towards Cleon. It didn’t matter that what Cleon was saying had already taken place. Something in him wanted to protect Mairi – even if it was only the imaginary Mairi in his mind, the one who could not cry out because she was so damn afraid.
“She told me she did not want it, but I told her I could make her want it. I unzipped my pants and showed her my dick...”
In Damen’s mind, the story took on a life of its own, and in cruel irony, his imagination was able to stay a step ahead of Cleon’s story, painfully accurate in its ability to foresee what Mairi would have done. Because he knew her that well. Because he loved her that much. Because he had always known, had always fucking known deep inside himself that Mairi loved him so much she would do anything for him. Anything.
In his mind, he saw Mairi making the decision to run.
“She bolted from her seat and ran...”
He saw Mairi dashing to the door...
“I caught her just as she reached the door...”
Mairi would try to open it...
“She managed to open it, but I kept her from leaving. I started rubbing my dick against her butt. She was trapped between me and the door...”
There would be a crazed look of fear in Mairi’s eyes, a second where she would feel nothing but fear and desperation because she was trapped. But then the sanity would return, her instinctive courage. Mairi would not cry for help.
“She didn’t plead for me to stop.”
She would think of a way to get out. She would not give up easily.
“I was waiting for her to knee me. I was ready for that. But she didn’t. I forced her on her knees.”
And she would have a plan. Because his Mairi was not just beautiful and loving, she was smart and courageous, too, and she would not have let anyone hurt her just like that.
“She punched my dick.” Cleon’s face screwed up in remembered pain and fury, something in him still hating Mairi Tanner for that one act even though he had been the one to force himself on her. Mairi had not been the only girl to try fighting off his advances, but Mairi had been the first to succeed.
Cleon was about to say more, but suddenly his blindfold was torn off. The light blinded him for a moment and he groaned as he blinked rapidly. When his vision cleared, what Cleon saw made him wish he was still blindfolded and left blissfully unaware of who he had been repeating his story for.
Damen Leventis.
It was Damen Leventis in the flesh, and the look on the billionaire’s face told Cleon his days were numbered, that he would have been better off making a confession to the police.
He started to babble, desperate to save his life. “I swear, Mr. Leventis, if I had known she was—-”
“Quiet.”
That one word was as sharp and cold as a killer’s blade.
Cleon wanted to pee again.
Damen said tightly, “I will not hurt you right now. I will let you go. I will let you heal. I will let you lull yourself into thinking I’ve forgotten you or that you’re untouchable because I know you’re that stupid. And I don’t mind that you’re that stupid. When the day comes that you are at your strongest, that you are at your most arrogant, I will come back for you. And that is when you will pay.”