Chapter 11
W HEN THE JET’S DOOR slowly lowered, revealing Athens’ airport inch by inch, the first thing Mairi saw was her husband, walking swiftly towards them. Even with his slightly windblown hair, Damen still cut a strikingly handsome figure, with dark aviator glasses covering half of his face and his powerfully muscular body sheathed in a handmade blue suit.
He stopped when he reached the foot of the stairs, and their eyes met. Mairi slowly and carefully climbed down the stairs, her sprained wrist not allowing her to go down with Nala in her arms.
She paused when she was at the second to the last step, but even then her husband was tall enough to put him at eye level with her.
Before she could speak, he was already reaching for her, his hand curling around her nape as he brought her head down for a possessive kiss. When he released her, she said dazedly, “Hi.”
He chuckled, but his voice was husky as he said, “Hi.” They smiled at each other for a moment. This was exactly what they said to each other the morning after they first made love.
Taking her hand, Damen helped Mairi down and after, he reached for their daughter, thanking Jane with a brief smile as he did.
As they started to walk together, Mairi asked worriedly, “Your mother?”
“She should probably be here any minute.”
“ Here ?” Mairi was stunned.
He nodded briefly. “Yes. It’s best to get it over with right away, and then we’d at least have the rest of the week to enjoy our stay here.”
Mairi considered their surroundings with a frown. “It’s so public.”
“Exactly why I chose this place, matakia mou .”
“If you really think it’s right,” she said reluctantly. She tugged his sleeve. “I just don’t want you hurt by her in any way.”
“She lost the power to hurt me the moment I had you and Nala, Mairi. Even though I had never admitted it to myself, I had always been hoping she would learn to love Diana and me. I never allowed myself to realize the truth – that some people will never be capable of it.” He took hold her hand, squeezing it. “While some people – people like you – can’t help feeling it, even when they’re better off not doing so.”
Mairi stole a suspicious look at him. “If that’s some kind of dig about what I said to Alina...”
“No, but if – what is it you say? If the shoe fits...” As always, his Greek accent thickened whenever Damen was doing his best not to laugh.
“I hate you,” she mumbled.
“What you are,” he countered, “is proud of me. As I am with you.”
“Ha-ha.” She made it clear she didn’t believe him.
“I am,” he insisted. “Especially when you made the Kokinos heiress, who is supposedly one of the world’s most fashionable women, sound like she had batteries for breasts.”
“Oh God.” Mairi wanted to kill herself, recalling exactly how she had described the other woman’s chest.
“Only an English teacher would have such a way with words.”
“I think I’m going to be out of a job by next week if this keeps up,” she said glumly.
He reached out to stroke her cheek. “Everything will be fine. Stop worrying.” His phone vibrated in his pocket, and switching Nala to his other arm, he pulled it out. It was a little hard to read the message, with his daughter currently busy playing with his hair and obscuring his view, but he managed.
The look on her husband’s face made her ask quietly, “Is she outside?”
“Yes. It’s time now.”
****
L IFE WAS A ROUTINE for Esther Leventis. She would get up in the morning, expecting her gourmet breakfast prepared for her and a selection of clothes for her to choose from. By the time she was done with her meal, one of her personal maids would have her tub ready, and the entire bathroom had to smell of roses – literally – once she entered it. If it wasn’t, that person was fired.
But today, nothing was happening the way she expected them to. For starters, it was already nine in the morning, leaving Esther aghast. The maids were supposed to wake her up at six and she had even wanted them to be up at four.
Sitting up, she started to scream for Nadine when she saw her maid standing at the foot of her bed. “Why aren’t you in your uniform?” she screeched. “And why haven’t you woken me up in—-”
“Shut up, bitch.”
Esther whitened.
“I’m just here to tell you I’m quitting.”
The sight of Nadine walking away had Esther recovering. “Don’t you dare turn your back on me!” Hurrying out of her bed, Esther cursed when she tripped over the hem of her nightgown and almost fell flat on her face. “Stop, you ungrateful woman,” she howled in anger as she scrambled back to her feet.
Nadine raised her hand – and middle finger – in response before slamming the door shut behind her.
The woman had gone insane. That could be the only reason why she would dare act that way with her. Shivering in anger, Esther promised herself to exact vengeance later. For now, she would just go take a bath and cool herself down—-
Esther screamed and came to an abrupt stop at the doorway of her bathroom. Her bathroom, which was crawling with huge rats, and they were all over. The sink, the shower, the windows, the tub—-
She slammed the door shut, this time her entire body shaking with disgust, but not before a single black rat managed to escape the bathroom and head straight for her. She screamed again, and the sound frightened the rat enough to jump, causing its wriggling body to brush against her leg.
Esther screamed bloody murder and ran towards her bed – until she saw that the rat was doing the same in its confusion. Screaming again, she ran in the opposite direction, bursting out of her room and screaming for her maids. What the hell were their names again? All she could remember was Nadine’s.
“SOMEBODY answer, dammit,” she screamed as she ran down the stairs.
But soon, she realized the house was completely empty. Where had they all gone? How could they even think of contemplating such a thing?
Instantly, only one name came to mind.
Damen.
As soon as she thought of her son, Esther knew it was the only possible answer. The only one powerful enough, the only one who would hate her enough to do something like this to her.
Her entire face tightened in distaste. Such childish antics , Esther thought. She had expected more from him. She thought of changing her clothes then decided against it. She would rather walk naked than go back to her room right now.
Barefoot, Esther walked to her garage, intending to drive herself out.
But again, another surprise awaited her.
A second later, she screamed.
And screamed and screamed until she was hoarse.
He had even dared take all her cars!
All of them!
Stalking out of the garage, she went back to the house, and throwing the front door open, Esther found herself face to face with Damen’s secretary, Bart.
“Good morning, Mrs. Leventis,” Bart greeted politely. “Would you need a ride, madam?”
She stared coldly at him. “I’m sure you already know the answer to that.” Sweeping past him, she headed towards the limousine she found waiting by the curb.
Bart hurried after her.
When they reached the limousine, Esther demanded, “Well?”
“I’m afraid you misunderstood, Mrs. Leventis. This is my ride. That is your ride.”
Esther turned around, following his gaze, and screamed, “You want me to take a cab ?”
“Unless you’d like to walk barefoot, madam?” The livid look on the woman’s face had Bart desperately doing his best not to laugh. He must remain calm. He must. Or he would lose his bet.
In the end, Esther Leventis did exactly what his employer, her son, had expected. With curtains of nearby mansions twitching all around them, the servants gossiping by the gates, Esther didn’t really have a choice.
“I don’t think I’ll go anywhere,” Esther started.
“By this time, Mrs. Leventis, it is possible your home may be overrun by rats.” It was a bluff, but the woman also bought it.
“You are going to pay for this,” she hissed in his face.
He carefully sidestepped her and headed to the cab, opening the door for her. “Your ride, madam.” Must. Not. Laugh.
Esther could barely breathe as she got inside the cab, slamming the door shut as hard as she could. It backfired, unfortunately, causing the window to roll down and remain stuck, halfway open.
“Could you please close this?” she screeched.
“Your fault,” the driver answered indifferently. He was a slob in every sense of the word, and the way he was licking his fingers clean after tossing the chicken bone he had eaten at the passenger seat made Esther want to run away.
Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting! She reached for the lock, but it was too late.
The cab suddenly shot off, its speed almost causing her to tumble out of the seat.
“Will you slow down?” she screeched, hurriedly grabbing the seatbelt to strap herself into place.
“Sorry, madam,” the driver answered. “I was promised a thousand euros if I got you to the airport in under an hour.”
Airport? She didn’t want to go there, especially if Damen had one of his nasty surprises waiting for her at the place. “I’ll pay you twice that if you take me somewhere else!”
“I was told you would say that, but I will not believe you. They told me you are no longer rich.”
“I am rich, you bastard!”
He shook his head stubbornly. “If you are, give the money to me now.”
“I don’t have it—-”
He smirked at her through the rearview mirror. “Not rich.”
She screamed. She kept screaming, hoping to make his ears bleed until she realized that they were stuck in traffic, and the people inside the other cars were busy taking photos and videos of her.
Esther abruptly shut up.
Slowly, she leaned back against the cab’s dirty old seat, doing her best to regain her dignity. He will pay for this, she thought in feverish rage. She would not rest until he did.