Page 105

“What is this about, Alina?”
His voice made her hand shake as she reached for her glass. She drank it all, needing the wine to give her Dutch courage.
He waited, patiently.
Damen had always been irritating that way, Alina thought, acting like he was too cool to lose his temper because everyone and everything paled in significance next to him.
She couldn’t help but ask, “Are you like this with her, too?”
“Like what?”
“You act like you’reneverwrong. You’ve always acted like that.” She almost laughed at the puzzled expression on his face.
“I do not pretend to be wrong if I am right – even if it is merely to soothe ruffled feathers.”
She shook her head. “Never mind.” She hoped, for Mairi Tanner’s sake, that the other girl had found a way to make Damen Leventis less arrogant. He needed a strong dose of humility now and then.
Placing her hands on her lap so Damen wouldn’t know how badly they were still shaking, she made herself look at him straight in the eye as she spoke. “My father wants me to get you to reconsider our engagement.” Not waiting for him to answer, she said in a rush, “I am not in favor of it.”
Alina nervously watched Damen lean back on his seat.
And then all he said was, “I see.”
She wanted to throw a glass of water on his face for that.
“If you really love her, this Mairi Tanner, then can I count on you to lie to my father and tell him that I did my best, but you will never leave her for anyone else?”
Silence.
Why wasn’t he saying anything?
“I will tell your father that you’ve tried your best but I am not to be persuaded.”
The words were spoken so formally, it reminded her of the old Damen – or at least the Damen she thought she knew. But he was different – his words and actions that day at the school had proven it.
And yet –
And yet it felt right now like the new Damen, the one she thought shemightconsider a friend, was nowhere to be found.
Alina considered his words. He would help her with her father...but he did not want to tell her father aboutneverleaving Mairi?
She asked awkwardly, “Is everything all right between you two?”
He answered in a colder voice, “We are fine. Thank you for asking.”
Alina tried not to wince. She had gotten him mad, and he appeared even more intimidating now.
She wondered if she should tell him about Mairi’s unsuccessful attempts to find work. Alina was no idiot, and she had her own eyes and ears spying for her. Everyone in the world – including her father – thought of her merely as the Kokinos heiress, a pawn to be married off for mergers, but what nobody knew was that she had always yearned to be the head of her family’s business, always wished she had been born a man rather than a woman so that she would be taken seriously. Certainly, most people in Greece’s high society would never think that she paid great attention to business rumors, and that from those rumors she was able to deduce the reason behind the falling stock prices of Leventis Inc. More importantly, her spies had also told her about Mairi Tanner’s current plight and how Damen Leventis still did not seem to know about it.
But he would know about that soon enough, Alina thought uneasily. It was only a matter of time, and when the truth came out, there would be many people paying dearly for being stupid enough to ally themselves with Esther Leventis and her own father.
“Is there anything else you wish to talk about?” Very polite. But with a tinge of impatience this time.
He really was a cold man. If Mairi Tanner was not the gold digger everyone painted her to be – and Alina liked to think the other girl wasn’t – then whatever did she see in Damen?
Alina said finally, and with great sincerity, “Thank you. And I really do wish the two of you well. I think it’s great that you made your love for her your first priority. I’m sure she loves you just as much.”
A self-mocking smile appeared on Damen’s handsome face, and the sight troubled her, especially when he said, “I’m sure it is so.”