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SEEING THE DISTRESSon Mairi’s face, Damen was tempted to leave their unwanted guest and go after his wife. Only the knowledge that he was likely also the reason for it kept him from moving. Reluctantly tearing his gaze away from Mairi’s departing back, Damen waited for the sound of her footsteps to fade before saying curtly, “If you could accompany me to the study?”
Drake nodded.
Closing the door to his study once Drake was inside, Damen said tightly, “You’ve picked a hell of a good time to drop that kind of bomb on us.”
Drake raised a brow. “That information is meant, unfortunately, to exonerateyou—-”
“I don’t give a damn what it does if it’s going to upset my wife.”
The words were a surprise to Drake, but a good one. He had profiled Leventis extensively before accepting Vilma Tanner’s assignment. The report had painted the other man as a ruthless, selfish bastard, but Mairi appeared to have drastically changed him.
But would it last? Had Leventis finally learned to properly treasure the gift he had been given – the same kind of gift Drake would have killed for if it had been up to him? Again, the vision of a dark-haired blue-eyed girl intruded in his mind, reminding him of what he had lost and what Mairi could end up being if he did not make things right.
The thought had him looking at Damen, his tone abrupt as he said, “I didn’t mean to upset her. I apologize for that.”
Damen didn’t answer right away, taking his time to observe the other man.
Like Damen, Drake remained on his feet, the two of them eyeing each other like warriors waiting for the other to make the first move. There was something different about the elusive ex-sniper, but because he didn’t understand what those changes were, Damen was reluctant to trust that it no longer made Drake Morrison a rival.
Then again, a part of Damen would always see the other man as a rival, a part of him that would never trust Mairi to spend more than a few seconds alone in Morrison’s company. If he had his way, he would be a lot happier if he could ensure that Drake Morrison didn’t exist at all. Just imagining Mairi thinking about Morrison in a platonic way already had him seething.
Seeing that Damen appeared disinclined to talk, Drake decided to proceed and discuss his main intention for visiting. “Tomorrow, you’ll be receiving a package of sensitive data about the Kokinos clan.”
Damen frowned. “What do you have to do with them?”
“Consider it as my way of atoning for the trouble I have caused you and Mairi. The data was obtained illegally, and I of course won’t force you to use it. But if you do, you can be assured that it will significantly level the playing field between you and your enemies.”
Damen drawled, “Let me guess. You had your goons beat the information out of your target.” The words were a jab at how Drake had enlisted law enforcers to physically restrain Damen from getting near Mairi and Drake’s own use of force against Damen.
Drake only responded to the barb with a smile. “I only do that for special cases. After all, when a man hurts the woman who selflessly loves himrepeatedly– to the extent of having the woman arrested in front of their own servants – such a person deserves that kind of treatment, don’t you think?”
Curtly, Damen said, “It willneverhappen again.”
“If you say so—-”
“I know so.” Damen looked at Drake straight in the eye. “I love her with every breath of my life. I’d lie for her if I have to. I’d kill for her. I’d go down on my knees if it’s what would keep her at my side.”
Drake knew those last words were costly for someone with such great pride as the ex-billionaire. But he was unimpressed. He had seen a lot of horrors in his life at the battlefield, and one of the greatest horrors was the fact that some people could never change.
Damen Leventis might have convinced himself that he loved Mairi now, but what could a son of someone who had been raised by a cold-hearted bitch like Esther Leventis truly know about love?
“For Mairi’s sake, I hope you do mean it. Because if I find out that you’ve hurt her one last time – if Mairi asks for my help to leave you—-” Drake’s face hardened. “You will never see her again.”
Having made his point, Drake saw no point in sticking around. Without another word, he made his way to the door, walked out, and stopped. “Mairi?”
Damen’s head jerked up. A second later, he was walking swiftly out of the study and coming to an abrupt stop next to the other man when he saw his wife standing in the hallway. The look on her face had his chest squeezing painfully hard.
He had seen Mairi this same fucking way once.
Devastation in eyes made glassy with tears, face too pale, and lips that wobbled in an effort to keep her emotions at bay.
He had seen her like this when Damen broke her heart for the first time.
It was the time Damen had told Mairi he only wanted her to be his mistress and not his wife.
She had left him after that.
Damen willed himself to breathe and keep his voice even as he asked, “What’s wrong, Mairi?” She was not going to leave him. She was not. Whatever the trouble was, he would fix it. She was not going to leave him. She was goddamn not.