“Stop twisting my words,” he exploded. “You think you know her, is that it? You think I’m being cruel?” Stavros laughed humorlessly. “She’s a bitch, Willem—”
“And since she is that, then why are we still talking about her? I’m not forcing you to make her a part of your life, am I?” Willem’s reasonable tone made Stavros want to punch some sense into him.
“Just don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Stavros snarled.
“Fair enough.” Willem turned away.
Before his friend could leave, Stavros heard himself say, “You haven’t told me how she is.”
Willem stilled.
When the silence between them persisted, Stavros said flatly, “I just want to know she’s…”
“She looked like someone threw her under the bus.” Willem turned around to give his friend a coldly pleasant smile. “That should ensure you a good night’s sleep.”
When Willem was gone, Stavros struck the walls with his fist. His knuckles started to bleed, but he ignored it, punching the wall again and again until the pain turned into numbness.
Chapter Seven
Willow had just finished pinning emerald drops to her ears when she heard someone knock on the door. It had been three days since the last time she had seen Stavros, and as she raced towards the door, she wondered if tonight was finally—
She opened the door and saw Willem and Willem, Jr.
At the expression on her face, Willem asked bluntly, “You are disappointed it is not Manolis?”
Letting them in, she closed the door and turned to her employer with a wan smile. “Stupid, right?”
“If it’s any consolation, he asked me again about you during yesterday’s luncheon, but I told him you were not to be disturbed.”
“As you should have, Mr. de Konigh,” Serenity said. “Ms. Somerset needs time to recover herself.”
Willow rolled her eyes. “You’re just saying that because you think it’s your duty to agree with the boss.”
“That, too, but I sincerely believe you need to spend more time away from Mr. Manolis.” A rare frown had appeared on Serenity’s normally pretty but expressionless face. “How you can still love him after…” She cut herself off abruptly. “I apologize, Ms. Somerset.”
Willow waved the apology away. “It’s cool. You’re not saying anything I haven’t told myself.”
Willem opened the door. “Shall we go then?”
As the three of them headed towards the north wing, she said awkwardly, “Mr. de Konigh?”
“Yes, Ms. Somerset?”
She said with even more awkwardness, “Thank you for…everything. I’m not sure if you’ve got an ulterior motive for helping me, but whatever, I’m still thankful.”
“No ulterior motive, Ms. Somerset,” the Dutch billionaire said dryly. “But the truth is something worse.”
Her eyes widened. “There’s something worse than an ulterior motive?”
“Ennui.”
Serenity glanced sharply at their boss.
“I’ve become...rather alarmingly bored with my life in the past few years, and seeing you and Stavros Manolis struggle is...interesting.” He turned to Serenity. “Stop that, Serenity.”
“Ms. Raleigh, and I don’t know what you mean.”
He rolled his eyes. “Stop Googling the suicide rate of those who confess to having ennui.”
A horrified look crossed Serenity’s face. “How did you know?”
“How can I not? I’ve known you since you were a kid, Serenity.”
Her lips tightened and as they paused before the ballroom’s main doors, Serenity said under her breath, “We shall talk about this next time, sir.”
The doors opened and the three of them fell in line behind a couple of noblemen from England.
Willem glanced at Willow, saying conversationally, “To be perfectly honest, Serenity is one of the few things in life that I find interesting. She’s so bloody perfect she makes me feel imperfect, and I want to do things to shock her.”
“You are shocking me now, sir,” Serenity said promptly once their names had been announced and they were being ushered to their tables.
“This is where we part, I’m afraid, Ms. Somerset.”
“Enjoy the evening,” she said. When Willem bowed down to her, Willow winked at Serenity.
A polite smile on her face, Serenity hissed, “Stop that, Ms. Somerset.”
But Willow managed another wink before Willem had straightened. As the Dutch billionaire took his intern’s hand and drew her to the opposite direction, Willow followed the attendant assigned to her.