Pretending with the Greek Billionaire(66)

“That’s all you’ve done since the day I met you. Tried to figure out ways to orchestrate being photographed in our private moments, and you are the only one who could have orchestrated this!”

“I didn’t,” he said, trying not to shout, trying to rein in his anger and panic enough to convince her of the truth. She was slipping from his fingers right before his eyes and he didn’t think there was any way he could stop it.

“You aren’t the only one spread out naked for the whole world to see, Stanzia. I’m on that bike with you. I’m on that beach, too. Yes, I wanted the world to believe we were truly engaged, but the reason I needed that was to convince my father that I had changed and could be an asset to the company. Do you really think splashing around naked pictures of myself making love to you would be the way to accomplish that?”

“Why not? Look at the articles,” she said, jabbing her finger at the screen. “I’m the tramp, you’re the stud. Our engagement looks real and you come out the winner, like you always do. Is there even one woman on your father’s board? I guarantee the only thing the men will do is high five you. Once again, you claim to despise what the media is doing but you reap all the benefits.”

He jammed his fingers through his hair, the effort to keep from screaming overwhelming. “What benefits? I don’t care about my father’s company or what the board thinks or anything else. All I care about is you and all this has done is made you hate me.”

She threw her hands up. “It’s easy to say that now when you’ve already gotten everything you wanted. You might say you don’t like your privacy being invaded, but this won’t actively hurt you. Don’t you get that?” Her chest heaved with the force of her words and the tears that she had kept at bay until that moment slipped down her cheeks. He wanted to take her in his arms, brush them away.

“This,” she said again, waving her hand to encompass all the media on his desk. “In the long run, this won’t hurt you. You have definitive proof we were together.”

The “were” hit him like a fist to the gut, but she wasn’t done yet.

“You’re a man. You’re a hero, a stud, someone to be congratulated, not mocked and scorned. Even if this doesn’t help you with your career, it won’t hurt you. But for me…I take care of my girls. I have to report to the church.” A sob escaped her throat and she slapped a hand over her mouth as the tears flowed.

“I might lose them all. Do you realize that? They might take my girls from me because of this, and they’ll never let me adopt Elena now. It was a long shot before, but even if I wasn’t married or rich, I still showed exemplary character. No one could reproach my actions, but now…now I might lose everything. Whether you tipped them off or not, you invited them in. You made them a part of our relationship to make yourself look better. We only had a relationship for the press. And it worked for you so don’t tell me that this affects you, too. Don’t stand there and act like this will hurt you. You dragged me into this circus with you and you’ve destroyed my life.”

Every word she flung at him chipped another piece from his heart. The bitch of it was, she wasn’t wrong. Every one of the articles had praised him for his virility, even those that shook a finger at him, even as they’d slammed her. Shamed her. Mocked her.

“I won’t let you lose the girls,” he said, at a loss for what he could say to make this better, but wanting to do something to assure her.

She shook her head and wiped her eyes. “Money doesn’t fix everything, Luca.”

He looked at her, his chest aching like his heart was being squeezed in a vice. “I didn’t know you wanted to adopt Elena.”

“What difference does that make now?”

She shook her head again and took off her ring, laying it on his desk. Then she turned toward the door.

“Stanzia…” he called, his hand stretched out to stop her.

“Don’t follow me, Luca. You’ve done enough.”

He dropped his hand and watched her walk away.

The front door closed and he slumped into the chair behind his desk.

The house was silent. He was alone, with nothing but a stack of pictures to show that she’d been in his life at all.





Chapter Nineteen

“Sir?” Joe poked his head in the door and Luca dragged his attention away from the picture he held.

“What is it, Joe?”

He entered the room and clasped his hands behind his back. “I have discovered who has been leaking your whereabouts and personal information, sir.”