The Art of Trusting a Greek Billionaire(21)

Mairi forced herself to look at Ioniko first. “And so on behalf of the faculty, administration, and students making up the Grecian Academy for Young Ladies, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to our guests of honor, Mr. Ioniko Vlahos—”

Ioniko raised his hand in a small wave, a simple act that had the entire student body giggling.

She turned to the only couple on the stage, her gaze blinded with tears. “—and the soon-to-be-wedded couple, Mr. Damen Leventis a-and Ms. Alina Kokinos.”

Her fingers curled around her speech, crushing it in her hand the same way Damen crushed her heart as he helped his fiancée out of her chair like she was a precious jewel so they could acknowledge the crowd with smiles and a brief wave.

Mairi mumbled the rest of her speech. She didn’t care if the crowd thought she was speaking Cantonese now. All she knew was that she had to get as far away from Damen as possible.

As she walked back to her seat, the ugly hateful truth that she had tried to be blind to finally made itself undeniably clear.

The problem had never been her love or making Damen believe in it.

The problem had always been whether Damen could believe in love. Because if he could believe in love, then he would never have made her go through this. If he understood how love could hurt and kill, he would never have forced her to see him and his fiancée together.

The rest of the presentation proceeded in an efficiently speedy manner, as was typical of any event organized by GAYL’s terrifying principal. The highest award went to an old history professor about to retire, and Mrs. Bettany became teary-eyed when Ms. Thorn presented her not only with a framed certificate but also a prize check amounting to $50,000, sponsored by this year’s guests of honor.

Mairi thought her ordeal was about to end, but it was not. It was only about to get worse, she realized as she dimly heard Ms. Thorn invite the guests of honor to make a brief speech themselves.

“Mr. Leventis? Ms. Kokinos? Would you like to go first?” Ms. Thorn sent them an encouraging smile.

Cold sweat bathed Damen's body under his suit. He had an awful feeling that something bad was about to happen.

“Would you like me to take care of this on my own?” he asked, hoping she would indeed say yes. But she did not.

Alina shook her head. “It’s fine.”

Left with no choice, Damen tried not to look visibly reluctant as he offered Alina his hand and guided her to the podium, his hand on the small of her back. He knew that such a simple gesture would hurt Mairi even more, and his gaze searched hers, needing to let her know that it did not and should not mean anything because he did not care about Alina in any way.

It took less than a second for Damen to spot Mairi in the crowd, and he sucked his breath in at the glassy look on her face.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

She looked like he was killing her again and again, and the most painful thing about it was that it might just be true. If the roles had been reversed, Damen knew he would not be as stoic. If he ever saw another man holding Mairi in any way, he knew would very well lose it and start a fistfight.

As he and Alina reached the podium, Ms. Thorn moved close to the microphone and asked charmingly, “How about a kiss between the lovely couple? I am certain I speak for many students in saying we think you had the loveliest engagement party. The two of you make such a beautiful couple and we’d love to celebrate your engagement with you two today.”





Chapter Eleven



To trust a Greek billionaire, one must be prepared for competition.

She said: Like, a lot. You don’t know what I have to go through—

He said: Says the woman who had not one, not two, but three fucking Greek billionaires after her.#p#分页标题#e#



A fucking kiss? Ioniko’s face hardened in disbelief. He had heard that the indomitable Rose Thorn was good at charming people and getting money out of their pockets, and now he knew it was true.

No wonder there was such a huge media presence today, Ioniko thought in disgust. She had planned this all along, and since it was rare to catch Damen and Alina together, much less sharing a kiss, a photo of it would surely put GAYL on the map.

He looked at the couple, who were clearly taken aback by the request as well.

And then he looked at her.

Mairi was completely white, and even this far away he could see the stricken look on her face.

Ioniko’s gaze returned to Leventis, the asshole who had caused Mairi to look like that. He was smiling, talking easily, trying to cajole Ms. Thorn out of the request, but the other woman was just as ruthless, making it impossible for Damen to refuse lest he wanted the crowd to think he disliked kissing his fiancée.