Damen stilled.
In his mind, and he did not know if he had imagined it or not, he heard it so clearly – Mairi catching her breath, Mairi’s tears splattering on the floor, Mairi giving up on him.
No!
When Alina released him from her hold, he immediately turned to look at Mairi.
She was not crying. She did not seem like she was holding her breath. But she did look like she had finally given up waiting for him.
No.
And then he saw it –
Ioniko, coming from the side of the stage, walking purposely towards Mairi.
And further away from him but nearer to Mairi, Damen saw Stavros Manolis gazing at Mairi as well. He didn’t know and understand why Manolis was looking at Mairi like that, but if there was one thing he knew, it was that Manolis appeared to be his rival as well.
A part of him told Damen to just let it go. Mairi Tanner would have all the Greek billionaires she could ever want. Maybe reading all those books had done her good. Even if they weren’t meant to be, at least she would be well taken care of.
The noble part of him told Damen to let it go, to let Mairi move on.
But the selfish and honest part of him told Damen that if he did let her go, it would mean forever. If he gave up on her, it would be for the rest of their lives. He would never have the chance to call Mairi his again, never be able to taste her lips or feel her body welcome him—
No.
He looked at Alina. “I’m sorry. It won’t work between us.” His words were caught by the microphone. He removed her ring from his finger.
Alina didn't speak, staring at him with wide-eyed shock.
“I’m sorry,” he said again before jumping off the stage to go after the woman that had taught his heart to beat for someone else.
****
Mairi could not think of a single thing that was more painful than seeing the man she loved receive the kiss of the woman who owned him and would one day have his name and bear him children.
It did not just hurt. It burned, like acid on her skin, a raging infection that almost drove Mairi to her knees.
Another woman’s lips was covering the lips of the man she loved – the man she had waited for all her life.
“No,” she whispered, closing her eyes, praying to God that it was a nightmare she could wake up from. But when she opened her eyes, Damen was still on stage and Alina Kokinos was still kissing him.
She fell back in her seat, knowing that it was a sight she could never forget, not even if she lived to be a hundred years old. She would always remember this, and she would always grieve because that one kiss had sliced her heart and broken it into a thousand pieces.
Mairi’s eyes fluttered close as she wheezed for breath as discreetly as she could. She was having a panic attack. Or maybe this was shock. She didn’t know anymore. All she knew was that she couldn’t breathe past the pain.
“Mairi?” That was Velvet.
“Mairi!” That was Mandy.
“Mairi?” That was…Ioniko?
“Mairi?” That was…a voice from the past, one familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
And then chaos, everyone around her gasping, followed by a thousand clicking sounds as she heard a voice she didn’t think she’d hear anymore say her name.#p#分页标题#e#
“Mairi?”
Damen.
Her eyes opened.
She whispered brokenly, “Damen?”
Hearing her say his name like that broke him apart. If he had the chance to offer his life and the lives he would live after it in exchange for wiping the slate clean with Mairi, he would have. If it meant sentencing himself to an eternity in hell just so Mairi would never know the pain he had caused her time and time again, he would have.
In two single strides, Damen had her in his arms. She was still limp and unmoving.
His lips touched her hair. “I’m sorry,” he gritted out, his arms tightening around her. He tipped her chin up, needing her to see the truth in his eyes.
“Mairi, I love you.”
The words caused a wave of shock to go through the entire crowd.
Ioniko stopped moving towards them, his expression becoming hooded.
Stavros also stilled. Something inside him reacted to those words from Damen Leventis, and that something felt emptier and emptier as he took in the way Damen was looking at Mairi. His once very self-sufficient friend – a man who once did not believe in love – was looking at Mairi like he had started to believe because he had found it in the woman in his arms.
The paparazzi had finally caught on. Question after question was fired at them, and soon Damen and Mairi found themselves inside the tight circle made by his security team.
Everything was a blur, and Mairi could only look at Damen but not see him.
“Mairi, please,” he said hoarsely. “Say something.”