“I think that night whatever she took...it must have been a one-time thing. Something she thought she would try and then walk away. I’m so sorry that I gave her that money.”
“You were barely nineteen, Leah. And I...made it so hard to come to me with anything, ne? I found fault with you at every turn, I curbed all your freedom, and then I—”
“Why?” The question barreled out of Leah.
By his actions toward her, his efforts to again and again control her, change her, he had made it so easy to hate him, so easy to hide the truth about Calista from him.
She had wanted to not care about anyone ever again in her life, had pulled the act so well that Stavros had believed all of it.
He had started a war between them, and Leah was the one who had kept feeding it. To better hide her attraction, to better fight whatever risk he presented to her emotions, she realized now. “Why did you always hate me so much?”
“I didn’t hate you.”
“In the beginning, I thought it was because Giannis brought me here. Because you resented my being the heiress to such a vast fortune. Which, it turned out was a big joke. You were the one, along with Dmitri, who turned Katrakis Textiles into a multimillion-dollar business. So what was it, Stavros?”
His expression shuttered instantly. “It was wrong of me, Leah. Isn’t that enough?”
“No, it’s not. I have a right to know. I...”
“You just...your actions—your neglect of Giannis, they reminded me of someone. But it was no excuse to—”
“Of whom?” Leah couldn’t let go. Not when she was finally so close to understanding him.
“Of my father. All he cared about was himself, his next drink and how he would gain it. My mother, instead of kicking him out, instead of caring for her kids, walked out without looking back. Neither Calista nor I mattered. They left us with our grandparents who weren’t equipped to raise us. All they had was a small farm. I managed fine. But Calista...
“She would watch for her at the gate for so many hours...and then one day, we got news of my father’s car crash.” He rubbed his face. “I remember thinking that it was a blessing for her.” His mouth twisted into a bitter curve. “He died and all I could think was Calista wouldn’t suffer anymore.”
That said so much about his own state of mind. “And then Giannis came for you?”
“Yes, my grandfather wrote to him about my father’s death. I fought so much to bring her with us. But he said he had failed with his own daughter and that he couldn’t bear to fail again. I—” such pain impinged on his features that a lump formed in her throat “—I...promised her I would come back for her. And I did... It took me two years to convince Giannis. Two years to go back for her.”
“What was she like when you went back?”
He frowned at her sudden question. “Why?”
“Never mind,” she replied, faking nonchalance. But her head hurt, and her chest felt so tight.
My brother—I can’t disappoint him, Calista had admitted once to her. Had she been afraid he would not come back? Had she been afraid to show her true self to him?
“Leah, why—”
Sinking her hands into his hair, she pulled him down for a kiss. His hands on her waist, his taste on her lips, made her feel she was owned by him. She wanted to take away his pain, to ease the confusion in his eyes every time he talked about Calista.
Drowning in his taste, she could forget all the truths bearing down upon her, she could swallow the truth forever.
His arms tightened around her while his mouth continued its passionate assault.
Just as all the other times, he was the one who finally stopped. The heated rush of their breaths mingled as he rubbed a gentle finger over her mouth.
“What was that for?”
“I have no more truths to tell. The show, I don’t want to miss it, Stavros.”
“Go,” he commanded, a thoughtful look in his face. “But we are not through, Leah.” All kinds of promises lingered in his words.
And Leah fled.
She muddled through the darkness of the auditorium and found her seat. Up-tempo music blared as the runway dazzled with one magnificent creation after the other.