Free The Art of Trusting a Greek Billionaire by Marian Tee Page B

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.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t know what to say.”
    He fought for control even as everything inside him went crazy with fear that he was too late, that he had hurt her too much and now she just wanted to be free of him.
    “Mairi, I’m sorry for being an ass. I can say a thousand more words, but they all boil down to the same thing. I fucked up and I just need one more chance to atone for all the times I hurt you.”
    She still didn’t say anything.
    “I’ve broken the engagement, Mairi. I knew – when I looked at you after she…”
    And she spoke then, only to whisper in the same broken almost-singsong voice, “You kissed her.”
    “No,” he denied fiercely. “I didn’t kiss her. She kissed me and—” Damen’s hands shook as he cupped her tender face. “Mairi, you taught me to love because I saw how much you loved me. And if I’ve lost your trust and love because I messed up too many times, I’m sorry. But I’m not giving up. I’m going to do the same thing and teach you to believe in my love this time.”
    He waited and waited, his heart cracking open with every second that passed without a word leaving Mairi’s lips. And just when he was about to lose hope, he felt it, her hands going to his heart.
    “Damen.” Still broken, but not as weak, not as pained.
    He covered her hand with his, pressing it close against his heart. “You’re in there now, matakia mou. And no matter what happens, you’ll always be there because it’s yours. All my heart is yours.”
    Crying now, Mairi slowly took his other hand and brought it to her own heart. “This will always be yours, too. No matter how much it hurts to love you, Damen, it will always be yours.”

Chapter Twelve
     
    To trust a Greek billionaire, you must let him realize some things on his own.
    He said: Like how much I love you?
    She said: No, dreamboat—
    He said (with a groan): Stop calling me that.
    She said: But it’s cute!
     
    After making sure Mairi was deeply asleep, Damen carefully extracted himself from her, not wanting her to wake up because she was obviously exhausted.
    It was only when he was in the privacy of his study did he call Bart. “Tell me everything.”
    “Our stocks are down by five percent and it's expected to drop another five by tomorrow. Your mother has issued a press statement about not being in favor of your decision to break the engagement, and Mr. Kokinos has asked for an emergency board meeting tomorrow.”
    He listened calmly, nothing in Bart’s reports taking him by surprise. He had known it would happen this way the moment he chose to follow his heart.  
    His colleagues would never understand why he had to choose a woman who brought nothing to marriage over a woman who could make him the most powerful man on earth. If the merger between the Kokinos and Leventis had pushed through, it would have put him in control of nearly a third of the world’s shipping industry. But now that he might have made an enemy out of Kokinos, the other party could take offense and merge with another family with the sole purpose of demolishing Damen’s business empire in mind.
    “Sir?” Bart asked nervously, waiting for orders to be rapped out.  
    “We’ll attend tomorrow’s board meeting as well but let no one know about it. As for the stocks, keep monitoring them and issue a press statement – the standard ‘no comment’, but add that it is not my wish or Ms. Tanner’s to court publicity for publicity’s sake.” It would be a clear dig at his mother, and he wanted it to be seen that way.
    “Understood, sir.”
    “Good. Keep me posted.” He ended the call but did not leave the office right away. It