Christo sat at his massive oak desk. He clearly hadn’t been home last night. The clothes he wore were the same as yesterday. His usually pristine shirt was crushed and his hair messed, as if he’d run his hand through it too many times. In most men it would look unkempt. In Christo it made him ruggedly handsome.
Thea’s breath caught. The man could ignite her with a glance and she didn’t care. The walls no longer closed in on her in quiet moments. She wasn’t afraid of being trapped. Not anymore.
Christo raised tired eyes to hers. And there was something else she noticed. The lack of heat in them.
Every look he’d cast her way in the past weeks had threatened to singe her to ashes. Today there was nothing but...devastation.
Thea’s heart pounded. Not even after his father had died had she seen him like this. Something terrible had happened.
‘Christo, what’s wrong?’
He motioned with his hand. ‘Take a seat.’
So cool. Businesslike. It made her nervous.
She dropped into a solid leather chair opposite him. Leaned back. Crossed her legs. Tried to look casual and relaxed when inside she was bound in knots.
‘I have to meet Elena soon.’
‘This won’t take long.’
His Adam’s apple rose and fell as he swallowed. Her hands clenched reflexively into tight fists. The cut of her nails into her palms settled her racing heart a fraction.
‘Is it about my father? Has Raul found anything?’
Christo shook his head. ‘That wasn’t a condition of granting what you wanted.’
His voice was so cold it chilled her bones.
He picked up a pen, tapped it on the leather desktop. ‘You’ve fulfilled your obligations. That’s all I ever required.’
She didn’t understand. None of this made sense. ‘What are you talking about?’
It was as if he wasn’t looking at her, but at a point over her shoulder. She turned, the leather of her seat creaking under her, but there was no one there.
‘Since Hector’s gone and the estate’s been settled, it’s time to talk about bringing our arrangement to an end.’
She jerked back as if he’d slapped her. After what they’d shared... All their nights together... How could he do this now? Surely things had changed. How dared he do this without talking to her first about the future?
‘You don’t get to say that without looking me in the eyes.’ She gritted her teeth. ‘Look at me, Christo.’
He didn’t, instead leafing through some papers on his desk.
‘How did you think it was going to end, Thea?’
She hadn’t thought about an ending in such a long time. Now she understood the truth in her throbbing heart. She didn’t know how she wanted it to end, only that she didn’t want it to end immediately.
‘As for your settlement,’ he said, as if he was running through some awful shopping list, ‘your investment’s grown. That solar start-up in the States paid off. I’ve added half a million euros to the amount you had in the bank.’
Obviously Christo didn’t feel the same way as her. Nothing had changed for him. She couldn’t breathe. A tight band had wrapped around her chest.
‘Christo. Please.’ He was handing her everything she’d ever dreamed of and yet she wanted none of it.
‘Ours was only ever a short-term arrangement. You wanted a life. I’m granting it to you. Along with a fully furnished house in Glyfada.’
At the beach? She loved the beach. But it was just another possession. Another thing. She wanted to hurl it right back at him.
‘Is this what you want?’ she asked.
He looked at her now, and all she saw was blankness. Nothing but the cold, dark heart of him. The man from the night of her marriage, from the negotiations with her father. Where was the gentle, passionate person she thought she’d discovered? It was as if he’d never existed.
Christo gave a curt nod. ‘I signed the divorce papers yesterday and delivered them to my lawyer. It’s done.’
‘No!’
‘There are no happily-ever-afters here,’ he said, lifting the papers he’d been looking through and tapping them on the desktop till they were straight.
He put them in a folder and slid it across to her.
‘In addition to those settlements I’ve negotiated a ten-million-euro payment from your father. You’ll be a wealthy woman. Free to do whatever you want. The removal company will come tomorrow to pack your things. I’ve taken the liberty of delivering your motorcycle to your new home. I’ll leave all the necessary keys with Anna. The estate agent will show you around.’
She didn’t know this man. The man who stuck a knife in her heart with no remorse. There was nothing left of the husband who’d made love to her till she’d wept from pleasure. This man only caused pain.
‘You’ve been busy.’
He was casting her out. Moving on. Had these past months meant nothing to him?
‘You’ve kept me from the business I have to attend to. You wanted a life. I want my life back.’
The thought of him taking back his life made her ill. Living without her, seeing other women... She swallowed down the saliva flooding her mouth. Swallowed past the tight, choking feeling that crept into her throat, as if the world was trying to throttle her. He’d planned this all along, using her in the process. Well, she wouldn’t let him see her humiliation.
‘The wedding and engagement rings are yours to keep,’ he said.
She looked at the still twinkling gems on her finger. Funny how she’d forgotten they were even there, and yet they were mocking her now. She wrenched them from her hand and tossed them on the leather desktop. Christo watched their trajectory as they bounced and fell in front of him.
‘Since I’m not married any more I don’t want them,’ she hissed. ‘Give them to your next bride of convenience.’
He shrugged, then stood and walked out from behind the desk. ‘Your father has retracted his complaint against Alexis. He says it was an accounting error. The charges are in the process of
