by Marian Tee
The Art of Wedding a Greek Billionaire (Book 5)
By Marian Tee
Copyright 2014 by Streak Digital Publishing
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
About The Art of Wedding a Greek Billionaire
Once upon a time, there was an ordinary girl who grew up listening to bedtime stories where there were no knights in shining armor or Prince Charming. Instead, it had Greek billionaires and this little girl dreamt she’d one day have Her Own Greek Billionaire to live happily ever after with.
When this little girl grew up, she realized that not all fairytale weddings came with happy-ever-after endings. Sometimes, those who speak the words “I love you” don’t really mean it, and those who can’t utter the words end up being the ones who truly mean them.
This is my story.
I mean your story.
I mean, Mairi Tanner’s story.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My greatest thanks to God. Without Him, I’d never have found my way to writing this book.
My heartfelt gratitude as well to my partner Allen Tan and my parents and siblings.
A shout out to Liliana Rhodes, who taught me so much about, well, everything, and R.E. Butler, who is one of the most down-to-earth authors I’ve known. I want to be like her when I grow up!
Super huge thanks to This Forum I Won’t Name that I’m lucky to be a part of – I’ve learned so much from the writers there. They’re the most generous and smartest bunch of authors I’ve ever come across and I know that I would never have been able to enjoy self-publishing as much as I do now if not for all their advice and support.
As always, I’m grateful for having the chance to work with Clarise Tan of CT Cover Creations and Wendy Chan a.k.a. The Passionate Proofreader – they’ve been there for me since the very start. My sincerest thanks also go to Maxwell Author Services and all the Facebook page owners who have so generously shared my new books with their readers.
Thank you to my street team – each and every one of you has helped me one way or another and gave me the confidence to keep writing even when I feel like I no longer have the right to write for other people’s pleasure.
And lastly, thank YOU Dear Reader. Whether you’ve taken the time to reach out to me or not, know that I owe you so much! You have made it possible for me to do what I love and call it “work”. Thank you for giving me the chance to write the kind of books that I’m personally addicted to reading. Silly naïve heroines, cruel jerks as heroes, and a grand love story – I hope you never tire of them because we’ve still lots of journeys to take. So thank you, thank you, thank you and until the next time!
Part One
Chapter One
Eight days ago
Mairi Tanner was escaping. She knew tonight was the only chance she would ever get. Drake was gone, and only one of his security personnel remained, posted outside the door to her room. But he wasn’t going to be a problem.
Earlier, the nurse had given Mairi sleeping pills, which she promptly pretended to swallow. In reality, though, she had only kept them under her tongue. The moment the nurse had left, she had taken them out of her mouth and crushed them in an ice cold glass of lemonade. It had been served with her dinner, but she had opted to drink straight from the tap, knowing she would need the lemonade for her plan.
Tiptoeing to the door, careful not to make any sound, Mairi pressed her ears to the door. Snores greeted her. Her heart raced in anticipation at the sound, but Mairi suppressed her excitement. The pills had done their job, but her problems weren’t over yet.
Even though it killed her not to do anything, she went back to her bed and tucked herself in. And then she waited. The minutes ticked by. Outside, silence hummed, punctuated by random snores. But Mairi remained in bed, keeping herself still, ready to close her eyes and pretend she was asleep.
The door opened. Her eyes closed. She kept herself still as she felt the nurse move around the room. This would be the last round of checking until tomorrow morning. When Mairi heard the door close behind the nurse, she waited for a full minute before opening her eyes.
She was alone again.
Her gaze went back to the wall clock.
…thirty-five, thirty-four, thirty-three.
…three, two, one.
The minute hand moved to nine. It was time.
She got out of bed quickly, knowing there wasn’t a second to waste. She had practiced her steps over and over in her mind, knowing she couldn’t afford to make a mistake. If she failed and her aunts learned of her attempt to leave, she knew they would make it seem like she was a danger to herself. If that happened, there would be no escape. They would do it out of love, she knew, never realizing that doing so would kill her.
She needed to be with Damen Leventis.
She needed him like he was the reason her heart was able to beat for another second.
She needed him, and she no longer cared if he didn’t really need her the way she needed him.
Taking a deep breath, Mairi walked towards the door and placed her hand on the knob. Closing her eyes, she prayed, the kind that didn’t really need words. God would see through her heart. He would know it only beat for Damen now. He would understand.
Her gaze returned to the clock.
…five, four, three, two, one.
It was now three in the morning.
Quietly, Mairi turned the knob and opened the door. Relief hit her as she saw the guard dozing on his chair. As was his wont, he had folded his trench coat over the back of his chair, and Mairi reached for it with not-so-steady hands.
He didn’t stir.
So far, so good, Mairi thought as she shrugged into the trench coat, which she needed to hide the fact that she was wearing a hospital gown. Since she had been admitted into a private posh clinic, the gown was made of the most expensive type of cotton. However, it was still a hospital gown, and she couldn’t leave the place still dressed in it.
After tying the coat’s belt tightly around her waist, Mairi walked straight to the fire exit and raced down the stairs. Her heart beat faster with every step she took. She knew it couldn’t be this easy, but she couldn’t help but hope.
When she reached the door to the ground floor, she took a peek, and another sigh of relief escaped her when she saw no one standing outside. The fire exit led out to the clinic’s lavishly landscaped gardens. It was bordered by eight-foot walls, but she was confident she would be able to scale it.
What she did not count on, however, were the dogs.
Three German Shepherds, salivating and gazing at her with eerily menacing eyes. They were chained to ornamental lamp posts that lined the garden’s pathways. Those were really thin chains, Mairi thought with a swallow.
She took one step out of the door.
The dogs tensed, their tails standing up, their eyes following her every move.
“G-good dog,” she whispered.
Wrong words, as it seemed.
They lunged towards her, snarling, and Mairi ran towards the walls. A second later, she heard the sound of metal snapping. The chains had snapped. She tried to run faster at the sound, her heartbeat so loud it eclipsed everything else.
One of the magnolia trees in the garden had a branch drooping close to the top of the walls. Mairi headed over to it immediately. As she tried to climb the tree, looking for something for her foot to rest her weig
ht on, one of the dogs finally caught up to her.
Bite.
Razor sharp teeth had clamped onto her leg, and she bit her lip hard to keep herself from crying out. When her other foot finally found something to step on, Mairi took a deep breath before kicking the dog away. Taken by surprise, the dog released its hold on her leg and she moved immediately, making sure to climb up fast and keep herself out of reach.
The climb was a hundred times harder now, the pain in her leg making her feel woozy, but Mairi didn’t stop moving. Damen, she whispered to herself. She had to get to Damen. He had been calling out her name the last time. He needed her right now. That was all that mattered.
The world around her blurred. The jump from tree to wall had seemed so easy a while ago. Now, it felt like she was jumping from one end of a cliff to another.
From afar, shouts could be heard and beams of light from torches began to pierce the darkness.
Below, the dogs barked more noisily, angrily.
Damen, she thought again. Damen was outside, waiting for her.
Mairi jumped.
She went over the wall, landing on all fours. When she looked down, her knees were bleeding, too, and her wrists hurt badly. The pain made her feel woozier, but she forced herself up. She had to get moving before people figured out she was gone. She had memorized the name of the hospital Damen was in when she caught it on TV. Now, she had to find a way to get there, without money, without a phone, without anything. But she would get there. She had to. She needed to get to Damen no matter what.
Mairi closed her eyes for a moment.
Damen’s face filled her mind. So sinfully handsome, with his wicked silver eyes and—
She choked back a sob, her eyes flying open as the Damen in her mind changed. Now he looked horribly beaten, his eyes swollen, his mouth bleeding.
Oh God, she had to get to him. It didn’t matter what she had to do. Walk, hitchhike, or call for an ambulance and get herself driven there. It didn’t matter. The pain in her leg blazed, but Mairi was numb to the hurt. All she could think of was him.
Damen, I’m coming. She would get to him. She would. She needed him. He needed her. And so for as long as Damen needed her, Mairi would be by his side.
Chapter Two
Seven days ago
“I received a text from Mairi,” Norah said as she joined her sister in the living room. She felt so old and frail as she took a seat beside Vilma. It was as if they had aged a hundred years in the past few weeks.
Vilma asked stiffly, “Is she all right?” She would never ever forgive herself if anything happened to her niece. A choked sob tried to escape her. All they had wanted was to protect her. But in the end, they had ended up causing Mairi to risk her life just to escape them.
“There’s no need to worry,” Norah said, squeezing her sister’s hand. “She says she’s with Damen where he’s being treated, and she’s going to stay there.”
The two of them fell quiet as they digested their niece’s words.
Mairi was with Damen.
After everything that the Greek billionaire had done to her, she had chosen to be with Damen Leventis.
Did Mairi know what was going on in Damen’s life now? It wasn’t just that he was no longer a Greek billionaire. According to the media, almost all of his accounts were frozen. It would be a miracle if he even had a million to his name.
Although Norah knew her niece was in no way materialistic, she also knew that part of Damen Leventis’ appeal was because he had fit the bill of the man of Mairi’s dreams. But now that he no longer possessed a billion-dollar fortune? What now?
Would Mairi finally see Damen for what he really was? A man who trusted no one, a man who could be inhumanly cruel in his revenge, and a man who might be incapable of love?
Looking around their living room, Vilma could easily recount all the years that had gone by. It was here they had often discussed the stories they would read for bedtime, the debate becoming more fun and lively as Mairi grew up and formed her own strong opinion about her favorite kind of hero.
Closing her eyes, she remembered the time she and her sister had been right here, keeping an eighteen-year-old Mairi company as she wrapped the covers of her books with plastic. Mairi was messy with her stuff like most teenagers, but she had been quite the neat freak when it came to her favorite books.
Mairi was seated on the rug, legs tucked under her and bent over a sheet of plastic. “Maybe it’s time we don’t read about Greek billionaires. They’re so predictable, don’t you think? That makes them boring…” The words came out of nowhere, and Mairi spoke them without bothering to look up from her task. Her attention was entirely focused on cutting a straight line through the plastic.
Vilma saw Mairi gazing musingly at the cover of a Lynne Graham novel, one with another Greek billionaire hero whose wife had been an expert on ferns. It was a very good book, that one. It gave Vilma hope that one day a nice and rich young man would not think Mairi odd for being such a hopeless romantic.
Norah looked like she wanted to cross herself at the blasphemous words. “What are you saying? Boring? How can they be boring? They’re excitingly unpredictable because of how they’d go to such lengths to show their love!”
Vilma asked, “Anyway, what do you suggest we read? Some Arab sheikh who’s sure to force a woman to live in the desert with him and die of heat stroke?”
Norah still seemed extremely offended and wagged a finger at her niece’s face. “And do not start again,” she warned starkly, “about Dutch surgeons! Maybe some women dig men who have ice in their veins, but not us!”
They had been so offended by Mairi’s protestations about Greek billionaires that it had completely surprised them when their niece suddenly burst into laughter.
It was then they realized in chagrin that the young girl had only been pulling their legs off.
Seeing the glowers on their faces, Mairi had gotten up from where she was seated and threw her arms around both aunts. “Oh, come on, you two! Of course I wouldn’t stop reading or dreaming about Greek billionaire heroes. I was just teasing you guys.”
Mairi had sighed wistfully, her gaze distant as she returned to her place on the floor. Absently tracing the now plastic-wrapped cover of her book, Mairi said softly, “I won’t stop dreaming about my future husband, but do you think it’s possible I could be the kind of girl he’d dream of?”
The memories pained Vilma. Her usually strong voice became uncharacteristically weak as she admitted shakily, “I no longer know what to do. I don’t even know if what we did was right.”
They had never really known about what Mairi had gone through when she was in high school. If their niece had her way, they wouldn’t have known at all. But then that odious woman Farah had entered the picture, and there was Stavros, too. It was as if the past had suddenly come to life, and it demanded Norah and Vilma to revisit the facts.
And when they did, what they learned broke their hearts.
Mairi had chosen to be expelled, had chosen not to fight for herself and her rights, had swallowed everything people threw at her because she did not want anyone blaming Norah and Vilma for who she was. Their sweet gentle Mairi, who had not one mean bone in her body, had gone ballistic when her school’s principal suggested Norah and Vilma were bad influences on her.
And they were, Vilma thought sickly. Everything that had happened to Mairi was their fault. They had encouraged Mairi to dream, foolishly, and they had lived vicariously through her dreams, never pausing to think what those dreams could do to Mairi.
Tears stung Vilma’s eyes as she remembered the time Mairi had flown home to them from Greece. She had been trying so hard to smile, not wanting to worry her aunts.
“Are you all right, Mairi?” Norah had demanded brokenly.
“I’m fine, Aunt. I just…I just need to…” Mairi’s voice had caught, and the pain that had flashed in her eyes was so bleak it made Norah start to cry and had Vilma feeling like she was about to lose
control in public for the first time.
“I need your help,” Mairi whispered. “Can you help me to stop…dreaming? Because the dreams…they’re not real. And I just want to stop dreaming.”
Vilma began hoarsely, “When I found out what Damen Leventis did to her, all I wanted was to protect Mairi…to make her strong. I thought giving her Drake Morrison to protect her was right. I thought with Drake, she would learn to be strong and learn what we couldn’t teach her. I wanted her so strong that no one would ever have the power to hurt her.” She shook her head wearily. “But she ran away from us, Norah. She ran away.”
Norah inhaled painfully at her sister’s words. In her mind, she remembered the blood on the ground that the guards had shown them – blood that their little Mairi had shed in order to escape the dogs. In order to escape them.
They had forced Mairi to bleed, to run away like a common criminal, to hide from them just so she could be with Damen Leventis, a man who had never stopped hurting her.
Norah gripped her sister’s hand tightly. “I don’t know any more than you do, but maybe this time we can…we can trust her. If she wants to be with Damen Leventis, then we can just be there for her, the way she’s always trusted us.”
Vilma slowly nodded. “We may be able to pull some strings and get information about what’s caused Damen Leventis’ rights to be taken away and make it a matter of legal dispute. But if we do this, Esther Leventis and perhaps the Kokinos clan will be our enemies as well.”
“Let her do her worst.” Norah’s voice, normally gentle, became hard and uncompromising. “This time, we will truly stand by Mairi’s side and we will do our best not to let her down.”
