by Marian Tee
No sooner as the thought occurred to her did she accidentally step on something slippery on the ground. Mairi screamed. A second later, she was falling, and she tried to reduce the impact by putting her arms out.
When her hands slammed against the ground, pain shot up from her wrist.
A second later, her bodyguards came flying out from nowhere, rushing to her aid.
A crowd started to gather around them.
“Did you see that?”
“Sheesh, she just fell. It’s not like she was run over by a car or something.”
“What’s up with those bodyguards?”
“Who is she?”
“Oh my God, it’s her – the wife of that Greek billionaire, the one who wrote The Art of Catching a Greek Billionaire.”
“You know, the manual on how to get a Greek billionaire to fall for you.”
“No way, that’s really her? She’s so…ordinary.”
“I bet if we wait around, we’ll catch a glimpse of Damen Leventis.”
More words swirled around her as Mairi allowed her guards to help her up. “Thanks,” she mumbled. Not looking at them, she said under her breath, “Is it okay if you guys…pull back? I don’t want to attract more attention as it is.”
Silence.
“I know your orders, and I’m not telling you to stop following me. Just…go back into hiding, and I know you’re going to report this to my husband. Just tell him I said not to come here. Tell him I’m begging.”
As she debated what else to say to make it clear that her last condition was non-negotiable, Mairi heard someone ask, “May I be of assistance?”
The voice was cultured but accented. Not something like Greek but European as well.
She peeked through the tiny space between the shoulders of her bodyguards and reddened when the speaker smiled, having caught her speaking.
He was young, more impeccably dressed compared to most kids his age. Tall, with black hair and olive skin, the guy was most likely Italian. Or Sicilian. It was either of the two, she was sure.
She gazed up at her guards pleadingly. Don’t make this more awkward for me, you guys.
This was met with reluctant expressions, but finally, the one in the middle – probably the leader of the team – nodded and without a word, they fell back. A moment later, they were gone.
“They’re good at disappearing, aren’t they?” the younger man murmured.
Mairi was startled at the words. “Umm, yes.” She moved a little, and it was enough to have pain shooting up from her sprained wrist.
“You’re hurt.” When Mairi looked up, concern had darkened the stranger’s gaze. “Let me take you to the clinic.”
“Oh, umm…” Mairi knew she was acting like an idiot, but she was truly at a loss on what was the right thing to do.
“If it makes you comfortable, I’m Leon. Full scholarship student here in CU.” He pulled out his wallet and showed his ID, which confirmed everything he had said.
She relaxed. “Sorry. I’m just nervous, it’s my first day. As a schoolteacher,” she added. “And please, if you could just point me to where the clinic is—”
“Allow me to accompany you, Professor.”
She blinked at the title. None of her students in GAYL, the exclusive all-girls academy she used to teach English in, had called her that. Then, her students liked to call her Ms. Yay. The memory made her smile.
“Professor?” Her younger companion peered down at her face with a curious smile.
Her smile widened. “Sorry. I was just thinking about my older students. They…didn’t call me ‘Professor’.” As they fell into step, Mairi following the student, she explained, “They called me Ms. Yay.”
“Miss Yay?” He was a little incredulous and still bemused.
Mairi almost giggled at the younger man’s surprise. “It’s sort of an expression, and they thought it was funny.”
Following him into one of the smaller buildings on the campus, she continued, “Like how, when I’m happy, I’d say, ‘yay, me’. And then when something good happens for another person, I’d say, ‘yay, you’ and…” She stopped, realizing she had been babbling.
“Well, I guess it’s my turn to say ‘yay me’,” Leon said as he opened the door to the clinic for her.
“It is?” she stammered.
Leon nodded. “Mm hmm…”
She had a feeling she shouldn’t ask, but she asked anyway, “Because?” She had barely finished speaking when Leon suddenly took her hand.
Before she could even protest, he was already pulling her inside the clinic. Her eyes flew to where he was holding her, his grip firm, his fingers incredibly warm.
He stopped moving just as her gaze flew back to his face.
His extremely handsome face, which she only noticed now.
She looked around anxiously, nervous that there’d be someone else. But it was thankfully empty. “Please l-let go.” She tried tugging her hand away, not wanting to take any risks, but the grip on her hand didn’t change.
“Let me tell you first why I’m happy, Ms. Yay.” His husky voice made her even more nervous.
“Yay me…” Leon said, “because I met you.” He released her hand, slowly, almost reluctantly.
“Yay me…because I’ve found a woman I want and…” His lips curved in a mocking smile as he saw the gold band shining on her ring finger. “I don’t let anything stop me from taking what I want.”
Her jaw dropped.
Was this really happening, Mairi wondered dizzily.
In front of her, the younger man took a step away. “Until we meet again, Miss Yay.”
And then he was walking away, leaving her staring after him.
Did that just happen?
In front of her, Leon suddenly stopped, spun back, and before she could react, he stalked back towards her.
His lips touched hers.
Mairi froze.
When Leon pulled back, he was smiling wickedly. “Sorry, Ms. Yay. I just couldn’t resist.”
Chapter Two
“What. The. Fuck. Tell me that didn’t happen,” Velvet exclaimed over Skype, sheer disbelief causing Mairi’s curvy redhead friend to sit up from the leather couch she had been lounging on. And then she started to laugh. “But it did, didn’t it?”
Mairi cried out, “You’re not helping!” The words came out louder than intended, causing the few teachers in the faculty room to turn her way. She ducked her head immediately in embarrassment. Dear God, why couldn’t these cubicle walls be a little taller?
Velvet, seeing her friend trying to turn herself into a tiny ball, laughed harder. “You are so hopeless.”
“I know.”
Velvet rolled her eyes when she caught a glimpse of Mairi’s miserable face on her iPad. “Oh, come on, Mairi. You have nothing to be guilty about. Tell me, did you want to kiss him?”
Mairi gasped. “Of course I didn’t want to ki—” She caught herself in time. Grabbing her own iPad from the desk, she typed her answer instead. OF COURSE I DIDN’T WANT TO KISS HIM!
“Then there you go,” her friend answered promptly upon reading Mairi’s reply. “So there’s nothing to be guilty about, like I said.” She paused. “Have you told Damen?”
Mairi slowly shook her head.
Velvet blinked. “Oh.” She frowned. “That’s not like you.”
Mairi fiddled with the cord of her earphones. “I just think it’s really bad timing, you know? I mean, we came here so we’d be far away from trouble and then…this.” Thinking about it had her lips burning. Snatching a new sheet of tissue, she wiped her lips furiously, wishing it were just easy to erase what had happened.
Mairi wanted to knock her head against her desk repeatedly. Oh God, how could she have been so stupid?
“Just tell him and get it over with.”
“I don’t want to,” Mairi half-wailed, half-whispered.
Velvet did her best to suppress a smile at the answer. It was really cute, the way her friend ha
dn’t lost her childish ways even though she was now one of the most powerful women in the world. With the Greek tycoon wrapped around her little finger, there was precious little Mairi couldn’t have.
“Repeat after me,” Velvet said solemnly. “Damen…”
“Damen,” Mairi mumbled under her breath.
“Something happened.”
“Something happened.”
“I became a cougar.”
“I became a cou—what?”
Velvet laughed. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it.”
Mairi sniffed. “You’re no help.” She glared at her iPhone screen so her friend would know she was serious. “If you and your own Greek billionaire have a fight, I swear to God I won’t be on your side—” The rest of her words were cut off by a beep.
Her eyes widened. “Velvet, Damen’s calling!” Panic caused Mairi to raise her voice. “I gotta go, sorry.” Ending the call after hearing Velvet say goodbye, Mairi switched to answer Damen’s, saying breathlessly, “Hello?” The sound of her voice made Mairi wince inwardly. Oh my God, she was giving herself away already!
“Are you all right, sweetheart?” Damen asked right away. The odd note in his wife’s voice had him stopping in his tracks, which caused the group of executives behind him to stop as well.
Mairi cleared her throat. “Y-yes.”
Damen frowned. Checking his watch, he saw that it was still about two hours away from Mairi’s scheduled lunch break. “Have I caught you at a bad time?”
“No, no, of course not.” In her mind, Velvet’s words started to echo. Tell him. Tell him. Tell him.
She took a deep breath.
“Mairi?” Damen’s voice was tinged with concern now.
“I love you,” Mairi blurted out and winced inwardly right after. Coward, coward, coward!
His face softened.
Behind him, the executives appeared in need of treatment for shock. The elevator’s glass doors allowed Damen to see their expressions. Everyone was clearly having a difficult time reconciling the man before them with the one who had earlier taken them to task scathingly for being complacent.
“I love you, too, sweetheart. Nala and I will be waiting for you once your classes are done.”
The mention of their daughter allowed Mairi to momentarily forget her worries. Unable to help beaming, she exclaimed, “Yay!” Her aunts had only borrowed their little girl for the weekend, but it had seemed like forever at times.
Outside, the school bell rang, indicating the end of class, and Mairi knew it was time to go.
Damen heard it as well. “You’ve another class to teach?” he asked a little gruffly. If it had been up to him, he would’ve preferred Mairi to be with him at all times.
“Yeah. Let’s talk later after work?” She got to her feet as she spoke, gathering her things from the desk.
“Ne.”
“Bye.”
When their call ended, Damen said without looking back, “You can all pick up your jaws from the floor now, gentlemen. I’m not paying any of you six figures just to catch flies.”
“Y-yes, sir.” Everyone hastily pretended to be busy.
His mind went back to his wife as he stepped inside his private elevator while everyone else used the one next to it. She was worrying about something, Damen thought. And she didn’t want him to know about it. Why?
****
“Here she is,” Vilma Tanner declared softly as she came back into the living room, a sleeping baby in her arms.
Norah blinked back tears furiously as she watched her sister carefully place their grandniece in her father’s arms. Sometimes, she still worried over Mairi, wondering if her tenderhearted niece had made the right choice. Sometimes, she still wondered if she herself had done the right thing, raising Mairi on a diet of fairy tales that had Greek billionaires as heroes instead of princes on horseback.
But then there were instances like now, when she’d glimpse the love softening the hard planes of Damen Leventis’ face, and her worries faded. While the corporate tycoon might never lose his ruthless streak, Norah knew that same ruthlessness would be used to protect Damen’s family against all trouble.
And trouble, as it happened, was once again brewing just around the corner, if rumors were to be believed.
Damen pressed a feather-soft kiss on his little girl’s forehead, not wanting to accidentally wake Nala up. She was her mother through and through, except for her hair, which was dark like his. Three months had already passed since her birth and yet he was still awed by her.
His daughter.
His and Mairi’s.
A miracle of love he would cherish his entire life.
“I hope she didn’t give you any headache,” Damen murmured to Mairi’s aunts even though his attention remained firmly focused on the child he cradled in his arms.
“She didn’t ever cry,” Vilma said proudly.
“Which means she took after Mairi’s mother rather than us,” Norah admitted ruefully. “She was a well-behaved baby, the only one among us three.”
Taking a seat next to her nephew-in-law, Vilma exchanged glances with her sister, asking Norah silently if now was the right time to speak of their concerns.
Attuned to the sudden undercurrents in the room, Damen looked up. “What is it?”
“We have been hearing things,” Vilma confessed. “We’ve still been keeping track of your mother’s actions. Recently, we’ve heard reports about Esther frequently meeting with unsavory members of the press.”
Damen frowned. “Unsavory in the sense of…?”
“They specialize in hacking celebrities’ accounts then blackmail those same individuals. If they don’t think they can get away with it, they then auction off the information and the highest bidder gets to dish out the dirt before anyone else.”
Damen’s lips compressed at the news. If he had his way from the start, he would have taken everything away from his mother. Revenge wasn’t even his motivation. All he wanted was to ensure she could never do his wife harm.
But Mairi, the woman Esther had hurt the most, was also the one who had stopped him from doing anything. His wife had pleaded with him. ‘Let’s just put the past behind us,’ Mairi had told him.
And because he had wanted to please her, he had reluctantly promised to do as she said.
But now…
“Thank you for letting me know.”
Norah repressed a shiver. Although Damen’s voice was gentle, it had a cold note that boded ill for his own mother. “You won’t do anything drastic, won’t you, dear?”
“Absolutely.”
When Damen left, Nala in tow, Norah glanced at her sister anxiously. “He won’t go off the rails on his mother, would he?”
Vilma shrugged. “As long as he can keep our niece out of harm’s way, I don’t really care what he does to Esther Leventis. Too much power’s made that woman crazy. It’s time she’s taught a lesson.”
Chapter Three
“Do we have a deal then?” Leaning back against her chair, Esther Leventis raised a brow.
Irwin nodded. “It’s a deal of a lifetime. I’d be crazy to resist.”
“Just don’t take any foolish chances,” Esther cautioned the reporter with a frown. “Although my son has become completely asinine in his choice of women, he is not, unfortunately, as stupid in other matters.”
“I’ll take extra care, Mrs. Leventis.” Wetting his lips eagerly, he asked, “And the money?”
“Fifty percent of the promised sum has already been deposited to your account. If, by the time I fly to Florida, everything has gone to plan, then the other half will follow, plus a hefty bonus.”
Irwin’s eyes glittered with greed at the mention of additional payment. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. I got this covered,” he bragged. “Everyone wants to be a star in America these days. I’m betting some of the women I talk to won’t even have to be paid. All they want is their fifteen minutes of fame.”
“Exactly what I want to
hear.” When Esther came to her feet, Irwin hastily followed, knowing how the older woman disliked any sign of rudeness. A strange thing, considering what she had hatched against her own daughter-in-law. Then again, Irwin thought, that was the rich for you. Too much money had them wanting the craziest things.
****
When Mairi entered her last class for the day and saw who was in it, she was extremely tempted to turn around, run away, and never look back.
She didn’t really need the money, did she? If she quit now, Damen would even be overjoyed, and she wouldn’t ever have to admit to him what happened. It was a win-win situation.
But even as the panicky thoughts ran through her head, Mairi found herself slowly walking inside the room and climbing the teaching platform. Oh God, why did You have to make me care so much about principles?
Quitting was the easy way out, but all her life, she hadn’t ever taken that path. She wouldn’t start now.
The teacher’s table was positioned in one corner of the room, next to the white board. It took her a while to get the necessary things out of her bag, with her sprained and bandaged left wrist currently out of commission.
When done, she finally faced her class. One look was enough to tell Mairi these kids were the same with the earlier ones she had held. They definitely knew about her, and they distrusted her because of it, for whatever reason.
“Good afternoon, everyone.” Nervousness had her voice coming out in a squeal, and some of the kids snickered. Mortified, she cleared her throat several times before stammering, “Sorry about that.”
Hopeless, Leon thought. If she kept acting like she was afraid of the class, then it was only a matter of time before the bullies took over and she’d be done for.
Mairi started to introduce herself when she saw Leon stand up. Again, she couldn’t help noticing how good-looking he was, but it was mostly out of bemusement. He was an attractive guy, a very attractive one, in fact. So why did he insist on wasting time teasing her?
And why was he heading towards her?
Mairi’s face whitened as he came closer and closer, and she fought back a wave of dizziness.
He was going to make a scene. He was going to tell everyone they kissed. Her life was ruined—
