“No, you’re not, are you?” The frown fell off his face. “Dóxa tō Theṓ.”

  “Don’t thank God. He had nothing to do with it.” She let the papers slide onto her lap. “If I’d told you this at the beginning, you would have dismissed it anyway.”

  “True.” He grimaced. “But then why not later?”

  “I… I…” She hadn’t wanted to hurt him. She hadn’t wanted to diminish any of the amazing accomplishments he’d achieved at Viper, although he didn’t belong there. Still, she didn’t want to confess this tenderness and give him another weapon in this war between them. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “It matters—”

  “What matters is how you found out.” Who could have told him? The only one she could think of was Haimon, yet she couldn’t imagine him seeking a meeting with this man standing in front of her—the old man was afraid of him and rightfully so. Plus, the agreement she’d signed with Rafe precluded him from searching for the old man. She didn’t trust this man before her, but she’d believed him when he’d stated he had no more use for her stepfather or her.

  “Well, that’s a bit of a story.” He shifted his weight to his other leg as if he were suddenly uncomfortable. “And according to you, I don’t have much time left to make my case.”

  Make his case for what? For her to run his company? There was no way she’d ever go back to Greece, much less work in a company that had Rafe’s presence stamped into its very being. But her curiosity kept her tied into the middle of this horrible conversation. “Tell me. I want to know.”

  He hesitated before stating with resignation, “I won the bid.”

  Blind rage wiped all her questions and confusion from her mind. That night, the memory of that night, blasted back into the core of her, dripping its toxic brew into her bloodstream. She still didn’t understand what all this meant and she still wanted to know how he found out about the money. But the searing memories of what this man had done wiped away her curiosity, replacing it with fury at his betrayal of their bond. “The bid you accused me of steal—”

  “Nai.” His hands went back into his pockets. “That bid.”

  She glared at him, the anger running so fierce and fiery inside she thought she’d turn into a burning fire. “Then you know I didn’t betray you.”

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  “Too late.” Tam slapped the papers onto the table. “I don’t want your company.”

  I don’t want you.

  The unspoken words hit him; she could tell when he flinched. This stupid connection between them, this stupid, wretched horrible way they saw into each other had to stop.

  “Your time is over.” She folded her arms in front of her in firm rejection. “I want you to leave.”

  “I tracked down Haimon.”

  Closing her eyes, she took his words in. He had broken another promise. “You told me you wouldn’t search for him.”

  “I wasn’t searching for Drakos as much as I was searching for answers.”

  So it had been Haimon who told him about her seed money. Why the old man would have confessed such a thing, she had no idea. Another one of his schemes, probably. “He told you.”

  “Nai.” A quiet, simple response that made her want to weep.

  “You believed him.” She squeezed the tears back. “Yet you never believe me.”

  “Theós, Tam.” His hoarse exhalation filled the room.

  She concentrated on swallowing her tears.

  “You’re right.” Rafe’s voice came at last, a rough, dark sound. “I have no excuse for that. None that’s worth anything.”

  A sad silence floated in the room.

  “Time for you to leave.” She kept her eyes shut so she wouldn’t have the image in her head of him closing the door between them for all time.

  “Maybe I believed Drakos because I had him cornered.” The words were tight and rushed.

  Rafe had got his wish. He’d found his enemy and quite likely Haimon was in some Greek jail. She hated her stepfather for what he’d done in the past, ruining this man who stood before her. Ruining his ability to trust and to love. She hated him for what he’d done to her a month ago. Making her choose once more, making her lose everything she’d dreamed of her entire life. However, she still didn’t want him dead or in jail. “I wish you’d let him go.”

  “I paid him off.”

  Her eyes shot open and she gaped at him. “You paid him off?”

  “I paid him the exact amount he gave you.” Rafe’s eyes gleamed. Shone with a light she hadn’t seen in ten long years. The light she’d written about in her teenage journal. The light she’d thought lost forever.

  Her mind went blank. “Gave me?”

  “Ten years ago.”

  The rush of the wind outside filled the silence with a hushed roar. She couldn’t understand any of this; it was all too much to take in. And more than anything else, what she saw in his eyes was too much. She wouldn’t let herself dream anymore. Not about this man. “You need to leave.”

  “I’m not done.” He shuffled his feet before planting them in a solid stance. The posture told her she’d have to physically throw him out. That wasn’t an option, though. She didn’t want to get near him and do something stupid.

  “You promised to leave after five minutes.” She wanted to strangle him for what he’d done and what he was doing now to her poor, broken heart. Instead, she grabbed her tea cup.

  “You promised to love me forever.” His gaze bore into hers. “We’ve both broken promises.”

  “I had a good reason.” She hung on to her anger, deciding to place the cup on the table rather than throwing it at him like she wanted. “But it doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “It matters a great deal.” His gaze didn’t drop, his feet didn’t shuffle. “Haimon told me why, Tammy. Why you broke it off with me years ago.”

  Stunned surprise slid through her. “No, he didn’t. He wouldn’t have.”

  Rafe stuck out two fingers, rubbing them together in the international sign of money. “He told me quite a few things.”

  “He told you, huh?” The old anguish, the anguish which had woven through most of her life, causing her endless despair, rose in a howl. “Did he tell you I had to make a choice between you and my brothers? Did he tell you he banned me from contacting you? Did he tell you the only way I could guarantee you had a future was by saying I didn’t love you to your face?”

  Her shrieked questions filled the room with her emotions. The drum of the rain on the roof served as a pounding refrain to the pain-filled words. Something hard and cold, like a knife’s blade, tore her inside.

  “Not all of it.” Rafe’s eyes blurred with tears. “However, you just told me the rest.”

  Tam wrapped her shaking arms around her, wanting to take the knife inside and stick it in his heart and then use it to cut the last threads of this horrible connection between them. This connection that had cost them both too much, hurt both of them too long. “Then you know there’s no need to give me your company. I did what I thought was best years ago.”

  “You also did what you thought was best a month ago.” Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back, despair written all over his face.

  She stared at him, surprised at the understanding running through his voice. Misery swelled inside. Maybe she should have told him, believed in him, yet she hadn’t. Now it was too late. “I wanted to tell you Haimon was lurking around, begging for money, but…but…”

  “You thought I wouldn’t believe you.” His head shot up, his eyes shot open and the ink black swirled with pain. “You would have been right.”

  Misery slinked away, replaced by the familiar fury sapping her soul. “You didn’t trust me, I could tell.”

  “Tammy—”

  “You still don’t trust me.”

  “Really?” Bending down, he swiped the papers from the coffee table. “I trust you enough to give my company to you.”

  “I don’t want it.” What she wanted to do was slip into her bed, pull the covers over her head, and never come back out. Closing her eyes against him, she leaned her head back, hoping he’d get the message this conversation was done; they were done.

  Her withdrawal filled the room with a stilted silence.

  “I have something else to give you,” he finally said.

  God help her. His gifts were like poison. Vicious, soul-destroying poison dripping into her resolve and contaminating her future. She kept her eyes closed. “I don’t want anything more from you. Other than I want you to go away.”

  “Look,” he demanded.

  The command should have shot steel down her spine. All she felt instead was weariness. She opened her eyes, ready inspect this last gift and then he’d go. He had to go.

  He slid another envelope onto the coffee table. “Open it.”

  She stared at it with dull horror.

  “Please, Tammy.”

  The plea again. And exactly as before, it jolted her into doing what he wanted.

  This letter, an acceptance letter, was simple to understand and impossible to believe.

  “You’re going to medical school?” She would have winced at her shrill cry, but she was too astounded to care.

  “Nai.” He stared at her, his gaze resolute. “So you see, I need someone to run the company. You.”

  The thought of her, Tamsin Drakos, taking over a multi-billion dollar company… “You’re being absurd.”

  “Am I?” A crooked smile twisted his mouth. “Then, let’s be absurd together.”

  Together. She stared at him in shock.

  “I’m sorry.” His words were simple, yet what shone from his black eyes wasn’t. It was profound. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you when we met again.”

  Sudden tears blinded her for a moment, the sweet words so surprising in their simplicity they caught her breath from her lungs.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were a virgin when we made love the first time.” He caressed the word love, stretched the vowel and highlighted the meaning so clearly, she couldn’t ignore his intent.

  She wouldn’t believe. She couldn’t believe. There wasn’t anything left in her to dream a dream about him.

  A stricken look crossed his face at her continued silence, but then he stiffened, his mouth tightening. “Can you say I’m sorry too?”

  “What?” She blinked, the tears clearing from her eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “Can you say, I’m sorry that ten years ago I didn’t trust you with the truth, Rafe?”

  A gurgle of regret choked her throat. Because he was right. If she’d told him, they’d have found a way. She would have still gone to London with the boys. She would have left a man behind who loved her, though, and would have waited for her. She shouldn’t have taken Haimon’s deal. Rafe and his family would have been strong enough to overcome on their own.

  He kept his gaze on her, a dogged look in his eyes. “Because I think if you can say that, then we can do anything, Tammy. Anything together.”

  No words came. The pain and memories and love were too full inside her.

  Rafe sighed and his shoulders slumped. Tam wanted to speak, she wanted to because she could see the defeat crossing his face. But she couldn’t force any words out; there was too much inside.

  “Okay, you won’t say you’re sorry, too.” He gazed at her, his face grave. “I’m still going to give you this last gift.”

  “Why did you build our house?” She still didn’t have all the pieces to believe. She still didn’t have all the courage to leap into his arms. She yearned to, yet she still bled inside.

  Shock filled his expression. “You must know.”

  “I don’t know anything.” The truth cut her. She loved him, yet she didn’t understand him.

  “Tammy.” His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed. “I built the house because I thought it was the only thing I’d ever have of you.”

  His confession wrenched the hard, cold knife to a stop inside her. The stark tone in his voice told her he was telling her the truth. She took it in, the words, the look in his eyes, the way he stood in front of her, completely open for the first time in ten years.

  “I built the house on the frantic hope that someday you’d walk back in my life.”

  “You hated me.” She pushed the accusation out.

  “I hated you because after you left, nothing was ever right.” He brushed his long fingers over his mouth, as if he were surprised at his words. “All my work, all my days, everything was merely a ghost of what my life should have been.”

  “Can still be,” she whispered. His dreams had died as surely as hers had. She saw the pain she felt in his gaze, heard the anguish in his voice that she held in hers. The knife slid out of her heart, disappearing in the mist of the past.

  His head jerked up and his expression turned intense. Whatever he saw on her face and in her eyes appeared to give him courage. “I don’t hate you, Tammy.”

  She held her breath.

  “I love you.” He kneeled in front of the futon. “I always have. I always will.”

  “I know.” The anger and fear and rage she’d felt for years, dropped away, leaving her feeling fresh and young and alive. Layers of grief slid from her heart and washed out of her life forever. “I know.”

  “If you know.” He gulped and reached into his pocket. A small, white satin jewelry box landed on the coffee table. “Will you marry me, Tamsin?”

  The crack at the end of his voice, the uncertainty in his gaze, made her heart sing. This arrogant, demanding man was willing to risk his pride to win her hand, even if apparently, he wasn’t sure of her heart. “Rafe.”

  “Accept me, Tam.” His gaze never wavered. “I’m not perfect, and I have a lot to make up for, but if you give me a chance, I’ll make you happy. I promise.”

  “You promise, huh?” She gifted him with a soft smile.

  Hope sprung onto his face. “A promise I’ll keep.”

  She stared at him, knowing he would. Believing, finally believing in her dreams again. “Rafe—”

  “I know you might need to think about this.” He grabbed the satin box and jerked it open, uncovering a dazzling, pear-shaped rose diamond. “But you can keep this with you until you decide.”

  “I’m not perfect either.”

  Her confession stopped his hands. His long fingers tightened on the box as he turned his head to look at her. What he saw made his eyes light. Light with the love she’d needed for years. “Tammy?”

  “I’m sorry, Rafe.” The words came now, flowing across her tongue like a long-released dam. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you with the truth years ago.”

  With a choked laugh, he grabbed her, yanking her to the floor with him. “Say it, Tam. Please say it.”

  “I love you.” She beamed at him, free of the past.

  His hands tightening on her arms, he kissed her. The taste of him, rich and warm and sweet, made her whole.

  He leaned back to stare at her. “Will you marry me, Tammy?”

  “Yes.” She smiled through her happy tears. “I will.”

  “Eláte.” His fingers plucked the ring from the satin box. “Give me your hand.”

  She slipped her hand into his one more time. And this time it was forever.

  Epilogue

  “Tamsin Cleary Vounó.”

  The announcer’s voice reverberated above the clapping crowd, filling the giant hall with his deep voice.

  Tam clutched the edge of her black gown as she crossed the stage. The Dean of Economics and Business smiled at her, his shaggy white hair bouncing as he nodded encouragement. Did she appear like she needed it? Was he worried she’d trip carrying her extra weight? Or perhaps her excitement appeared to be nerves.

  She wasn’t nervous.

  She was proud.

  Proud of what she’d achieved and proud of her extra weight.

  As the scroll proclaiming her degree slipped into her hands, she barely managed to stuff down the shriek of happiness. It had taken her eight long years to get to this point. Yet it had all been worth it.

  She had an MBA degree.

  Smiling one more time at the dean, she strutted off the stage. The feeling of accomplishment swirled inside her along with a heavy dose of relief. Finally, she’d be able to take over the rest of Rafe’s work so he could do what he was meant to do full-time.

  Finding her seat among the throng of fellow graduates, she turned her head, scanning the audience behind her.

  She couldn’t spot any of them. She knew they were there, though. Ready to celebrate her success.

  After seemingly endless minutes, the last of the graduates had their scrolls and Tam joined in the loud yell as all the students jumped and hugged and laughed. She’d made many friends during these past months, even if most of the students were younger than her by a dozen years. She’d miss many of them, but there were a chosen few she planned on adding to her team at the company. Her friends would now become her colleagues.

  Excitement bubbled inside her.

  Breaking away from the continued celebration, she edged around the crowd and scanned the audience once more. Most of the mothers and fathers had left their seats and were winding their way to their loved one.

  Where were they?

  “Tam.” A deep, loud voice had her turning to look in the opposite direction.

  There. There they were. Aarōn laughed and waved as he walked toward her. His voice was soon joined by an equally deep one.

  “You did it!” Isaák beamed his usual broad smile as he pushed his way through the last of the crowd separating them. His big shoulders crowded out the rest of her vision as he pulled her into a hug.

  His twin ambled over. “My turn, idiot.”

  Another powerful hug enveloped her. Tam smiled, all at once wistful. She still found herself amazed sometimes that her boys were now fully grown men. They both towered above her and teased her about the fact every time she saw them. Which wasn’t often. At twenty-one, they had far better things to do than hang out with a sister. Like getting their own degrees and chasing girls in their spare time.