Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
“I see.” Willem was hard-pressed not to laugh.
Mykolas sighed. “Forgive my wife, de Konigh,” he murmured while pulling out a chair for Velvet. “She has become more, err, refreshingly candid ever since she became heavy with child.” Once Velvet was comfortably settled, he and Willem took their seats as well.
Velvet leaned forward eagerly. “Tell me, Mr. de Konigh. Is it true that you’re about to marry your on-off girlfriend Shane?”
Mykolas winced. “I already asked him this, my dear.”
Willem rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “And now I realize that you only asked because of your wife.”
“Guilty as charged. You have been our topic of late since we arrived at Teleios and she found out about the de Konighs owning Mageia.” He changed the subject from there, hoping it would dissuade his wife from asking more questions. “Speaking of Mageia, I heard your family’s considering making the company public?”
It didn’t work.
Before the Dutch billionaire could answer, Velvet had already asked another question, one even more embarrassingly direct. “Don’t you think the younger sister, the one who works for you and who’s called Willem Jr. – don’t you think she’s a better match for you?”
Mykolas swore in his mind when he saw the Dutch billionaire’s eyes turning a frosty shade of blue. He was about to caution his wife from speaking her mind further, which not everyone would find inoffensive, but by then Willem had already answered in a clipped voice, “It is not like that between us.”
Velvet’s shoulders drooped. “I see.” Her large green eyes filled with tears.
Willem turned to the Greek billionaire incredulously. Was this for real? Was the woman actually crying over...him and – what? That he had nothing going on with Serenity?
Mykolas patently ignored the Dutch billionaire’s look, focusing instead on comforting his wife. “Ssh, sweetheart.” Uncaring of how the other patrons in the piano bar would react, he drew Velvet to his lap, and as she curled against him, he pressed a kiss on her forehead. “I told you, didn’t I?” His voice was gentle. “Not everyone can have what we have.”
“But I was really sure.” Velvet sniffed. “I really thought they made a good pair, but I guess you’re right.” She sniffed again.
“It’s not your fault he wants to marry someone like Shane Raleigh.”
“That’s true. Some men can be really blind.”
Willem said stiffly, “I can hear the two of you perfectly well, in case you have forgotten.”
Velvet looked at him with pity while her husband only gazed at him with silent warning. Upset my wife further, and it will be you against me.
While Willem was not at all frightened by the Greek billionaire’s threat, he was not at all interested in a fight where he didn’t have a bone to pick in the first place. “I am not marrying Shane Raleigh,” he said finally.
Willem privately hoped that his words would put an end to the discussion, but his hopes were quickly dashed when Velvet’s head jerked up, her eyes flying to him in excitement. “Then you are going to marry the younger sister?”
“No.” Willem was more exasperated than annoyed now. He knew, of course, that there were plenty of people in the world who considered the state of his love life more importantly than he did, but he had never thought he would actually come face to face with one of them, much less imagine that it would be someone like Velvet Sallis.
“I see.” Velvet was back in her seat, but her eyes were also swimming with tears. Again.
This time, Willem could not help it, and he told the Greek billionaire curtly, “I believe it would be better if I leave.”
He was about to stand up when he heard Velvet say, “Poor man. He doesn’t know what he’s losing.”
The words, intentionally or not, held too much truth in them. Something inside him exploded, and before he realized what he was doing, he had sat back down again and, leaning forward, gritted out at the Greek’s wife, “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Because you know what? Your husband may be fucking right. Not everyone can be as lucky as you two are.” His voice was soft and icy, and anyone who knew him well would have known it was a sure sign of Willem’s rarely glimpsed rage coming to the fore. “Not all of us has the fucking fortune to just meet the person they’re meant for and fall in love at first sight. I read the fucking papers, too, and yes, I fucking know that you and Sallis fell in love through fucking text messages.”
He paused and sucked his breath in sharply.
In front of him, Velvet stared at him wide-eyed, her lips parted in shock while her husband stared at him with an unreadable expression.
Willem supposed he had made himself an enemy for life in the past three minutes, but he realized he didn’t give a damn. Not only that, but he realized he was filled with rage, and it was anger at Velvet, for rubbing salt on his wounds, anger at Serenity for loving him when he had told her not to, and – most of all – he was angry at himself.