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)
Velvet Sallis had asked him the questions no one had ever dared to ask, had told him the words no one would even think of saying, and now there was no longer any way to escape the truth.
A truth that no one knew, not even Shane or Serenity – a truth that he had tried to blind himself to all this time.
“I’ve known that girl ever since she was fourteen,” he heard himself say hoarsely. “She’s the most fragile person I’ve ever known, but the strongest as well. I’ve known her for years, and there wasn’t ever a spark between us. No moment where it felt like a bolt of lightning had struck me, and I would realize that I was in love with her all along.”
He met the couple’s gaze. “Not even when we made love.” His voice was toneless. “There was no such moment, and when I realized that she loved me, I knew I had to leave. I knew she would hate me, thinking that I had left because I didn’t love her, but at least she could move on from there.” He dragged in another breath, a part of him dully realizing that there was something cathartic in the act of confessing the truth to strangers. He could not imagine himself exposing his weakness the way he was doing so now to his younger siblings. For the people who depended on him, he had to be strong and invincible.
But with Mykolas and Velvet Sallis, two people who did not and would never have to depend on him, the urge to reveal everything was impossible to deny.
He had to say what was inside his heart, if only to be sure he had done the right thing for Serenity.
“If she had known the truth, it would be worse,” he said hoarsely. “If she had known that I wanted to love her at that moment and I couldn’t—-” He swallowed convulsively. “She would never stop blaming herself, would never learn to love herself. And I couldn’t bear that.” Slowly, he lowered his head. “So I left.”
Dimly, he heard the Greek billionaire’s wife sobbing, which he didn’t blame her at all for. He did have a rather sorry life, compared to what she had with her husband.
He closed his eyes, and pain crushed his heart into tiny pieces as he called into mind the last time he saw Serenity.
Please.
Please wait.
Please.
I don’t understand.
Please. Just tell me.
He remembered how savagely formal he had been, wanting to drive the point home, that from then on, she would no longer be his engel, the child he had watched grow up into the most beautiful girl in his eyes.
That’s the problem, Ms. Raleigh.
Not Sere, not engel, not even Serenity.
You thought I loved you.
“May I offer a word of advice, de Konigh?”
Willem forced himself to meet the other billionaire’s gaze. “If you think you have to.”
“I think I must,” Mykolas acknowledged grimly, “if only for your sake.”
“Proceed then,” Willem murmured ever so politely.
Mykolas glanced at his wife. For one moment, he remembered the agony he had felt when he realized how much he had wronged his wife. He remembered the crushing fear, thinking he had been too late and he would not be able to win her back again.
He would not wish that on his worst enemy, and although the Dutch billionaire was arrogant as hell, Willem de Konigh was not his enemy, and he definitely did not deserve to live in hell.
“My word of advice then, de Konigh.” He paused before saying with precision, “Idiot. You are an idiot for turning your back on the person who’s likely your other half.”
“Haven’t you heard what I said?” Willem hissed explosively under his breath. “It was nothing at all like what you had with your wife. It was nothing at all like anyone—-”
“You don’t know anything about love, do you?”
If not for Velvet’s saddened voice, Willem would have probably felt offended. As such, he could only shake his head wearily. “You are an American, so you probably have not heard of my parents. But in their youth, they had been considered one of the most wildly romantic couples of their generation. You only have to read the numerous articles written about them in their time. All of it would say that my parents were very much in love.” Willem did not notice the way his voice filled with contempt at the last two words, but Velvet and her husband did, leading her to blink bemusedly while the Greek billionaire’s expression turned thoughtful.
Velvet was shaking her head back at the Dutch billionaire. “You’re right. I don’t know your parents. And maybe they were in love like you said. Obviously, I don’t know much about you, but I’m telling you right now, and I believe this with all my heart – you don’t know as much as you think you know about love.”