Page 48 of Greek's Temporary "I Do"

Who Married Helena Hadden?

Liassidis Twin Deception!

With shaking hands, she’d scanned an online article written by a blogger who had intended to write an exposé on Californian homes owned by famous Greeks, but had instead stumbled onto an international scandal. He’d identified Leander by spotting him at his home when he’d expected him to be away on his honeymoon and then bribing an usher at a club to photograph Leander with Kate.

Her heart pounded in shock. She’d brought the weight of the world’s press down on her two best friends, on Leo; she had ruined everything. The guilt was so strong that it blotted out any delight that the two people she had always secretly thought perfect for each other had finally come together.

While reporters had gathered outside the villa, she’d had one harried phone call with her assistant in the UK, and several fraught conversations with the board of Incendia, taking full responsibility for the situation. It was her plan, her choices, that had led the people she cared for most to be caught up in this impossible scandal. All she’d wanted to do was to save Incendia. All she’d wanted to do was to prove that she could, that she was worthy to be CEO. That she was enough.

But maybe, just maybe, for once there was no fixing it.

It would devastate her to have brought shame to Incendia because of this scandal, but the loss of the money—the issue that would cause them to fail the financial review—that wasn’t on her. She had tried to fix it, but it wasn’t her fault.

And finally she was beginning to see what Leo had meant.

‘It needs to be enough for you, Helena.’

She had tried her hardest. And she had to be okay if that wasn’t enough. She had to be. Because her mother wasn’t going to suddenly be the person Helena wanted her to be. And as much as she could hope that her father would have been proud of her, she had to be proud of herself. And the only way she could still be proud of herself now was to be honest and to face up to the chaos that had happened when people she cared for had tried to help her.

She would put this right as best she could. And there was only one way she could do that. But first she needed to warn Kate what she was going to do.

She picked up the phone and saw missed calls from Leo. She wanted so much to reach out to him, to make sure he was okay. But she couldn’t. Not yet. He must be furious at the damage this would do to Liassidis Shipping. Helena could only hope that her plan would deflect as much negativity from him and his company as possible.

She hit call beneath Kate’s name on her phone screen.

‘Kate?’ she asked when the call connected.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Kate said, her words thick with emotion. ‘I’ve ruined everything.’

‘Don’t cry,’ Helena begged as her best friend’s sobs poured out of the phone. ‘Please, Kate, don’t cry. This is all on me. I begged you to find him when—’

‘You didn’t.’

‘I did. I was so wrapped up in my own problems that I ignored the signs that something was happening between you and sent you to him,’ she said, realising the truth as she said it. While Helena had hoped that both Leander and Kate would find the love that they so very much deserved, she’d ignored what was right in front of her in her desperation to make things right at Incendia.

‘Nothing was going on before the wedding, I swear. I never meant for anything to happen.’

‘I know you didn’t,’ Helena said, softly and honestly.

‘He’s coming back to you today, and—’

‘I can’t be married to Leander, not now. Tell him to stay in California. It’s a feeding frenzy here and it’s going to get worse before it gets better because I can’t do this any more. I’m calling a press conference. There have been so many secrets and lies and so many people hurt that I can’t do it any more. I need to tell the truth and—’

‘Helena, don’t! You’ll lose—’

‘I have to. I have to put things right. I’ve hurt so many people,’ Helena confessed, shame unspooling in her chest.

‘You haven’t. You tried so hard to do the right thing and it was for the best of reasons. I’m the one who’s screwed everything up.’

‘What happened was inevitable. You and Leander are meant to be together,’ Helena insisted, thinking of just how perfect they had looked together in the photos. How much in love they’d looked.

Kate’s silence on the other end of the phone reached out to Helena’s heart. ‘It’s over.’

‘Oh, my love, I’m sorry,’ Helena whispered, devastated that they were both feeling the same pain.

‘Oh, Helena. Did it happen for you too?’

Helena could barely confess, ‘Yes. And it’s over too.’ She tried so hard to hold back the tears—for herself, for Kate and Leander... They were her family and she had cost them greatly. ‘I wasn’t enough for him,’ she admitted, pain a slow anguish that tightened around her heart with every beat.

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