Page 49 of Greek's Temporary "I Do"

‘Helena?’ Kate’s voice was almost a whisper.

‘I’m here.’

‘Were the Liassidis twins born unfeeling bastards or is it something they cultivated individually as they got older?’

Helena laughed in the way that Kate had always made her laugh, startled, deep and loving. Helena asked Kate about Borneo, promising to come and visit, also promising not to kiss any orangutans. And once the laughter had died down, Helena knew that it was time to say goodbye.

‘I’m going to make this right,’ she swore.

‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ Kate asked.

‘No, but I have to.’

‘I wish I could be there to hold your hand through it.’

‘I wish you could be too. Have a safe flight to Borneo.’

‘I will. Loves ya.’

‘Loves ya too,’ Helena replied.

After hanging up the phone, she wiped at the trails tears had left on her cheeks, some from heartache and some from laughter. She knew now with absolute certainty that she was doing the right thing.

Leo’s pulse raged in time with the whirring of the helicopter blades. The bottom had fallen out of his world the moment he’d seen the first headline. The intense speculation about why the brothers had swapped, who Leander had been caught kissing and who had Helena actually married made his head spin.

His first thought had been Helena. All his thoughts had been Helena.

He’d not been able to get her on the phone, so he’d called his assistant and had him send a security team to the villa. But the moment he’d hung up his phone had exploded with phone calls.

He blocked all unknown numbers, and then ignored calls from the Liassidis Shipping board. He could only imagine how terrified they were of stocks and share prices dropping. They probably were, but honestly? Leo couldn’t care less. All he could think about was Helena and making sure she was okay.

They landed about ten kilometres from the villa, unable to get closer because of the news helicopters crowding the airspace. The car Leo had arranged waited on the tarmac and as he slid into the dark, cool interior he pulled out his phone and selected a number he hadn’t used in years.

He probably should have thought more about this call, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that once he got his hands on Helena he wasn’t going to let her go. His world-renowned focus would be on her, only on her, for the rest of his life. So he needed to do this now.

The phone rang—and a part of him wanted it to keep on ringing. This entire conversation would be easier if he could just leave a message, but he owed it to his brother, owed it to himself, to face up to his responsibility. Only then could he finally move forward. Hopefully, with Helena by his side.

‘Naí?’

‘It’s me,’ Leo said.

The pause was so long that Leo had to force himself to relax the grip on his phone before he broke it into a million pieces. There was so much to say. Too much. But if he could at least say the most important thing...

‘I’m sorry,’ Leo said, his head hung in shame in the back of the car with no one to see. ‘I blamed you for so much. Too much. And I shouldn’t have.’

A breath was all Leo heard to let him know that his brother was still on the line. His silence was deserved, Leo had earned that, but at least Leander hadn’t ended the call.

‘I was...devastated when you chose the money,’ Leo admitted. ‘I tried to tell myself it was a complete shock to me. That you’d lied to me and that your betrayal was why I was devastated.’

‘Leo—’

‘Wait, please. I need to say this,’ Leo asked, desperate to say his piece. ‘The lie was mine, Leander. Because I told myself that I hadn’t seen that you were unhappy, that I didn’t know you would hate working at Liassidis Shipping, because I was so desperate to cling to our dream. So I pretended that I didn’t know, and that I couldn’t tell, that it wasn’t something you wanted,’ he confessed, the dark, furious guilt and anger lessening from telling the truth. ‘And I shouldn’t have. I’m your brother.’

‘Maláka, I worked damn hard to make sure you couldn’t tell. Give me credit for something,’ Leander said, sounding offended.

Against all hope, Leo barked a laugh, a flicker of love spreading throughout his chest.

‘You tried to reach out to me and I... I wasn’t ready,’ Leo tried to explain.

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