Page 58 of The Billionaire's Demand

She dropped her eyes, letting them go to where the little boy for whom she had shouldered a responsibility she should not have had to take on was innocently playing. A callous fate had imposed it on her.

‘I can’t abandon him,’ she said again. ‘Financially it’s hard, but I’m just about managing.’ She paused, glanced back at Leandros, then away again. ‘The...the reason I left Paris so abruptly...’ he could hear a sense of strain in her voice ‘...was that Maria’s mother, Agnetha, had phoned me in a panic. She’d had a letter from her landlord, raising her rent or threatening her with eviction. She was so upset and scared because it was beyond her means to find the extra money, and I knew I had to get back and help out.’

She drew breath and ploughed on.

‘I was already completely stretched financially, and I had to raid my savings, such as they are, to find the extra rent due. I made the decision that I could only stay afloat if I gave up my own apartment and moved in with Agnetha. It’s risky—because, as I said, I don’t want there ever to be any association between the widow of Damian Makris and a small child. It might start gossip, questions, speculation...and that might filter back to Jonas.’

She gave a wan smile. ‘Ironically, if he jumps to the same conclusion you did, it would keep Miki safer. Jonas would just think I’d cheated on Damian and had an affair with someone else and a secret baby. Of course he’d cut off my widow’s allowance instantly, but at least he wouldn’t get any suspicions about Miki’s true parentage.’

She fell silent again. Then spoke once more.

‘I’ve stopped sending him to the childminder, to save some money, and cut my own working hours down, so it’s only mornings. My income is less, but it was only going on the childminder anyway. This way I can bring in a little more money, and Agnetha can manage half a day looking after Miki—at least for now. I take over at lunchtime. As I say, we’re...we’re just about managing...even with the rent hike.’

Frustration bit in Leandros. ‘Eliana, you can’t go on like this! It just isn’t—’

A dozen terms for what it wasn’t rang in his head, but he only picked one of them.

‘Sustainable,’ he said heavily. ‘You can’t live like this.’

She gave a little shrug. ‘It’s the best I can manage,’ she said.

She took a breath and he felt, with a start, the lightest and briefest of touches on his wrist.

‘Leandros, I’m sorry that you’ve found out about all of this. And I’m sorry I just walked out on you as I did in Paris. But I just didn’t want you to get...well, involved, I guess. Sucked in.’

She got to her feet, looked down at him.

‘I’d better get Miki home—Ya-Ya will have his tea ready. Don’t...don’t come with me. There’s no point—truly.’

There was a sadness in her face that tugged at him.

‘I’ve made my life, Leandros—and it is what it is. But...’

She took a breath, and something changed in her eyes that tugged at him even more.

‘But I will always, always remember our time in Paris! I will treasure it dearly. I didn’t think I would—I thought, originally, it was simply something I owed you, because of how I’d treated you when I broke our engagement and became the faithless fiancée you’ve always—justifiably—considered me. I knew the depth of your bitterness...your contempt for me...and how could I disagree with it, after treating you as I had? But then... Well, all that changed, didn’t it? I don’t really know why—and I don’t deserve that it did. That you should have been so kind to me, like I said out on the balcony that evening. But I’m grateful...truly I am. So grateful for those wonderful days we had—’

She broke off, her face working suddenly, and then, as if with an immense effort of will, she cleared it. She bent down, in a sudden, swift gesture, and he felt her lips graze his cheek, as lightly as a feather.

Then she turned, headed towards Miki, crouched down beside him. He watched her speak to him, and saw the little boy nod, and let her pick up the bucket and spade. She took his hand, led him over to the buggy and settled him into it, and then wheeled it off towards the park’s exit.

She did not look back.

Eliana made it through the evening, but it was hard. Agonisingly hard. With all her heart she wished Leandros had not found her as he had. What could it achieve? Nothing—only the agony of seeing him again, having him physically so close to her again for that short space of time.

But he was gone again—as he must be. As he must stay.

Six years ago their lives had diverged, at her instigation. In Paris they had briefly—fleetingly—come together again. She felt her heart turn over. Just enough for her to know the truth about her own feelings. Just enough for her to taste, for that brief time, the happiness that might have been hers had she not made the choices she had six years ago.

But now that time in Paris—that oasis of what might have been—had gone as well. Their lives had diverged again—for ever. And, yet again, she must live with the consequences of her choices.

When Miki was in bed, and Agnetha had settled in her chair to watch her TV programmes, Eliana slipped from the apartment, saying she would get some fresh air, be back within the hour. Agnetha had made no remark about the visitor who had arrived on their doorstep, but Eliana had seen apprehension in her face. So she had given the woman the reassurance she knew she needed to.

‘Yes, Leandros is the man I went on holiday with,’ she said. That was how she’d explained it—nothing more. ‘We had a lovely time, but I won’t be seeing him again. My place is here, with you and Miki. You have my word.’

She heard what she had promised echoing again in her head as she caught a bus to take her to the seafront. She wanted to go there—to walk along the promenade as she had walked that evening with Leandros, after he had walked back into her life.

How much had changed.

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