Page 212 of In Love with a Cruel Billionaire

Damen turned ashen. "I'll find a way to make it easier for you to pretend until...until you forget you're pretending."

But Mairi only kept shaking her head. “I have to let you go—-”

Damen rasped out, “I don’t want you to let me go—-”

She cried out, “I have to!” Mairi’s gaze jerked towards him. “I’m not as weak as you think I am. I can survive without you, so you can stop feeling guilty, okay? I’m going to be fine.” She pressed a shaky hand to her tummy. “My baby and I will be fine. I’m going to be strong again—-”

“But I can’t.” Damen captured Mairi’s wrist when she tried to leave. He spun her around, forcing her to look at him. “Do you understand, Mairi?” he demanded, his voice made savage by the despair gnawing at him. “I’m the one who’s weak. I’m weak without you. I’m without hope, and I’m blind, deaf, dumb without you. So goddammit, take pity on me again.” His voice broke. “Please, take fucking pity on me and stay—-”

“I can’t.” Mairi wept hard at the way Damen was begging, every word causing more pieces of her heart to turn brittle. “I’m not the one you need—-”

“You are. You are, Mairi. The only thing I need.” Damen pressed something in her hands. “Read this,matakia mou.If you could just read this, maybe you’d understand...” Never had it felt harder to speak, the pain in his chest becoming more agonizing with every second that passed and Mairi’s desire to leave him didn’t seem to falter at all.

“Please.” The whispered word was the best he could do, the pain and fear of losing Mairi crippling. “Please...it’s all there. Please.”

Slowly, Mairi looked down at what Damen had given to her.

A book.

Fingers trembling, she flipped it around to see the cover, and another choked sob rushed out of her throat as she saw the title.

The Art of Catching a Greek Billionaire.

Oh God, oh God, oh God.

Slowly, she opened the book.

This is dedicated to my wife, a woman I was blessed to have found me.

She caught me all right, but in truth I couldn’t slow down enough for her to catch me.

Chapter 22

“IDON’T UNDERSTAND,” Mairi whispered.

Damen’s hands closed around hers. “Catch me. Keep me. Make me your Greek billionaire forever.” He started speaking fast. “The outcome of the voting? It doesn’t really matter. I borrowed money from Sallis and Manolis, and I used it to buy a company that I turned around on my own.”

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