Page 26 of His Secretly Pregnant Cinderella

“The difference is that Alex’s opportunity to atone for them has been taken from him. The difference is, that his mistake killed him. Without giving him a second chance.”

“I’m so sorry...”

And it was true. She was sorry. Because he had been full of life and lovely, and even if she realized now that he was not the love of her life, she had loved him quite a bit.

“Tell me,” Constantine said. “About how you met.”

“You know how I met him.”

“Yes, I know how you met him but only in the way that I allowed myself to hear the story. I assumed that you wanted him only for his money. But the fact that you did not come chasing after a paycheck for carrying his child when you absolutely could have... It has made me question things, and I would like to relearn your relationship with him.”

“I really did just... I was so utterly charmed by him.” She looked out the window and watched the city fly by. “How could I not be? He came to the bar, and he seemed so entirely out of place. His suit was so much more expensive and cut so much more nicely than anyone else’s in there. But he wasn’t a snob. He was gregarious, and he bought rounds of drinks for people. And when he complimented me, it didn’t feel like he only wanted sex. It felt like he meant it. And I cannot tell you how... How rare that was. Men flirted with me all the time. Made overt passes, but it was different with him. He said he wanted to get to know me, and I swear to you that is what he did. He got to know me. He treated me with the utmost respect. He treated me as I had never been treated before. How could I be anything but in love with him?

“I didn’t discover that he was... Alex Kamaras, that Alex Kamaras, for a couple of weeks. I’m not connected to the social scene, and I confess I didn’t really know much of anything about him beyond seeing his name mentioned occasionally in entertainment round up articles. But I still wasn’t familiar enough to actually understand who he was. And once I did... It kind of scared me. I’m just a normal girl. I never expected to meet someone like him.”

It was true. All of it. But she left out the part where she came home to meet his family and met Constantine.

She had felt nothing but joyous warmth around Alex. And of course she thought he was handsome. He made her flutter when he smiled, he did that to every woman.

But she had met Constantine, and something had happened. Something she understood now was raw chemistry.

What was a crush with Alex, was utterly sexual with Constantine. And being a virgin, she had not fully understood that. And she had preferred the light happy feelings that she got from being near Alex.

“I find the story so hard to believe.”

“I know you do. And I even understand why. It must be difficult. Feeling as if everybody wants to use you for your money and power.”

She felt him go stiff beside her. It was as if a wall had been thrown up, and the emotion radiating from behind it was... It was intense.

“Yes. It is true. A family such as mine, older, carrying history that dates back as far as it does... We are targeted. The Kamaras family is nobility in Greece.”

“Yes,” she said. “I know. Because Alex took great delight in telling me that he was a count.”

“Indeed.”

“Though I imagine it’s the billions that really causes problems, the title just seems decorative.”

“In a fashion,” he agreed.

“I know it sounds silly to say that I know what it feels like. But I do. You see, I have nothing. Nothing to offer any man except...”

“Your beauty.”

She nodded. “Yes. I’m not rich, I’m not influential. I waited tables in a bar. And men saw me and thought that my body was a commodity. That is all any of them wanted from me. And the first man to not simply want that was Alex.”

“You know, he treated every other woman differently. He did simply want sex.”

“Yes, and I’m beginning to think he perhaps had an entirely different... Maybe he was different with me than he was with everyone else. It’s an attractive thing to tell myself anyway.”

“It’s true.”

And it made her feel... She didn’t really know. Happier, maybe. Or sadder. To know that the truth was she had been different for him. It was just that he had made a mistake.

Would she have forgiven him, if he had lived?

No. Not after what happened with Constantine. There was no question.

She would’ve lost him, more because of her own understanding about desire, than because of his betrayal.

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