Page 43 of Christmas Baby with Her Ultra-Rich Boss

Instead of answering, he asked a question of his own. ‘Why did you and Mama take Theo’s side?’

His father sighed. ‘Tinos... We didn’t take sides. We couldn’t. You are both our sons.’

It was nothing he didn’t already know. Nothing that, in truth, needed explaining. But it had only been since hearing Lena so vehemently take his part that he’d realised how deeply his parents’ neutrality had affected him, that it bit to alternate Christmases and other significant events. That Theo and Cassia still enjoyed a close relationship with them.

His father gave another heavy sigh and reached for his hand to squeeze it. ‘Theodoros behaved terribly to you. I have never condoned it. If you had asked me to choose between the two of you, I would have been duty bound to choose you, and I thank you for not forcing that choice on us. I know it has been hard for you, but Tinos, it is time to let it go.’

‘Yes,’ he agreed, surprising them both. ‘It is.’

His father squeezed his hand again. ‘Cassia was never right for you. She would have made you unhappy.’

‘I know.’

That startled him. ‘You do?’

‘Yes. She is inherently selfish.’ Lena had shown him that simply by being Lena. Lena didn’t have a selfish bone in her body.

‘She is,’ his father agreed. ‘That is why she is better for your brother. They cancel each other’s selfishness out.’

A burst of unexpected laughter flew from Konstantinos’s mouth but it died quickly in his throat, caught by a burst of something else, something that swelled in a wave and ripped through him before he could find the presence to clamp it down and smother it.

There was nothing he could do to stop the great sobs from racking him but cover his face in a futile attempt to stem the tears and admit the truth to himself.

The coldness in his chest the Australian heat had failed to cure was caused by him severing himself from the only pure sunshine of his life. Lena. She washissun. His life had revolved around her since she’d walked into the meeting room for the interview and the sun’s rays had beamed through the window and cast her in gold.

He’d been too blind to recognise it.

He loved her. God help him, he’d fallen in love with her, and he’d driven her away and hurt her and turned the love she had for him into contempt.

A meaty arm slipped around his back and pulled him into an embrace that only made his sobs louder.

‘Whatever you have done to drive this Lena away, you can fix it,’ his father said quietly once the sobs had quietened. ‘I know you can.’

His father’s steadfast faith in him brought no consolation. His father didn’t know the depth of the pain he’d caused her.

He’d lost her. Lost his sun.

And it was all his own fault.

Lena was about to leave the hotel room when her phone rang.

‘Did you forget one?’ she asked, laughing. She’d not long finished a marathon early-morning video call with her family where they’d all opened their Christmas presents together, although this year she’d gotten them to open her presents for her. It was a tradition they’d formed when she’d first started working at the Ice Hotel. Her family had been disappointed when she’d told them they’d have to do the same this year—they’d thought that seeing as she was no longer working there, she’d be free to spend the day with them—but had understood the commitment she’d already made and wasn’t willing to rescind, no matter the personal cost.

But there was no answer.

‘Mum?’

Then she heard it. The sound of crying.

‘Mum?’ she repeated, alarmed. ‘What’s wrong? Is it Heidi?’

Her dad took the phone. ‘Sorry, love, your mum’s in shock. We all are.’

‘What’s happened?’

‘Your mum checked her banking app—you know what she’s like.’ Lena did know. Her mum checked their bank account each morning like most people checked their social media feeds. It didn’t surprise her in the least that she would do it on Christmas Day, too. ‘Well...’ Her dad cleared his throat. ‘At some point since she checked it yesterday morning, we’ve had a million pounds deposited into it.’

‘I’m sorry, what?’

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