by Marian Tee
“Sure – and my name is not President. How many times do I have to tell you that?” he yelled back.
MJ hurried up her floor with a smile on her face.
When she reached her room, she grabbed a few extra pads from her table. On her way out, she bumped into Katya, who had a troubled expression on her face. When Katya saw her, she asked immediately, “Are you okay?”
“I am…why wouldn’t I be?” MJ asked, confused.
Katya looked at her face for one long moment. “You don’t know,” she said finally.
“No. I guess I don’t. What is it?”
Katya slowly handed her phone to MJ. The browser was on a Greek newspaper’s website, and the biggest photo on its homepage was of Helios at some club in Miami in a liplock with a Russian model. “W-what does the article say?” MJ whispered.
“I think you should talk about it with Helios first,” Katya said uneasily. “I don’t think it’s true—”
MJ looked at her friend pleadingly.
Katya exhaled. “It says that Helios has been out partying every night since he retired from bike racing.”
They heard the sound of heavy footsteps headed towards them at the end of Katya’s words. When they looked up, Helios was there, looking like he had run like hell to get to them.
Helios cursed silently when he saw MJ’s pale face. She had heard about it, too, then. He did not blame Katya Vlahos at all for telling her. She was only looking out for her friend, the same way his friends were looking out for him, with Yuri calling him right away the moment he heard about the news breaking out in Greek media.
When he looked at Katya, the other girl asked MJ, “Are you okay if I leave or do you want me here?”
MJ swallowed. “I’m…okay. You can go.” She talked without really hearing herself. It was like she was floating, and everything was happening to another MJ, not her. Just when things were starting to look right, this had to happen. She could almost hear James’ voice inside her head, taunting her. Do you really think you deserve to be happy? You don’t, MJ. You never did.
And James should know. He was a famous racer once. He knew how it felt to be loved by many. MJ didn’t, and maybe she was never meant to because she wasn’t the kind to be loved.
It was only when Helios started shaking her shoulders that she looked up and realized she was already in his arms.
“It’s not true,” Helios said fiercely. “That photo was taken years ago. I have no fucking idea why they’re lying about me all of a sudden, but it’s not true.”
She didn’t, couldn’t answer.
“I’m heading back to Greece tonight to figure out what’s going on. But I promise you, nothing in that stupid article is the truth. I’ve been in the club every night, MJ. I’ve got the CCTV footage to prove it—”
She said between dry lips, “But that could be faked.”
“Do you really think I’d go to such lengths to lie to you?” Helios demanded. “I wouldn’t—”
She whispered, “If you really loved me, you would.”
This time, Helios cursed out loud, realizing how neatly MJ had trapped him, probably even without planning to. “MJ, dammit, I swear to you, I haven’t even fucking left the school since we broke up, and that’s the goddamn truth. I love you – just you, and it will always be you. Can’t you make yourself believe that?”
Before she could answer, her own phone rang. She answered it unthinkingly and was surprised to hear it was Jack. She had come to know the other guy fairly well, with both of them into photography.
Helios stiffened when he heard MJ say another guy’s name. It was that asshole again. MJ had admitted to him long before that Jack was more Katya’s friend than hers, but he wasn’t buying it. He had seen the way Jack looked at MJ and knew the interest wasn’t platonic.
When he heard MJ citing a time and place to meet, he reached for her phone without thinking, snatching it out of her hand and ending the call.
“Helios!” MJ’s face was full of indignation.
So she would only say his name out of anger?
In one move, he had her against the wall, hands slamming on each side of her face like a cage. She tried to get away, but there was no escaping and they both knew it.
“Let me go,” MJ muttered.
“Why are you meeting up with that man?”
She looked away as she answered, “It’s none of your busi—”
“It is my business because I love you,” he growled.
“Do you really?” she asked tightly.
“What else do I have to do, dammit? I’ve bared my fucking heart a thousand times. I’ve let you trample on my pride a thousand times more. What else do you fucking need to believe that I love you?”
Tears slipped through her tightly squeezed eyes at his words. MJ knew what he said was true, and she also knew that not believing him was more her fault than his. “I don’t know,” she said finally, wearily. “Every time I want to believe you, something like this happens and I just don’t think…I don’t think I’m cut out for it.”
This time, when she pushed him off her, he let her, and somehow this terrified her. But she didn’t let her fear show, and only the quiver in her voice betrayed her emotions as she whispered, “I don’t think it’s you this time. I think it’s all me. You did your best to be normal, but you…can’t.”
“Stop talking,” Helios said between clenched teeth, his body tense for he already knew what she was about to say, and he didn’t want to hear it.
“You’re Helios Andreadis, and I’m me—”
“I said stop talking,” he roared.
“—and I don’t think I’ll ever be good enough for you.”
The words fell between them like the most fragile glass shattering in the ground, never to be pieced back together again.
A raw look crossed Helios’ face as he looked at MJ, making her cover her mouth because she knew any time now, she would start breaking down.
“Is that it? The first sign of trouble and you bail out? Is that what ‘normal’ fucking means?”
She shook her head, crying silently at the look of betrayal in his gaze. “It just won’t work. You deserve better—”
“No. Don’t do that. Don’t fucking say that. This time, let’s have it all fucking out in the open. You’re the one who wants me to change, and you’re the one who thinks I haven’t changed enough. So this?” Bitterness colored his voice. “You’re the one thinking I’m not good enough for you.”
Chapter Nine
It was only when everyone was settled in their seats in the common room of the Afxisi’s private jet that Kellion finally asked, “How did MJ take the news?”
Helios answered curtly, “She dumped me.”
Silence.
“Fuck.” Andreus was the first to speak. “Did you explain to her that the photo was taken years ago?”
“She doesn’t believe me.”
“You want me to talk to her?” Yuri offered.
Helios shook his head. “This is between the two of us. We’ll find a way to fix it.” And they would, he vowed. If he had more time, he would have forced MJ to stop being blind to the truth. She still loved him. He could feel it, even if she never spoke of it. He could see it in the way she looked at him when she thought he was busy with something else. Only a girl who was fucking in love would be able to gaze at a guy’s sleeping face (or at least someone who was pretending to be asleep) for hours without ending up sick of it. She did all the things a girl in love did except say the words.
MJ loved him, Helios told himself, and one way or another he’d find a way to make her trust him again. But for now, he had something equally important and serious to attend to, and the sooner he had things resolved here, the quicker he could go back to MJ’s side.
“Have you asked your contacts about this?” Helios asked Andreus.
Andreus nodded. “The news can be traced back to Herod.”
Helios was stunned. “My brother? We haven’t had anything to
do with him ever since that time he threatened Rick. Why the fuck would he suddenly butt into our business and make trouble for us like this?”
Andreus grimaced. “I don’t have any answers to that, unfortunately. It’s the only thing I’ve confirmed so far.”
Kellion rubbed his jaw. “Herod Andreadis might be an asshole, but he isn’t an idiot. I don’t see him doing something like this without a reason or a motive.” He glanced at Helios. “Do you?”
He didn’t, and that was what worried him.
It was already night when they arrived at Athens. When they got to their hotel, Helios excused himself immediately, wanting to make a call to MJ. It should be about three in the afternoon in Florida, which meant her classes had ended for the day.
Her phone rang several times, but his call remained unanswered.
Helios hesitated for one long moment before his worry got the better of him and he logged in to the private network that hosted the dorm’s CCTV system. He tapped on the camera assigned to MJ’s floor at the dorm, and there were no signs of movement.
He pressed rewind and watched intently, alert for any appearance of MJ – and got it a little after midnight.
MJ and Jack climbing the stairs to her floor, both of them soaking wet—
MJ talking to Jack in front of her door—
MJ looking up straight at the cam, looking up straight at him, it seemed, as if she wanted him to know that she knew what he was doing.
And then MJ allowing Jack inside her room – and the other man only leaving in the morning.
His phone crashed to the floor.
****
“Are you sure this is cool with your guy?” Jack asked as he stepped inside her room, shivering. They had been caught by an unexpected rainstorm on their way back home, and even though they had made a run for it, they had still ended up dripping wet.
“Uhh…” MJ was carefully unwrapping her SLR, which she had bundled up inside her sweater. She was okay with being sick because of being out in the rain. But her SLR being damaged was not okay since that meant expensive repairs that she couldn’t afford at the moment.
She sighed in relief when, upon trying the power switch, her SLR came to life right away. Thank God it was okay!
Jack suddenly appeared in front of her, making MJ almost jump back in surprise. “MJ?”
MJ blinked. “Sorry. You were saying?”
“Is it okay with your boyfriend that I’m in here?”
Was it okay? It was the exact thing she had wondered when she had caught sight of the CCTV camera and thought of Helios seeing her about to enter her room with another man. She hadn’t any idea what the right answer to that was then – and she still didn’t know it now. All she knew was that she should stop thinking that what Helios thought mattered. She had to move on. She had to. She wasn’t the kind of girl who could survive the drastic ups and downs of being a girlfriend to someone like Helios Andreadis. She just wanted something stable – something normal.
MJ said finally, “He’s not my boyfriend.”
If he wasn’t, Jack thought ruefully, then it shouldn’t have taken her so long to answer. But out loud, all he said was, “Well, whatever you call him or whatever he is to you then. Is it okay that I’m here with you?”
“He doesn’t have a say about it. Besides, it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong.” When she saw him give her a leering look, MJ rolled her eyes even as she smiled. “Stop it.” Peeking outside through her window, she said with a frown, “But I think you should stay here for the night. The weather’s crazy right now.”
While Jack went to change in the bathroom at the end of the hall, MJ busied herself by taking out a comforter and laying it on the floor. By the time Jack came back, pillows and blanket were already laid on top of it.
Jack whistled. “You’re like a Girl Scout.”
She shrugged, not wanting him to know that she had learned to be this way because she had been too afraid of displeasing James if she was anything less than neat and orderly in her room.
When they got to bed, she and Jack talked about the seminar they had attended in the afternoon and the kind of photos they planned to take using the new techniques they had learned. When Jack suddenly sat up, she thought it was to grab a glass of water because talking had made him thirsty.
But instead, he leaned down to kiss her on the lips.
MJ recovered a second too late. “No, Jack.” She pushed him, and he immediately moved away. The kiss left her body shaking. She had never thought Jack would do something like that. He was a friend. She only ever saw him as a friend. She was still trying to get over Helios, and it was the reason why they had gotten to know each other in the first place. Had he forgotten that?
“I’m sorry,” Jack said in a flat voice after a while. He was lying on his back on the comforter, one arm thrown over his head while he stared sightlessly at the ceiling.
MJ had a pillow over her head, and her voice was muffled when she answered, “I’m sorry if I led you on or something. I didn’t mean to.”
“You didn’t. It was wishful thinking on my part.” Jack paused. “But MJ?”
“Y-yeah?”
“I know about you wanting Helios to be a normal guy. And I’m being completely honest here – and not being a jealous vindictive jerk – Helios Andreadis can never be normal. It will be a daily routine to be involved in catfights, brawls, and scandals as long as you’re connected to him. If you really want a normal guy, how about dating me? I don’t think his pride will allow him to go after you if he knows you’re already going out with someone else.”
She said uncertainly, “It’s not that easy—”
Slowly, Jack lifted his hand and sought MJ’s. Twining his fingers with hers, he said, “It’s that easy. It’s really that easy – but maybe you just don’t want it to be.” And then he let her hand go, allowing her to think about whose hand she really wanted to hold.
Chapter Ten
Against the advice of his friends, Helios was alone when he walked inside the mansion he had lived in for several years with the rest of the Andreadis clan. This was a place he should call home, but he had never thought of it that way, not even from the very start.
Indifference was the only thing he felt as he gazed at the familiar surroundings, beautiful and elegant as they were. The vaulted ceilings, the marbled tiles, the priceless furniture all around him – if anything, every single bit of it only reminded him of the price one had to pay to be a part of the Andreadis clan.
His mother had not been willing to pay the price, even if it meant dying in poverty.
Fortunately, Helios, too, had realized the same thing in time.
Herod’s mother, Dahlia, was visibly surprised to see him when she came down the grand spiral staircase, dressed resplendently in pearls and silk. She was in her early fifties now, but Dahlia appeared two decades younger, no doubt thanks to expensive beauty treatments that only the Andreadis fortune could afford.
“Why are you here?” Dahlia stopped at one of the last few steps of the stairs, needing the additional height to be able to look down on Helios. Even dressed plainly as he was in a shirt and jeans, there was something godlike about him – and it wasn’t even because at six-foot-seven, he towered over most people.
No, with Helios Andreadis, the ability to wield power was natural, something he was born with and had no need of outside trappings to prove – unlike her son Herod. Her teeth snapped together at the thought, wishing for the thousandth time that Helios Andreadis had never existed.
She had always hated this boy in front of her, especially with his all-knowing eyes that were so much like his grandfather’s. She had never been able to fool the old man, and neither had she been able to fool his favorite grandson.
The hatred in Dahlia’s hard blue eyes was something he was long used to seeing. Once, he had thought she could be his second mother. But now he knew better. Once a gold-digging bitch, always a gold-digging bitch and Helios, being one of the things t
hat stood in her way of gaining near-complete control of the Andreadis fortune, was someone she thought better off dead.
Although Helios preferred not to have anything to do with Dahlia, courtesy prevented him from ignoring her and he said, “To pay a visit to my dear older brother.”
Dahlia stiffened. “Why do you want to talk to him?”
“Apparently, rumors about me partying in Miami have come out, and they’ve been traced back to my own estranged family as the source.”
Dahlia forced a laugh. “Impossible.” But when Helios started to walk away, seemingly intent on looking for her son, she had no choice but to call him back. “Wait!”
He didn’t stop moving.
“It wasn’t Herod, damn you! It was me!”
Helios stilled. He had a feeling that was the case. He just couldn’t see why Herod would try going against him another time when the past had made it clear his older brother was no match for him. “Why would you have such rumors spread?”
“How would I know you would care about such silly things? You were a lot worse when you were back here in Greece.”
Helios only looked at her, not at all distracted by her change of subject.
Flushing, Dahlia muttered, “There have been talks among the board members of having Herod replaced as chairman. I had to do something to make sure that they wouldn’t think you were better than him.”
“You could have just told them I don’t want anything to do with the company—”
A scornful laugh escaped Dahlia. “Do you think I’m such a fool that I’d believe that? Everyone wants more money, Helios. Everyone.”
Helios inclined his head. “Perhaps you’re right. I like the power that money gives me. But the thing is, I know how to earn my money. I prefer earning my money than having to steal and ruin other people’s lives for it.” His eyes turned steely. “Stop it with the rumors, Dahlia. This is your only warning. Don’t make me come back here again. If I do, it’s to take everything you own.”
She knew he was not making an idle threat, but she didn’t have a choice, either. “Why do you care what people here say about you anyway?” she cried out. “It’s just rumors, and when the board finishes with the voting for the next chairman, it will all be over.”