by Marian Tee
After a beat, Willem nodded, saying, “In that case, it would be a pleasure to join you and Mrs. Sallis for dinner.”
A corner table had been reserved for the Greek billionaire, and with his guards and Willem’s combined creating a human wall, their privacy was instantly guaranteed while they waited for the Greek’s wife to join them.
“Congratulations, by the way,” Willem murmured as soon as the waiter finished serving them each a glass of wine. “I’ve heard from the news about your wife’s pregnancy.”
“Thank you.” The Greek’s pleasure in his wife’s condition was made evident by the brightness of his eyes. “It is a much welcomed blessing, and I find no shame in admitting that there are many nights when I still ask myself if the life I have now is real and not a dream.”
“Marriage has turned you into a romantic, apparently.” Willem’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Mykolas only shrugged. “Not marriage, my friend, but love. It is a clichéd thing to say, but it is the truth.” His tone was complacent. “You will know for yourself when you fall in love as well.”
“Of course.” Willem’s tone was polite.
Mykolas smiled. “You clearly do not believe me now, but—” He paused, his gaze drawn towards where their security was positioned.
A second later, and Mykolas Sallis came to his feet, the expression on the Greek’s face enough to tell Willem that his wife had arrived.
Willem stood as well, politely averting his gaze as the Greek billionaire proceeded to give his wife an extremely passionate kiss. Only when he heard the two talking and walking back to the table did he face them again, and he found Velvet Sallis even lovelier than her photos on the news. The tall, curvy redhead also carried her pregnancy well, radiantly beautiful in an empire-cut cotton dress that fell all the way to her ankles.
“Velvet, my love, this is Willem de Konigh, one of the owners of Mageia.” Mykolas’ smile turned warm and possessive as he glanced at his wife. “Willem, my wife, Velvet.”
Velvet offered her hand to the Dutch billionaire with a smile. “It’s nice to meet one of the world’s most-talked about and slippery bachelors,” she said with a charming lack of tact. “You are so unbelievably hard to catch, or so the ladies in my book club tell me.”
“I see.” Willem was hard-pressed not to laugh.
Mykolas sighed. “Forgive my wife, de Konigh,” he murmured while pulling out a chair for Velvet. “She has become more, err, refreshingly candid ever since she became heavy with child.” Once Velvet was comfortably settled, he and Willem took their seats as well.
Velvet leaned forward eagerly. “Tell me, Mr. de Konigh. Is it true that you’re about to marry your on-off girlfriend Shane?”
Mykolas winced. “I already asked him this, my dear.”
Willem rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “And now I realize that you only asked because of your wife.”
“Guilty as charged. You have been our topic of late since we arrived at Teleios and she found out about the de Konighs owning Mageia.” He changed the subject from there, hoping it would dissuade his wife from asking more questions. “Speaking of Mageia, I heard your family’s considering making the company public?”
It didn’t work.
Before the Dutch billionaire could answer, Velvet had already asked another question, one even more embarrassingly direct. “Don’t you think the younger sister, the one who works for you and who’s called Willem Jr. – don’t you think she’s a better match for you?”
Mykolas swore in his mind when he saw the Dutch billionaire’s eyes turning a frosty shade of blue. He was about to caution his wife from speaking her mind further, which not everyone would find inoffensive, but by then Willem had already answered in a clipped voice, “It is not like that between us.”
Velvet’s shoulders drooped. “I see.” Her large green eyes filled with tears.
Willem turned to the Greek billionaire incredulously. Was this for real? Was the woman actually crying over…him and – what? That he had nothing going on with Serenity?
Mykolas patently ignored the Dutch billionaire’s look, focusing instead on comforting his wife. “Ssh, sweetheart.” Uncaring of how the other patrons in the piano bar would react, he drew Velvet to his lap, and as she curled against him, he pressed a kiss on her forehead. “I told you, didn’t I?” His voice was gentle. “Not everyone can have what we have.”
“But I was really sure.” Velvet sniffed. “I really thought they made a good pair, but I guess you’re right.” She sniffed again.
“It’s not your fault he wants to marry someone like Shane Raleigh.”
“That’s true. Some men can be really blind.”
Willem said stiffly, “I can hear the two of you perfectly well, in case you have forgotten.”
Velvet looked at him with pity while her husband only gazed at him with silent warning. Upset my wife further, and it will be you against me.
While Willem was not at all frightened by the Greek billionaire’s threat, he was not at all interested in a fight where he didn’t have a bone to pick in the first place. “I am not marrying Shane Raleigh,” he said finally.
Willem privately hoped that his words would put an end to the discussion, but his hopes were quickly dashed when Velvet’s head jerked up, her eyes flying to him in excitement. “Then you are going to marry the younger sister?”
“No.” Willem was more exasperated than annoyed now. He knew, of course, that there were plenty of people in the world who considered the state of his love life more importantly than he did, but he had never thought he would actually come face to face with one of them, much less imagine that it would be someone like Velvet Sallis.
“I see.” Velvet was back in her seat, but her eyes were also swimming with tears. Again.
This time, Willem could not help it, and he told the Greek billionaire curtly, “I believe it would be better if I leave.”
He was about to stand up when he heard Velvet say, “Poor man. He doesn’t know what he’s losing.”
The words, intentionally or not, held too much truth in them. Something inside him exploded, and before he realized what he was doing, he had sat back down again and, leaning forward, gritted out at the Greek’s wife, “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Because you know what? Your husband may be fucking right. Not everyone can be as lucky as you two are.” His voice was soft and icy, and anyone who knew him well would have known it was a sure sign of Willem’s rarely glimpsed rage coming to the fore. “Not all of us has the fucking fortune to just meet the person they’re meant for and fall in love at first sight. I read the fucking papers, too, and yes, I fucking know that you and Sallis fell in love through fucking text messages.”
He paused and sucked his breath in sharply.
In front of him, Velvet stared at him wide-eyed, her lips parted in shock while her husband stared at him with an unreadable expression.
Willem supposed he had made himself an enemy for life in the past three minutes, but he realized he didn’t give a damn. Not only that, but he realized he was filled with rage, and it was anger at Velvet, for rubbing salt on his wounds, anger at Serenity for loving him when he had told her not to, and – most of all – he was angry at himself.
Velvet Sallis had asked him the questions no one had ever dared to ask, had told him the words no one would even think of saying, and now there was no longer any way to escape the truth.
A truth that no one knew, not even Shane or Serenity – a truth that he had tried to blind himself to all this time.
“I’ve known that girl ever since she was fourteen,” he heard himself say hoarsely. “She’s the most fragile person I’ve ever known, but the strongest as well. I’ve known her for years, and there wasn’t ever a spark between us. No moment where it felt like a bolt of lightning had struck me, and I would realize that I was in love with her all along.”
He met the couple’s gaze. “Not even when we made love.” His voice was toneless. “There was no su
ch moment, and when I realized that she loved me, I knew I had to leave. I knew she would hate me, thinking that I had left because I didn’t love her, but at least she could move on from there.” He dragged in another breath, a part of him dully realizing that there was something cathartic in the act of confessing the truth to strangers. He could not imagine himself exposing his weakness the way he was doing so now to his younger siblings. For the people who depended on him, he had to be strong and invincible.
But with Mykolas and Velvet Sallis, two people who did not and would never have to depend on him, the urge to reveal everything was impossible to deny.
He had to say what was inside his heart, if only to be sure he had done the right thing for Serenity.
“If she had known the truth, it would be worse,” he said hoarsely. “If she had known that I wanted to love her at that moment and I couldn’t—” He swallowed convulsively. “She would never stop blaming herself, would never learn to love herself. And I couldn’t bear that.” Slowly, he lowered his head. “So I left.”
Dimly, he heard the Greek billionaire’s wife sobbing, which he didn’t blame her at all for. He did have a rather sorry life, compared to what she had with her husband.
He closed his eyes, and pain crushed his heart into tiny pieces as he called into mind the last time he saw Serenity.
Please.
Please wait.
Please.
I don’t understand.
Please. Just tell me.
He remembered how savagely formal he had been, wanting to drive the point home, that from then on, she would no longer be his engel, the child he had watched grow up into the most beautiful girl in his eyes.
That’s the problem, Ms. Raleigh.
Not Sere, not engel, not even Serenity.
You thought I loved you.
“May I offer a word of advice, de Konigh?”
Willem forced himself to meet the other billionaire’s gaze. “If you think you have to.”
“I think I must,” Mykolas acknowledged grimly, “if only for your sake.”
“Proceed then,” Willem murmured ever so politely.
Mykolas glanced at his wife. For one moment, he remembered the agony he had felt when he realized how much he had wronged his wife. He remembered the crushing fear, thinking he had been too late and he would not be able to win her back again.
He would not wish that on his worst enemy, and although the Dutch billionaire was arrogant as hell, Willem de Konigh was not his enemy, and he definitely did not deserve to live in hell.
“My word of advice then, de Konigh.” He paused before saying with precision, “Idiot. You are an idiot for turning your back on the person who’s likely your other half.”
“Haven’t you heard what I said?” Willem hissed explosively under his breath. “It was nothing at all like what you had with your wife. It was nothing at all like anyone—”
“You don’t know anything about love, do you?”
If not for Velvet’s saddened voice, Willem would have probably felt offended. As such, he could only shake his head wearily. “You are an American, so you probably have not heard of my parents. But in their youth, they had been considered one of the most wildly romantic couples of their generation. You only have to read the numerous articles written about them in their time. All of it would say that my parents were very much in love.” Willem did not notice the way his voice filled with contempt at the last two words, but Velvet and her husband did, leading her to blink bemusedly while the Greek billionaire’s expression turned thoughtful.
Velvet was shaking her head back at the Dutch billionaire. “You’re right. I don’t know your parents. And maybe they were in love like you said. Obviously, I don’t know much about you, but I’m telling you right now, and I believe this with all my heart – you don’t know as much as you think you know about love.”
She looked at her husband in quiet appeal, and Mykolas, unable to refuse his wife anything, found himself doing something he had thought unimaginable for someone like him: dispensing love advice.
“I do know of your parents, de Konigh, and I am aware of their reputation—” He paused then said evenly, “Then and now.” When the Dutch billionaire’s jaw hardened, Mykolas knew his words had struck a raw nerve, just as he had intended.
Taking his wife’s hand under the table, Mykolas attempted to find the right words to best explain the feelings he had for the woman beside him. “It was instantaneous between Velvet and me. And based on your account, it had been the same thing for your parents. But it is not the only form of love that exists.” Tightening his hold on his wife’s hand, he said quietly, “If you ask me, I think you are the luckier one. You met the woman you were meant to be with at an earlier age. You had more years to spend with her, more years to love her. And yes, it might not have been instantaneous, but it doesn’t mean you didn’t – you don’t – love her. It could only mean that the love between the two of you grew gradually, but it doesn’t make the feelings any less powerful.” Mykolas’ voice became quiet and almost regretful as he voiced what he knew could be the Dutch billionaire’s greatest mistake. “It could be there was no spark – no bolt of lightning, no instantaneous attraction – simply because what you had was already more than it. What you and that girl had was love already at its deepest and purest form.”
****
Willem walked along the shorelines of Mageia’s private beach. Dawn broke overhead, its bright colors streaking the skies and clearing away the darkness. He walked and walked, blind to the beauty surrounding him, deaf to the sound of the serenade of the gently lapping waves of the sea.
He walked to escape the memories that wanted to break out of its cage, but it was impossible. They drove him to his knees, and when he was down, his head bowing at the weariness of his empty life, the cage holding his memories back broke down as well.
They surged into his mind, and suddenly she was all the billionaire could see, hear, and feel.
Serenity.
His Sere.
His engel.
He saw her at fourteen, wide-eyed and wary the first time they had met.
He saw her the first time they had met in her school, and he had come to accept that she was, for better or for worse, going to be a permanent fixture in his life.
Was that when it had started, Willem asked himself numbly.
Maybe. Maybe not. But what was clear now was that Mykolas Sallis was right.
It was love, still love, between him and Serenity.
Love at its deepest and purest form, and now that he realized how stupid and stubborn he had been, it became so damn clear.
Only two people who loved could understand each other with a mere look, a mere touch, without a single word being spoken.
Only two people in love could be so devoted to each other, with the way Serenity bowed to his every command, and he had sought to do everything to protect her.
He had loved her, and she had loved him.
But he had pushed her away.
He had hurt her.
In his arrogance and stupidity, he had treated her with abominable cruelty, thinking that by doing so, he was saving her from worse hurt.
How the hell would he ever make it up to her?
How the hell could he make her believe that he had not meant anything he said?
How the hell could he earn her love back?
Willem’s eyes slowly closed.
The sound of her sobs echoed in his mind.
Please. Please wait. Please tell me.
He had let her beg, had walked away even when she had crumpled to the floor in pain.
Pain ravaged his chest, and it felt like his ribs were about to collapse at the burden of his pain.
I’m sorry, Serenity.
I’m sorry, my love.
I’m sorry.
PART III
Eight months after Book 3
Routines had again come to Serenity’s rescue. As a freshman enrolled in the newly-opened Ath
ens campus of Christopoulos University, her days began to follow a pattern that she was quick to embrace. Her classes went from morning to noon, and after lunch, she proceeded to spend the afternoons at her part-time job. Weekends, she went home to stay with her friend Willow, who was now married to a Greek billionaire of her own, Stavros Manolis.
It was a very orderly life, and she liked it exactly that way.
It would have stayed that way, too, if only Anton wasn’t making her feel horrendous for constantly turning him down.
Anton was a sophomore in her book club, and he had befriended her on the first club meeting. He was of average height, and with equally average looks. Everything was average about him, and if Serenity was honest with herself, it was that very trait which had allowed her to relax her guard with the boy. He was ordinary, and in that sense, the very opposite of the Dutch billionaire she was slowly succeeding in forgetting. She had been pleased when he had offered her friendship and had not hesitated to offer hers back. In her innocence and sheer lack of experience with members of the opposite sex, Serenity had not realized until it was too late that a boy’s offer of friendship was frequently the first step to dating.
“How about I just walk you back to the dorm?” Anton asked as soon as the club president dismissed them for the day and everyone began to leave. He braced himself for rejection, but when Serenity visibly hesitated, he realized that, for whatever reason, he had a real chance now of getting the beautiful Serenity Raleigh to say yes.
“Just a walk,” he pressed, deliberately moving to block her way to the door. He knew he was being unfair. From the very start, Serenity’s innocence had been obvious, and eventually, he had found out that she had studied in an all-girls’ school her entire life. He knew he should give her space, but he just couldn’t do it. The moment he did, Anton was pretty sure some other guy – someone much cooler than he was – would snap her right up. No way in hell would he wait for that to happen.
Serenity chewed on her lip uncertainly. “Just a walk?”