KAIROS STARED AT the society pages of a leading online fashion magazine, his breath hurtling through his chest and throat like a hurricane.
Valentina was laughing in this picture, standing in between her friend Nikolai and Ethan King—an American textile magnate whose burgeoning alliance with Conti Luxury Goods was all the rage in the news.
He’d known Leandro had been hunting for a new CEO for the board of CLG for months now. The initial prize he had promised Kairos himself. The prize Kairos had thought important enough to take Valentina on.
Thee mou, he’d been such an arrogant fool.
Leandro had stepped down himself after he had discovered he had a child with Alexis seven years ago. When Kairos had looked askance, he’d laughed and said that he would understand one day.
Luca had married Sophia, who headed her stepfather’s company Rossi’s. The playboy genius still did his own thing, as he had always done. He’d never had any interest in CLG except to thwart Kairos because Luca had assumed that Kairos would only hurt their sister. He’d been right.
Ethan King was a good choice. For the CLG board.
His gaze returned to her in the picture.
She’d fashioned her silky hair to fall over one side. A pink pantsuit made everything of her long legs. A thin chain glittered at her neck and disappeared into the neckline of her blouse.
Frantically, he clicked through more pictures to see if she’d kept the pendant he had bought for her. But he couldn’t spot it.
Christos! What was he doing?
Her arms around Nikolai and Ethan, her eyes glittering with laughter, she looked gorgeous.
She looked...happy.
Seven weeks since he’d last seen her. Since she’d told him defiantly that she’d finish her position before she left. Since he’d walked out of her life for good.
By the time he had returned from Germany, she’d been gone. Every trace of her removed from their bedroom, from the villa.
The first time she had left he’d been so angry.
This time, it felt like she had taken a part of him with her. As if she’d ripped him apart, never to be whole. Everything was so blank, so dull since he’d returned. As if all the color in the world had been leached out.
He’d been so sure that he’d done the right thing by her. For once, he’d put her happiness, her well-being before his. Before his own ambitions.
Somehow, he’d been getting through his days.
Until she’d sent him divorce papers.
Until suddenly, she’d exploded into the news again in true Valentina fashion. She’d partnered with Sophia to launch a full-service fashion boutique—for clients who had personal styling needs and a host of other services.
She had collaborated with major fashion brands to launch an online vlog in which she had models of different sizes showcase the latest creations from designer brands.
The camera loved Valentina. She was a natural.
The vlog had exploded within a week of launching, drawing more than a million hits on the internet and her business had taken off.
She’d already hosted a fashion show on a morning talk show to advertise her services. Stylish and sophisticated, she was already adored by the media. She had appeared in numerous TV style segments.
His heart in his throat, he clicked Play on a small news clip that had been recorded on another talk show.
“I always used to think my talent was useless. But then I learned that I was wasting my potential by denying myself the connections I did have. So I partnered with my sister-in-law and launched the boutique. It was she who gave me the idea. Sophia, for example, is an exceptional businesswoman but had always had problems dressing herself because she—” a fond laugh here “—she wasn’t as she says, ‘a giraffe with legs that go on forever.’ She’s curvy and sexy, and it was my pleasure to help her find clothes that showcased her body, to make her feel confident in her own shape.
“I love dressing people and now I can put my expertise into making someone else feel comfortable in their own skin. Be confident in themselves while they go out to capture the world. Everyone needs fashion advice...” She hesitated and then laughed—that husky full-bodied sound—when her brothers walked onto the stage in matching dark gray suits. She stood up and walked to them until they were both standing on her sides. “Even my handsome, powerful brothers, the legendary Conti men.”
Kairos closed his laptop hard. He had watched the same damn clip a hundred times.
Leandro and Luca had walked onto the show to give their support to their sister—a spectacular publicity move he was sure had been orchestrated by Sophia, to thrust Valentina’s fashion venture into the limelight. With their backing, with Sophia’s business acumen and Valentina’s own talent, he had no doubt her business would reach unprecedented heights.
She had found her place in the world.
He should be happy that she had taken his advice. That she had used what was at her disposal to fuel her dream, to launch her dream career.
He should be happy that he hadn’t...damaged her permanently.
But then Valentina had an unquenchable spirit, a fierce strength, a generous heart. She drew people to her wherever she went.
If not today, if not this month, if not this year, she would find that happily-ever-after that she so desperately wanted. Some man would see what a beautiful person she was, inside and out, and love her as she deserved.
Suddenly the picture of Ethan King and her laughing into the camera at some new nightclub he was launching flashed in his mind’s eye.
With a curse, he strolled to the bay windows.
Would Leandro go down that path again? Would Valentina let him find her a husband again? Or had she already found someone who did appreciate what an extraordinary woman she had grown into?
Had she finished with him already?
Bile rose through his throat at the thought of the man holding his wife, touching her, kissing her. At the thought of Valentina surrendering all that passion, surrendering her heart to another man.
A breeze ruffled the papers he had left on the side table. He should just sign the divorce papers and be done with her.
Give her whatever she wanted.
Release her from this marriage. Release himself from the grip she seemed to have on his heart. Be done with it.
He’d made the safe choice, for once in his life, so why couldn’t he just live with it? Why couldn’t he accept it and move on?
“Kairos?”
He turned around to see Maria standing at the door, wary and hesitant.
He frowned, wondering how long she’d been standing there. He’d mostly avoided her since the night of their anniversary party and she had let him.
“Does Theseus need something?”
“Oxhi. He’s resting.” She looked at her hands and then back up again. “I... I wish to speak to you. Do you have a few minutes for me?”
“Of course,” he said, forcing himself to move from his spot.
He watched her silently as she flitted around the room restlessly. As always, she was elegantly dressed in a dark sweater and neatly pressed white capri pants. Her nails had been done with that signature red color for as long as he could remember. Her hair had grayed considerably, still cut into a short bob.
Only now did he realize how much weight she had lost in the last year. She’d been tirelessly caring for Theseus for so many months now. Not to mention whatever hell Helena had put her through.
He poured out water from a jug and placed a glass for her on the side table.
“Is everything okay?” he prompted, her restlessness increasing his own anxiety.
“No. It is not.”
“What can I do to help?”
“You would help, Kairos, still?”
Something in her gaze made him uncomfortable. “Of course, I would, Maria. You have but to command me.”
A brittle laugh fell from her mouth. “Theseus is right. I am a foolish woman.”
He hardened himself against the emotion twisting his gut. It had to be about Helena, about all the decisions he’d been making about the company.
He could take whatever she threw at him, he reminded himself. He could take it and still stay standing. After all, Helena was her daughter and he was...an outsider.
Since the minute Theseus had decided he would adopt Kairos, Maria had welcomed him unflinchingly. She had only ever shown him kindness. And he would pay it back a million times over.
“Maria, whatever it is, you can say it to me without hesitation. I understand how hard this must be for you. And whatever you request for Helena, I promise I will try to do my best to accommodate it. I just can’t... I can’t let her be a part of the company anymore. Not if I have to do what’s best for the business. And for Theseus and you.”
She flicked another wary glance at his face and then away. Then she sat down and gestured for him to do the same. Her head down, she looked at her clasped fingers. When she looked up, there were tears in her eyes.
Tears that cut through his heart.
“He’s so angry with me. So angry. But it was the right thing to do,” she half muttered to herself.
Any walls he had erected against her crumbled at the sight of her tears. He took her hands in his. “Maria, what are you talking about?”
“Can you believe it...in fifty years of marriage, today is the first time he wouldn’t look at me. The first time he said he was disappointed in me. He is ashamed of me, and I deserve it.”
He sat back, shocked. “You and Theseus never fight.”
“I told him everything. Everything Helena ever did. Everything I shielded from him. Everything she...lied about. About the pregnancy. About the stock and the takeover. About...my part in it. About all the disgusting things she’d planned to do to discredit you in his eyes.”
“What?” Shock robbed his words. “Is...is Theseus okay? Thee mou, Maria! What would that accomplish except jeopardize his health? The last thing he needs just when he is finally recuperating is to learn that you—”
“That I betrayed him. That I betrayed everything he has always stood for.” All the hesitation was gone from her face. “That I treated you so horribly.”
“You didn’t. You...only ever showed me kindness.” He walked away, unable to look into her eyes. Unable to stop the dam within him from bursting. “Theseus brought me home, yes, but you welcomed me with open arms. You encouraged me when I thought I would never leave behind my dirty roots. You...gave me everything, Maria. More than I had a right to.”
“But I didn’t love you like I should love a son. When he told me that day that he wanted to raise you, that he had decided it, in true arrogant Theseus fashion—” laughter burst through the tears running down her cheeks “—that you were our son now, I promised him I would love you like one. That I would embrace you in every way. But I did not. I...was weak. I let my love for Helena blind me. She came so late into our lives...when I had given up on the idea of a child completely that I didn’t see how much I was spoiling her.”
“You don’t need to explain.”
“I do. I need to. I didn’t just let Theseus down, and you down. I let myself down, too.”
He felt her stand next to him, the subtle floral perfume she always wore twisting through him. His belly clenched, the scent of her enveloping him in kindness, filling him with longing. Filling him with an endless need for acceptance, for love.
His jaw clenched, a lump of emotion in his throat. “She is your daughter. I do not begrudge you your love for her. I never expected to be the same. Believe me, I understand. I...never expected more.” But he hadn’t been able to stop himself from wanting it anyway. From needing it.
“Oh, but it is your right to have everything, Kairos. It is your right to be loved unconditionally, not to be second to her. It is what I promised myself that day we brought you home with us. I’m sorry for forgetting that. You’re everything Theseus said you would be. You are not just his. You’re my son, too, and I am so sorry for...my actions.”
“Please—”
“Will you forgive me, Kairos? Will you forgive my foolish hope in thinking that she would change, for thinking she deserved one more chance every time? Will you forgive me for not loving you as I should have?”
She was openly sobbing now, and the sight of it broke his heart.
Kairos took her in his arms and she came with a soft cry. Tears pooled in his own eyes and he held them back by sheer will. “Shh... Maria. I cannot bear to see you like this. I forgive you. Of course, I forgive you.” His words rushed out of him, a jagged crack in his heart healing over.
A lightness he had never known filled his chest. “I... I’ve been fortunate enough to have two mothers, Maria. I never realized how fortunate I was. I... Please, calm yourself. I can’t bear to see you cry. I did everything to shield you and Theseus from her. I... She’s left me no other way to stop her. I never wanted anything that should have been hers. All I wanted was to make you and Theseus proud of me. All I wanted was...” He forced himself to speak the words he’d always denied himself. To acknowledge the need inside. To admit that loving Theseus and Maria had only made him stronger, not weaker, as he had always believed. “...your love.”
She wiped her tears and looked at up at him with sad eyes.
“I know, Kairos. I know you did more than a flesh-and-blood brother would have done for her. I know all the allowances you made for Helena. I know that, despite all the stupid games she played with you, you’ve never spoken a word against her to Theseus. You took your cue from me. You gave me even more loyalty and love than you gave Theseus. I didn’t realize that until he pointed out. Until he said we did have a child who loved us more than anything in the world. You don’t owe her anymore.
“There’s a certain freedom in letting go, isn’t there? She came to see me yesterday, you know. I told her in no uncertain terms that I would be part of her crazy schemes no more. Theseus told me about the trust fund idea you set up and you’ve been more generous than even he would have been. So let us hope this time she will truly change, ne?”
Kairos simply nodded, unable to form words. Unable to staunch the love that flowed within his veins. His world already felt different, lighter, brighter. He felt as if he were a new man, as if everything was possible now.
As if he could let himself—
“What is this?” Maria said, taking the sheaf of documents he had left on the table. “Divorce proceedings? You and Valentina are separating?” Shock punctured very word. “I thought she left because she missed her brothers. She promised Theseus she would see him for Christmas. She...”
He had no idea what she’d seen in his eyes before he looked away. “She left me even before I came back here, before Theseus’s heart attack.”
“You said it had just been a small misunderstanding. Why did you bring her here then? Oh...to tell us that you were already taken.” Her hand on his shoulder turned him. “Did she want to leave again when you’d accomplished everything?”
“No.” Even then, she had willed him to understand. Even then, she had given him another chance. Then another chance. What a heartless man he was to have turned her away! What a coward! “I sent her away.”
“And she went away dutifully? For some reason, that doesn’t suit her. Why did you send her away?”
“It was for her own good. I... Valentina...she’s like a storm that ravages everything in its path, in a good way. I... I have nothing to give her, Maria. She deserves better than a man like me.”
Something sad flitted in Maria’s eyes. She took his hands in hers, and the simple touch calmed the furor in his gut. But nothing could ever fill the void his wife had left in his life. In his heart.
“A more honorable, kinder man, Kairos? A man who could love her more than you already do? A man who needs her so desperately that he walks around like an empty shell?”
Something jerked in the deep crevices of his being. His denial froze on his lips. He could not lie. Not to her, and not to himself.
For he did love Valentina. With every breath in him. With every cell in his body.
He had fallen for her long before he had even understood what it meant.
“I rejected her one too many times. I starved her when all she’d needed was a kind word. I hurt her again and again until whatever she might have felt for me died. I don’t know how to love her, Maria. I don’t know if I can give her what she needs. I don’t know if I could bear it if she...if she stopped loving me. She would destroy me then.”
Maria enfolded her arms around him. It was a mother’s embrace, something he had longed for for so long, something he had needed for so long. The fear and anguish he had been fighting for weeks flooded him.
“Oh... Kairos. Trust yourself, trust the bond between you two. And trust her love for you.”
He nodded, hope unfurling within him. His wife had a generous heart. He had to trust his into her keeping. He had to take the biggest risk of his life if he wanted her.
And he did want her.
Pulling back from the hug, Maria laughed. “How about you and I make a pact? We shall be brave and beg for forgiveness from the ones we love, ne?”
He laughed at her suggestion, sobered at the wary glance she cast toward Theseus’s bedroom. He kissed her cheek, breathing in her scent one more time. Willing her to lend him a fraction of the courage she had.
“We will be brave in love, together,” he whispered.
She nodded, kissed both his cheeks. “You will not stay away for another seven years, will you, Kairos?”
“No, I won’t. This is not goodbye, Maria. Valentina and I will spend Christmas here.”
She nodded and hugged him again, and in her embrace, Kairos found the strength he needed.
The strength to love the woman who had stolen his heart a long time ago.