Page 49 of Obsessed with Her

"In your case, no."

"I don't understand," I say.

"Serenity, Ares is a man in the full sense of the word. Besides that, he’s handsome and rich. He can have any woman he wants. Don't take this badly, but changing your relationship, even if it's to an ‘affair,’ as he called it during the flight, will bring a lot of confusion into his life. If he's overlooking that and investing in his desire for you anyway, it's because there's something more, even if he hasn't realized it yet."

"You are right. You're a romantic, and you're seeing a love story where there is only attraction, Debra. The man told me he has never been with anyone for more than a week."

"Then make him sweat. He's used to easy sex. Seduce him. Take him to a place he's never been before."

"How?"

"I can't answer that. Follow your intuition."

I look again at the device I'm holding. My heart is racing to the point where I feel it beating in my ear, so I touch the screen and click “send”.

Ares

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Three days before

NEW ORLEANS

The same nightthat I arrived with Serenity in New York, I needed to return to New Orleans.

I got a call from the hospital about Warren Van Lith, her old guardian. The old man was dying, and someone from his medical team contacted me, at his request, because it seemed the old man had no one else.

When I arrived at the hospital, I only needed to look at him to know that his case was terminal. I was with my paternal grandfather in his final moments, and he had the same farewell expression with which Serenity's former guardian looks at me now.

Seeing him on the verge of death, alone in a hospital, affected me more than I would like to admit.

He's a rich man, from what I can tell, and yet that didn't do him any good at the end of his life.

Invariably, my thoughts run to Serenity. She also doesn't have anyone other than Debra and JeAnne, and neither of them are family.

No, it will be different for her. Serenity is beautiful, young, and rich. She will find a man who will love her and with whom she will have an incredible future.

I feel a fucking ball lodge in my throat when I try to visualize this scenario. Instead of calming me down, it makes me feel even worse.

"I don't want her to know," Van Lith says weakly from the bed. "Tell her only after I go."

Even in his final moments, the man is the image of dignity. Even though he is weak and thin, with a slightly haggard look, he commands respect.

"The way you raised her, both you and JeAnne, shielding her from everything, is not the best way to prepare someone for life."

"In our own way, the nanny and I tried to meet the girl's needs."

I won't retort. There is no reason to argue with a man on his deathbed, although I think the opposite of what he is saying. Giving love to a child does not mean raising them in a rosy scenario where everything is perfect. Because, if my guess is right, they both failed miserably. Aside from dancing, Serenity is insecure about everything else.

"Why didn't you tell me the truth about the size of her fortune from the beginning?"

He gives me a weak smile. "I wanted you to be the man who would take over her guardianship. Even if there was no argument over the one percent ofGordonBank, eventually I would have to get another guardian for her. I knew I was running out of strength and wouldn't last long. I can only attribute it to fate that our paths crossed."

"Why me?"

"I didn't want you, personally. Any of the Kostanidou would have done. I know your family's reputation. I knew that if she remained in your care, she would not be taken advantage of. You are honorable, and you are Greeks. It is said that your people place a high value on family."

"Serenity is not my family."

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