Page 184 of Love Among the Ruins
“That first day we met. I didn’t understand why he pleaded with me to not call the manager.”
Dominic had known all along. From that moment in the taverna, even before Ioannis assaulted her on the yacht. Dominic had known. He might not have known her, but he knewwhoshe was.
“But we sold it. We sold it right after the accident.” He paused as if he was waiting for the news to sink in.
There had been compensation for Jonas’ family, but his family were broken. They would never be whole again. There were some things which money could not buy, and nothing would bring Jonas back.
Nausea made her gut shrivel, her head dizzy, her breathing hard. He’d held back a huge secret, and she’d gone and fallen in love with him. If she’d known, she would never have gone near him. “Is that why you felt sorry for me? Why you offered me the job?”
He looked away, as if needing time to weigh his response. It was a few moments before he could face her again.
“I felt bad for you. When we met at the taverna, I was on my way out when Stefanos told me. That’s when I realized.”
“And, what?” This was the worst. Even discovering who her father was, a man who had played no part of her life, a man she’d never known until now, wasn’t so bad in comparison to this news.
She had feelings for Dominic, but now she’d discovered that she’d slept with the man who had been indirectly responsible for Jonas’ death. If it weren’t for him and his wretched family, the billionaires flaunting their wealth in their big fancy yachts, Jonas might still be alive today.
“Were you there?”
“What?”
“Were you there when it happened?”
“Yes.”
“And did you stop the party? Or did you and your family finish enjoying your canapes first?”
He clenched his eyes shut, gave a quick nod. “It wasn’t like that. We didn’t see it happen—”
“Lucky you. You were saved from that trauma, too.”
“The area was filled with people getting hysterical and then the police and emergency services arrived—”
“It ruined your party. How upsetting for you all.” She got up, her stomach turning queasy, her legs weak. There was only so much devastating news a person could take at any given time.
Dominic stood up, looking wretched. “Don’t go. We need to talk about this.”
“All this time you knew, and I had no idea. You felt sorry for me. That’s why you were so nice to me and you did so many things for me. You were trying to get over your guilt.” She waved her hand at him, halting him when he started to speak. “You might not have killed Jonas with your bare hands, but if you Steeles hadn’t been here, my boyfriend would still be alive.”
“That’s not how life works, Eleni. We don’t get a chance to rewind and go back and do things differently. I wish we could, and then you’d still have Jonas and we would have never met.”
“I wish we could, too, because I would never have let myself fall for you.”
His mouth fell open and she rushed away from him, not wanting to hear another word from him. “Don’t go. Eleni,don’t.”
“Would you have ever told me?” She stood by the door.
“I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time.”
She shook her head, a disbelieving snort coming from her. He’d had so many chances, so many moments when he could have come clean. It was only because she’d heard Helen that she and Dominic were having this conversation at all.
The man was a liar. She should never have trusted him.
