Page 188 of Love Among the Ruins
This was a surprise.
Galatis spluttered into his handkerchief.
Oh, Jesus. Dominic looked at his watch. He had important things to deal with. Galatis was in his past now.
“Your father can’t be happy with you,” Galatis challenged.
He wasn’t. Dominic didn’t stand to get his twenty-five per cent stake of the company, because he hadn’t proved himself. He wasn’t allowed to return to the US because Nikolaos wasn’t coming back to the company, and Dominic would have to stay there until a suitable replacement was found.
This wasn’t the hardship his father expected it to be. Dominic got to stay in Greece for longer, and while he was here, he planned to get his own deal going with a consortium of smaller companies. “I won’t do business with you, Hector. It goes against all of my principles.”
“Principles!” The old man barked. His face was unreadable, as if Dominic had compounded his misery and confusion tenfold. He was sure that few men had ever turned down the chance to do business with the so-called great man. “Principles do not matter as much as you think.”
“But they do, Hector. They do, to me. You had the audacity to tell me that behind every successful man is a strong woman. You told me you were a family man, that everything you did in your rag-to-riches story, was for them.”
“It was!” The old man’s eyes glittered with indignation.
“You are the worst example of a family man. You are the worst kind of man.”
Galatis’s mouth opened, his face turned red, and then, just as Dominic was worried he might erupt and explode, he said, “This is about the girl, isn’t it?”
Dominic lifted his chin, wishing this man all kinds of torture.
“It is true, then. She is who I think she is.”
Dominic bit down on his teeth, fighting for composure.
“I am a man of principle, Hector, and she is the woman I love.”
“You are stupid to stand by your principles.” The man slumped back in the chair. “You love ... my daughter?” he asked, apprehensively.
“She’s not your daughter. For that to be true would mean that you cherished her, that you wanted her in the first place and that you raised her. Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad. You are not that man.”
“Don’t ever call me your daughter.”
Eleni was in the room.
Dominic spun around. He’d had his back to the door, and now he felt the color drain from his face as he turned around. How long had she been here? How much had she heard? He’d been so wrapped up in dealing with the man’s coughing fit he hadn’t even heard her come in.
Galatis started to cough again, the dry cough quickly turning into a loud, chesty, coughing fit. Staring at Eleni, he handed the man the glass of water again, not taking his eyes off the woman who stood before him, in a smart summer dress.
God, how much he loved her in it. How much he loved her.
When the coughing stopped, he and Eleni were still looking at one another, their gazes locked, a lifetime of words unsaid between them.
Galatis turned his attention to Eleni. “Your mother …how is she?”
“My mother wants nothing to do with you, and you don’t deserve to even say her name.”
“But—”
“Stop. No more.” Dominic edged towards Eleni, as if he somehow needed to protect her from this man even now. “You should go, Hector. This is obviously taking a toll on your health.”
“The deal, Dominic. Don’t make a foolish mistake. We can do great things together.”
“I’m not, and we won’t. I’ll make sure The Steele Corporation never does business with you again.
“How will you? You have disappointed your father and your brother—”
