Page 189 of Love Among the Ruins
“I wouldn’t trust too much what Alexander tells you.”
“You are making a mistake. The Galatis name means something here in this country.”
“People don’t know what I know.”
“Business is always without principles, Dominic. Men don’t get to where I am by being pure and good.” He stood up slowly, staring at Eleni as if he needed to imprint her face in his memory. Dominic wanted nothing more than to put his arm around her protectively, hug her close to him.
But he couldn’t. He had no claim on her. She hated him.
But still, he worried about her.
“Leave, Hector. Do the decent thing by Eleni now.”
Galatis looked at Eleni for a long time, something sad unfurling in those puffy eyes. “I was happy with your mother ... I just couldn’t…”
Dominic resisted the urge to stuff his fist down the man’s mouth. To shut him up. To stop him. But this was likely the last time Eleni would ever see him, and she seemed to want to listen to what he had to say.
“My mother is very happy, and in love. She has never talked about you, until recently, and even then it was to give me that gift you gave her. You occupy no space in my mother’s mind or heart. She doesn’t think of you.”
Galatis shuffled slowly towards the door looking like a man burdened. Whether it was by regret, or because of the choices he’d made, Dominic doubted that Eleni even cared to know.
“You are young and consumed by emotion, Dominic. My door is open to you. Come and see me when you are calmer.”
* * *
ELENI
Breath charged up her throat. Her heart thundered.
Lately, every visit to Dominic’s office was filled with so many life-changing moments.
He loved her.
That’s what he’d said.
Dominic, the man she was in love with had uttered the words she’d only dreamed of hearing.
“Why aren’t you doing the deal with Hector?”With my father.
The words didn’t feel right. Because they weren’t right. Hector Galatis would never be her father. He’d done the deed to help conceive her, but he had no more claim to her than any other random stranger.
If there was a love that lifted, a love that was bottomless and deep, a love that had the power to transform, it came from this man who stood before her, his eyes filled a steely determination as if he wanted to put things right.
“I can’t.” Dominic closed the door, and it was just the two of them now.
“Because of me?”
“Yes.”
She wouldn’t let him throw it all away just because of what Galatis had done. Dominic had worked for this. It had been painful watching him run around after the old man, and now Galatis sounded eager to sign off on the deal. She stepped towards Dominic. “You can’t let this go,” she pleaded. “Not now, not because of me.”
His eyes softened when he looked at her. He wasn’t as good at hiding his emotions. Not anymore. Or perhaps she was just better at reading him.
“It’s my choice. You don’t get a say in this, Eleni.”
“But I don’t care what he did. That’s in the past. That man will never be a part of my life, so why does it matter?”
“It matters to me.”
