Page 24 of A Diamond Deal
Her words ground into his temples.
His whole life he’d made himself be honourable. Never deceitful, like his father. He kept his word.Always.And she’d abandoned him anyway. Just like his mother. She’d left him behind… A man trained to be…perfect.
He inched closer to her. Took the phone from her clenched fingertips. He turned the screen to her. ‘Do you know where this photograph was taken?’
‘Why would it matter where you took another woman to bed?’
Why did it matter that she knew? That he told her? He knew the answers, didn’t he?
Tonight, he’d tried to remove the last shred of softness inside him.
Hehadto become his father to prevent himself from feeling…pain.But the man he’d tried to kill tonight in Léon’s dining room, his soul still lingered inside him, seeking validation for the life he’d tried to end. That he was still needed.Was he?
His jaw firmed. The man he’d nurtured into adulthood after his mother’s death hung on by his fingernails, clawing at his flesh from the inside out, demanding he be calm—that he explain. And so he did.Roughly.
‘Hospital grounds are not my preference for foreplay.’
‘Why were you at a hospital withher?’
‘I was working.’ He shrugged. ‘The world did not stop turning because I was waiting for him to die.’
Her whole face frowned. ‘Who was dying?’
‘Thisphotograph was taken moments after my father was pronounced dead.’
She visibly shook herself. ‘Your dad’s dead?’
‘Yes, as you would have known if you’d waited to ask me why I was sitting on the terrace of a private hospital. But you didn’t ask, did you, Poppy? You didn’t wait for me to tell you she kissed me and I pushed her away.’
He turned off the screen and put it back into his pocket.
‘You were simply gone.’
Poppy reeled.
He’d never lied to her before. Even in the beginning, he’d told her the truth. It was the core of their connection. He was painfully honest. He hadn’t sugar-coated his surprise at the pregnancy. He’d told her the truth. He’d never wanted a baby.Still didn’t.But it was done. And he’d do his duty to her and the child.
Provide and protect.
He’d never made false promises.
It pummelled something in her chest. Her actions. She’d been so sure…
After the funeral, she’d been such a mess. Time had no meaning. Most of the time she hadn’t known what day it was. What season. But she’d known, with the clearest clarity, Konstantinos wasn’t there.
She was sick, and he was gone.
His absence grew more acute in her consciousness when the medication had eased the fog surrounding her every thought. It had become her obsession to find out exactly what he was doing when he didn’t come home. And why, when he did, he’d headed straight for the shower…
She’d needed help to do it.
She’d hired the private investigator.
A week later, the photos had been all she’d needed.
She hadn’t known it was a private hospital.
She’d never followed up with the PI.
