Page 37 of The Billionaire's Last-Minute Marriage
‘...and then I will ask you, Pandora, if you’re ready to take this man as your husband, and you, of course, say—’
‘No.’
She looked up from the anxious twist of her fingers and realised, by the number of eyes on them, that she had said it out loud.
She poised to apologise, to retract that tiny damning syllable. She didn’t want to let him down. Didn’t want to hurt him...or his reputation more than she already had.
But the words she knew she needed to say to smooth the moment over wouldn’t come and, with every passing second of awkward silence, she felt the tension tighten, suffocating her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
XANDERTOOKONElook at Pandora’s face and knew he couldn’t hold off on this conversation until after dinner, it needed to happen now.
She looked exhausted, he realised. A few loud bangs sounded out as a couple of waiters moved a table and he saw her wince. He fought the urge to growl at the men to leave, at everyone to leave. But he held back, politely asking the coordinator to empty out the marquee and give them some time to talk. It took a few torturous minutes to send away the team and waitstaff in the vicinity, a few minutes of watching Pandora shut down more and more with each second that passed.
Then suddenly, for what felt like the first time in weeks but was only a matter of days...they were alone.
Xander inhaled a deep breath, his mind wrangling the thoughts and feelings within him and pondering which combination of words might achieve the best result. Which magic phrase would allow him to let her go, to undo all the tangled wires of deceit and demands that had criss-crossed between them and at least have them parting on good terms.
But it was Pandora who spoke first.
‘I’m sorry, Xander. I thought I was fine.’ She half laughed sadly, a sound he found he didn’t like at all. Her voice was barely more than a whisper. ‘But then I saw my own face spread across a newspaper article.’
‘I didn’t approve any of the research performed on your family or you.’
‘I know, you would never do that.’ She met his eyes. ‘It’s not even about that... It’s just being in Japan alone, without you... I had a lot of time to think. I had some things I wanted to ask you, but we had no time alone and now all this is happening. It’s overwhelming.’
He’d seen it in her face, in the tense line of her shoulders. Even hearing her dismiss that cursed article as not being his fault made him angry. Of course it was his fault. Everything about her current situation had been caused by him or his family name, all of it.
He circled her wrist with his thumb and forefinger, the warmth of her skin sending a jolt of fire through him, but he let her go abruptly. He knew what he needed to do, knew that he couldn’t keep her trapped in this life when it wasn’t going to make her happy.
‘I had a meeting with Eros today.’
Her eyes met his, surprise and a tiny hint of fear glimmering in their grey depths.
‘There was no bloodshed. It was quite civil, actually. I...missed him.’
‘Xander, that’s wonderful,’ she breathed, emotion glimmering.
‘I realised how difficult I’ve been in the past, in refusing to change my opinions on certain things. Apparently, I can be quite stubborn.’ He raised one brow and saw her expression soften with amusement. Still, he felt as if he stood on the edge of one of those circus ladders, high above the ground. He needed to do this, needed to tell her the full truth of her options. She’d said she loved him once and he’d pushed it away like a fool. What he’d give to hear it again from her right now. But he couldn’t be selfish, he couldn’t hold her tight like a spoilt child; she was not an object for him to possess. She was not his wife in truth; she had been forced into the position. Now it was time to give her the choice she deserved.
‘Eros owns the company that we have been investigating for a while. Arcum. Apparently I wasn’t the only one gathering shares using a shadow company. If we were to join forces, with the considerable percentage of shares we hold between us, we can stage a complete takeover of Mytikas Holdings. We could take everything.’
‘And in doing so, you could bypass the terms of the will,’ she said softly, her eyes not quite meeting his as she chewed at her bottom lip.
‘I never had an interest in the rest of Zeus’s estate anyway. Just the company.’
‘Can you trust Eros?’
‘Yes... I think I can. After all these years, it’s become clear that Zeus deliberately kept us at each other’s throats.’
Pandora was silent as she nodded, and he allowed her a moment to process the words before he proceeded.
‘I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I know you don’t want all this, Pandora. The big society wedding, the newspaper articles, the circus that is my life. I know that I have been asking a lot of you from the beginning...’ He paused and ran a hand through his hair. ‘These past few days, I realised some things and I...’
‘You wanted to find a way out of all this,’ she finished for him.
‘Yes,’ he said, then frowned. ‘Not out of this entirely, just out of the part where I demanded that you be my wife for twelve months. Pandora... I think back to that night and I am so deeply ashamed at myself. At how heavy-handed I was, how I judged you and blamed you for everything. You deserved better from me and I can only hope you’ll come to forgive me. That’s why I’m setting you free from our deal. I will have divorce papers drawn up as soon as possible and you will still receive the financial settlement we agreed upon.’
