Slowly, Stavros leaned down till they were at eye level and snarled, "I don't believe you."
Her eyes widened, are and she turned her face away.
"I don't believe you and I'm going to prove it to you." And before she could utter anything else, Stavros grasped her chin and kissed her with gentle possessiveness and then with ardor, unfanned, unrestrained. Making sure to pour all his feelings into that one kiss. It was a slow and heart-melting kiss.
And when at last he released her, he said, "I dare you to tell me that you do not love me and you only wanted me for sex?"
Belinda was panting for air, but at his statement, she flipped. "Dare?" her eyes sparkled and her chin came up. "As I told you, I feel nothing. Still feel nothing. I only felt lust. And I told you I want to stop this madness."
"I don't believe you," Stavros vented out in disbelief, but he was finally getting it into his thick skull.
That would mean she had sought him out, court his attention, only because she wanted him for sex!
"It isn't my business what you believe and what you don't believe."
Stavros gazed at her without saying a word. It wasn't just the fact that she had broken up with him that hurt. It was the fact that everything he ever believed they shared, everything he ever believed he knew, was a lie. At least for her.
He wasn't sure he could ever get over the feeling of being used for his body. It would have all been easier if she had been upfront like the rest. But no, she had to lie and cheat and make him fall in love. His lips curled in distaste.
She didn't only crush his heart but also his pride too. He rues the day he ever met her.
"You're despicable, do you know that? Just like your sister and the rest of them."
A horrified gasp escaped her lips. "How dare you? You don't get to put my sister in this equation. Who the hell do you think you are? You are the one who is despicable. What had you been hoping to achieve by doing that? Did it make you feel good?"
"For christ's sake, what in God's name are you talking about, Belinda." Stavros was truly exasperated, but he didn't think Belinda saw that.
For she was repeatedly hitting at his chest. Venting the words. "I hate you. I hate you." With passion in quick succession.
Stavros caught hold of her wrist and anchored her to his body. His dark eyes filled with anger. "Then you shouldn't have gotten close to me, and neither should you have wanted anything from me, not even my body," he spat.
She had stopped failing her hands and was looking at him with wide eyes and a look he did not understand.
Stavros ignored that.
"If you had done that," he gritted. "Then you wouldn't have been in so much regret." Stavros was so angry he wanted to shake her till her teeth rattled. Now she was quiet, acting all innocent, as though she hadn't said those words to him. God, he was so angry he was filled with the need to hurt her and he wasn't like that.
His hand tightened painfully on her arm. "Look—"
"What on earth is going on here?" The words erupted into the air like a whiplash. Stavros looked up and saw Belinda's mother, Elena Gibson, standing a few feet away from them with a certain look of displeasure written all over her face.
Immediately, Belinda saw her mother. She gasped and detached her hands from Stavros. Backing away from him and lowered her head.
"I said, what is going on here?" The woman repeated, albeit with more force than before.
Quietly and with a wave of seething anger that was yet to be calmed, Stavros watched as Elena closed the distance between them with a threatening frown on her face. The woman had a sort of unexplainable aura around her that seemed cold and insulting the moment she laid eyes on you.
Already, she was looking at him like he was dirt. Stavros took a deep breath and greeted her. Elena ignored him completely.
"What is going on here?" the woman turned to her daughter, who had somehow gotten herself back into her clothes.
"Nothing of importance, mum." Belinda grabbed her hand and pushed her forward. "Let's go."
Carefully Elena detached her daughter's hand and turned to Stavros, her eyes full of suspicion. "First of all, what are you doing here?"
Stavros hesitated. He tried to catch Belinda's eyes to know how to answer, but her head was lowered. He could understand why Belinda couldn't stand her ground in front of her mother. Just seeing the woman, he could almost imagine how overbearing she could be.
"I don't like to be kept waiting, young man."
With composure, Stavros answered carefully. "We fought and I was trying to get Bee to talk to me."
Immediately after he said that Belinda looked up at him sharply.
"Bee?" Elena muttered in distaste. "I had no idea the two of you were acquainted." She turned to Belinda. "Do. You. Know. This Man." The words were emphasized carefully.
Belinda looked from her mother to Stavros, and then to her mother again, and lowered her head. Shaking it. "Not personally,"
Stavros' heart sank at that.
"He...he is our father's gardener. Other than that I do not know him."
When Bee raised her face again, he caught her gaze, and she quickly averted her eyes.
The pain in Stavros' heart intensified. What had he been expecting? She had already made it clear he meant nothing to her. Hearing her say it was one thing, but having her prove it to him, Stavros couldn't explain how it made him feel. Or the pain that slashed at him at that.
"Darling," Elena cooed to her daughter. "Why don't you go inside? I will be with you shortly."
As soon as Belinda left. The woman, who was a replica and an older version of Dakota in looks and in height and with her classical brown hair, stepped closer to him and sneered,
"Now listen carefully to me, young man. I don't know what you think you were doing befriending my daughter. I know she might have said there was nothing between you two but i could sense it," she snapped. "Did you think being close to her will make her hand you out money? I don't know why boys like you find it hard to know where they belonged. In the gutter, and my daughter doesn't belong there with you. She deserves someone who would pamper her and cherish her, and you are not that man."
Hearing that, Stavros' face flashed with hurt, and his whole body stiffened.
Seeing that, Elena threw her head back and laughed. "Did you seriously think I will let you date my daughter? You gold digger. What can you offer her? And please don't tell me, love. Because it has no place in this conversation," she spat. "You don't deserve my daughter. It's as simple as that. Now let me give you a piece of advice, know your place and don't want for something you can't have! Such ambitions will only land you in big trouble."
Stavros flinched at her tone, but Elena didn't care. She continued to say all sort of horrible things to him that Stavros didn't know how he was able to stand there without retaliating.
Perhaps it was out of respect for the mother of the woman he loved. But he was so filled with so much resentment for the whole Gibson family. That the name Gibson tasted bitter in his mouth. And as he stood there he felt whatever self-esteem he had crash low until there was nothing left.
At last, when he felt like he couldn't take it anymore, he gritted out.
"Enough." That seemed to get her attention. But soon she was scowling at the idea that a lowly brat like him would dare snap at him. Stavros ignored her and with a tone that broached no argument, he said, "If that would be all ma'am. I think I should be on my way."
Without waiting for her response, he whirled around and left. Never before had he felt so humiliated and so ashamed. Stavros felt like the lowest of the low.
Elena had just made him feel like a very tiny ant. It hurt so much, he ached to be somewhere where he could be alone.
On returning to his cottage, Stavros slumped into his sofa and buried his head in his hands. Taking in a huge chunk of air greedily from his mouth.
But no matter how much he took, it seemed as though it wasn't enough. He didn't understand what was happening to him, but he knew he felt like shit.
Few minutes later there was a knock on the door. He asked the person to come in since he hadn't bolted the door. And because he hadn't the patience and wasn't in the state of mind to go see who it was. However, there was no movement from that end so he went over there and yanked the door open.
A uniformed maid was standing there.
Without a word, she handed him an envelope and hurried away.
There was no name on the envelope. Except for a simple stamp. Which he recognized as the Gibsons' family stamp.
With a frown, Stavros took the envelope inside.
Tearing it open, he fished out a letter and read it.
In the simplest terms, it stated that his services were no longer required in the mansion. And he was expected to leave before the sunset tomorrow.
Also, there was a line in the letter referring to a cheque. Stavros turned the envelope over and fished out the cheque, and the amount he saw there was enough to make his head swim. Never ever had he seen that amount of money in his life, nor handled one.
Returning his eyes to the letter, he read, "For your hard work."
"For your hard work," he repeated in distaste.
And with a fit of sudden anger he didn't know he was capable of, Stavros crumbled the cheque. They were buying him off.
First, they make him feel like shit, now they were buying him off. Removing him from the way. Like he was nothing. A tiny ant under their shoe.
Stavros didn't know what the connection was, but suddenly he remembered Belinda saying 'I could ask my father to write you a cheque. It will go a long way in helping you.' And then her mother calling him a gold digger.
Is that what they think he wants? Their money?
Not minding he had already crumpled the paper, he continued to squeeze it until veins popped out of his fist and his breathing became shallow.
How typical of rich people to act like they own the whole world. To look down their aristocratic nose at everyone. To do things without any thoughts of consequences.
Staring down at the crumpled paper in his hand. Stavros thought, one day...oh one day he would make them pay. He would let them have a taste of their own medicine.