Belinda Gibson is knee deep in debt and on the run from a loan shark who would do anything to get his hands on his money, even if it mean threatening her with the safety of her younger sister.
Just when Belinda loses all hopes of ever repaying this...
Stavros ran his hand over his brown hair as he paced. What the hell had he been thinking, looking at Belinda like that?
Had he suddenly been attracted to her, to that woman, after everything she and her family did to him?
Fuck, fuck, fuck it.
The phone in his pocket buzzed and Stavros answered it, placing it on his ear.
“Hello Boss,” the caller said.
“Get me a file on Belinda Gibson. I want to know what she has been up to. I want to know every single thing that had happened to her for the past seven years. Don't leave anything out.”
“As you wish.”
After the call ended, Stavros strolled to the floor length window where the light was streaming in from, and into the dark room and fisted his hands.
He was in the Rodriguez mansion. To be precise, his friend Bruce Rodriguez's bedroom. After he had left Belinda, he had come here to gather himself because the encounter with Belinda had left him shaken.
Seeing her again after all these years, simply talking to her, made him feel annoyingly good. He'd thought that when next he would see her, he would scorn at her. But to think that he had been worrying about the fact she might be working made Stavros realize he still liked the woman.
It was a glaring truth he couldn't bring himself to accept, for what man in his right senses would still want a woman who had treated him as she did.
'As I told you, I still feel nothing. I only wanted you for sex, even though I knew you were no good for me.' The memory of those words still engraved deep in his mind raked at his soul and Stavros gritted his teeth.
He didn't understand it. In the past, after he had left their employ. He had tried not to think about Belinda and had locked every feeling and emotions associated with her somewhere in his mind.
It had been difficult to do; however, he had succeeded in the end. But now, after seeing her for just once. All those feelings, memories, and emotions had returned as though they never left.
Was he that weak?
At that point, Stavros craved for some sort of liquor, but with the mood he was in, he didn't feel like leaving the room, so he plunged his fingers into his hair in frustration.
Restless, he went to sit on the only armchair in the room, and with expert fingers extricated his bow tie from his neck. Thrusting it to the carpeted floor.
For a fleeting second, he felt like the young man he was seven years ago.
That day, when he left the Gibson's mansion, he had sauntered into town looking for a new job. Stavros didn't have much, most of the properties in the cottage belonged to the Gibson's, but the little he did have he had packed it in the bag and went out on his quest. But every shop, every house, and every business he went to turned him away.
He ended up staying in an accommodation and with people he shouldn't have been consorting with on a normal day. It wasn't decent. Nonetheless still, he was full of high hopes and went out the day after day hoping he would secure a job soon, but he never did.
It was later, after so many trials, that he found out that someone had explicitly told them not to hire him. It took a lot of digging around to find out it was. And it was not other the Gibson family.
Being the richest around there. The Gibson's words were like the law around there. When they say something, people do it.
Money does talk, after all.
Stavros was devastated, and angry, and the Gibson's. They fired him on a whim, now they were meddling in his life. Because of them, he had already spent two-third of his savings on feeding and accommodation, thinking he was just having a round of bad luck, and would get a job soon. However, as the truth became as clear as sparkling water.
Finally, Stavros took whatever little money he had and left town.
Luckily, the first job he found was as a bellboy. Stripped of the luxury to act choosy, he accepted it in no time. Working his ass off for six months and saving heavily.
One day, he saved an old man from drowning in the pool. Later that evening, he was invited to the man's room for some appreciation. They had a little tête-à-tête, and it seemed the man liked what he saw about him.
They talked and soon they became close friends. The man was fond of him. Stavros visited him numerous times and kept him company while the man filled the space with the father figure he never had.
It was a mutual relationship which continued to blossom until the day the man had died. Involved in a fatal accident which took his life instantly.
Luckily, before he died, he had willed everything he had, his properties to Stavros since he had no other living relative. And that act of kindness, funds, and properties was what gave Stavros the means to rise and build into what he was now.
A billionaire. And from there he did meet his two friends Hugo Gonzalez and Bruce Rodriguez and life became better.
But not a day goes by without him thinking of the horrible way the Gibson's made him feel. And he had told himself that if he ever got the opportunity, he would exact his revenge on the Gibson family for using him, for meddling in his life like they were God. It was supposed to have been simple, but now he just found out he still had feelings for their daughter and, as funny and stupid as it may seem, he still wanted her by his side.
What did that say about him?
Sighing, Stavros went to the bathroom and splashed his face with some water. When he came out, he felt confident he had gotten some of his control back.
In this manner, he felt he could head back to the party without much trouble.
Two minutes later, Stavros joined his friends at their table where they were having a light conversation, but sadly, his mind was very far away and heavy with thoughts, so he didn't contribute much.
Somehow, he found himself watching Belinda as she went about serving the guests.
Her titian red hair was pulled away up in a messy bun, which accentuated her features. A few tendrils falling from the side and onto her face, which was bare and free of make-up, giving her a fresh, youthful look.
She was smiling as she served the guests. It was beautiful, and as Stavros watched her with the curiosity and air of one who hadn't seen someone in years, casually taking everything in with unusual interest. Occasionally, his eyes would drift up to her lips and linger there.
Unawares of what he had been doing until she turned her head and caught him looking at her.
He saw her stiffen. Saw the color which quickly rose and heightened her cheeks. Saw her lips quietly part as she drew in breath.
It was at this moment that Stavros lifted from his chair and started towards her purposefully.
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