Chapter 3

Dark, ominous clouds had gathered in the sky that had been a clear baby blue until now. Anna watched through the glass window of the cafe, where Eros had brought her after they had that very public altercation in the middle of her office's lounge.

Even the thought of half the things she had said out there, in front of all those people, brought a blush to her face. 'God! How is she supposed to go back there after this?'

'What are you thinking about that brings such a pink hue to your cheeks, glykia mou?' he asked, once he returned from ordering their drinks at the front and settled himself in the chair across from her.

"None of your business, Mr. Kozakis. Plus, you never cared what I was thinking about during our marriage! In fact, you were rarely there at all! I was more like an old song—forgotten and discarded somewhere in the backwaters, which you only took out and played to your tune when you had nothing better to do in your hi-fi, exciting city life. So why pretend to care now?" Anna hadn't planned on saying all that; in fact, she had decided to stay cold and aloof during this unfortunate meeting and deal with whatever bad news he had brought for her.

But like most things, she couldn't control the anger and bitterness that overwhelmed her when this man was near.

She looked up. Eros Kozakis had stiffened at the mention of their marriage and was grimly surveying the sky outside. "I didn't know you felt so neglected in our marriage... you should have said something to me, glykia mou."

"When?" she snapped. "When should I have said something? During those long nights when you stayed at your city apartment, leaving me alone in that giant mausoleum of a house to live my life alone? Or during the glitzy, glamorous parties you attended in Athens with those beautiful women, while I remained ALONE and miserable in your empty palace?!" Her anger had burst forth again, but this time it also brought forth one of the most painful memories of her life to the forefront. And Anna hated that!

She wanted to remember none of it.

"You really think I was enjoying that? Do you really think that I wanted to be separated from my young bride, so soon after our wedding?" This time Eros was looking straight at her, and Anna was shocked to find the amount of bitterness housed in those green eyes of his.

This revision maintains the raw emotion of the original text while improving readability and clarity.

"It was business! I needed to attend those parties to build new contacts, to revive and reassure the old ones. My father had just died, and I had to do my best to fill his shoes. And I don't know what the hell you're getting at with 'beautiful women.' Every time I went somewhere, I did so alone and I returned alone to the apartment."

"Oh, sure." Anna snorted under her breath. There were plenty of women, a new one every night, photographed with him—pictures that were published the next morning in the papers.

And then there was his mistress, the gorgeous American model Grace Anderson, who lived in his Athens apartment and swanned freely throughout the capital with him, while Eros wined and dined with her in the city's famous restaurants. 'Huh! So much for business!'

"While she used to cry herself to sleep every night in his empty home, so far away from the city." But this time Anna didn't say any of that. She suppressed the bitterness that was rearing its ugly head and forced herself to look cool and composed. "Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore," she shrugged, looking away.

"It's all in the past now. We have both moved on in our lives, and we don't need to rehash all those bad memories."

Eros didn't look very happy with that statement and was openly glaring at her as the waitress brought their coffees to the table.

"Was our marriage really so insignificant to you? That you mention it as a passing mistake and a bunch of bad memories? Was that all it was?"

'What else could it be but a mistake when her husband had taken a mistress within a few months of their wedding?' She wanted to shout at him for reminding her of all this, just when she had finally found some lasting peace in her life.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," she said instead, her stance tense and rigid.

And surprisingly enough, he nodded. "Very well, I was here only as a courtesy to warn you about an upcoming problem," he said grimly. His eyes had darkened to the point where they looked like two fathomless pits of darkness.

"What problem?" Suddenly, the anger drained from her, and trepidation took its place. 'This was it,' she thought. 'This was the moment he would finally reveal his real agenda for coming here.'

"Where is your brother, Anna?" he asked, with a grimace on his face. "Still in the States, or has he already flown the coop?"

"Of course, he's still in the States, b-but why are you asking about him?" A shiver ran down her spine as she watched the grimace on Eros's face turn into something much darker. 'God! What was going on?'

"Good," he nodded, looking at his watch. "As of now, the cops must be out looking for him already!"

"What?" It was more of a painful gasp than a word. "What are you talking about? Why the hell are cops looking for Daniel? What have you told them?"

Anna had wanted to kill him at that moment, or at least hurt him as badly as she was hurting. He had already destroyed her life, her career, and her self-confidence, and yet he wasn't leaving her alone! Now that she had nothing else to give, he was targeting her only remaining family—her brother, Daniel.

"Let me ask you something first, Anna," Eros Kozakis spoke calmly, his gaze sharp as a hawk's. "Where are your wedding and engagement rings?"

"I don't have time for this! Goddamn it! Tell me where my brother is and why you've called the cops on him?" She was practically shouting now, once again oblivious to the fact that they were attracting a lot of attention in the cafe.

"I will answer your question after you have answered mine. Anna, where are your rings?" He repeated, his tone over-patronizing, which infuriated her even more.

"They are in my safe, at home," she hissed, sick of the situation and sick of the man before her.

"Now tell me about Daniel..."

But instead of giving a straightforward reply, Eros began rummaging in the pocket of his black Armani suit. After a moment, he pulled something out and placed them on the wooden table in front of her.

The two rings fell onto the tabletop with a slight clunk, and Anna watched in shock. One was her engagement ring, a princess-cut 22-carat diamond encircled by a layer of small sapphires. The other was her wedding ring—a platinum band encrusted with a single diamond.

"H-How did you get them?"

"I had to buy them back from a pawn shop owner in Toronto," he said, his voice laden with venom that made Anna feel as if she should flinch with each word. "Can you imagine my shame when I received a call from this man in Toronto, informing me that my family heirlooms had been sold to him for a few paltry millions? That engagement ring belonged to my grandmother!" Now it was his turn to look accusingly at Anna.

She could do nothing but stare blankly back at him. "B-but how is that possible? They were in my safe. This couldn't have happened!"

"But it did, darling," Eros replied, the sarcasm in his voice cutting through the air. "All thanks to your amoral brother, who stole the rings from you and sold them to a pawn shop in Toronto... I have the proof too! Would you like to see the CCTV footage, my lovely wife?"

"B-but...but..." Tears welled up in her eyes, the sting of helpless anger making it difficult to speak as she struggled to come to terms with the fact that her brother could have betrayed her like this.

"Can you imagine my humiliation, having to retrieve a Kozakis heirloom from a cheap little shop, one that has been in my family for generations? I had to buy it back from that man for double its worth!"

"And you already know, glykia mou, that nobody crosses Eros Kozakis and gets away with it. Your brother is going to pay for this. I will make sure of that."