Husband By Request
Her face crumpled like a child’s. Those big brown eyes filled with tears. So many times throughout their lives he’d seen that look and it had brought out his protective instincts.
Andreas was aghast to think how long she’d managed to manipulate him and he’d never caught on.
“How come you never loved me?”
Her question was pathetic, sad, awful.
“How does anyone explain chemistry? It’s either there or it isn’t. The moment I met Dominique I fell in love with her. Madly, wildly, passionately in love. She transformed my life. That was it for me. She was the one.”
“She’s not worthy of you!”
“No one asked for your opinion. The fact that you refuse to accept her presence in my life has led you to the point where I’ve been forced to have this ugly confrontation with you.”
“Dominique’s not your type.”
“She’s my exact type!” he countered. “Within seconds my soul, my whole psyche, knew it.”
“No!” she cried out in anguish.
“Listen to yourself, Olympia. You’re a thirty-year-old woman with a baby. Yet you’re carrying on like a spoiled little girl having a temper tantrum. You need help—the kind I certainly can’t give you. I’m putting you on notice now. I won’t be available to you anymore. The relationship is over. Please don’t call or come near me or Dominique again.”
“You don’t really mean that—”
“Try me and I’ll instruct my attorney to have legal action taken against you. It’s the last thing I want to do, but you’re out of control.”
She shook her head in denial.
“My wife went to a psychiatrist after she left me. She got therapy to understand herself better. You have eyes and you can see what’s happened to her. She’s blossomed into the woman who was always there, but was insecure. You could benefit from therapy, Olympia. You’re a lovely-looking woman who has insecurities too. Theo left you with enough money to pay for some professional counseling. If I were you I’d seek it, starting tomorrow. Not only for yourself, but for the son you’re raising.”
“You talk as if I’m mentally ill.”
“There’s something wrong with a woman who claims to have been raped.”
Her features froze.
“I have proof it never happened, Olympia.”
“How do you dare say that to me?”
“This week my attorney went to a judge, who subpoenaed your hospital records. You were never admitted to the emergency room at Acropolis Hospital to be examined, as you claimed. There was no such record because you made up the whole story.”
“I didn’t go to that hospital. I went to a private clinic to keep things secret.”
“You know that’s not true. Your lies just keep compounding. I found that out when I phoned Theo.”
“He hates you. He would never talk to you.”
“You’re wrong. We were friends before you two met. I had a long talk with him about you. I learned firsthand about the hell you put him through. He never physically or emotionally abused you. It was the opposite in fact. For nine months you tormented him by telling him Ari was my baby. You were the one who drove him to charge us with adultery. There’s something wrong with a wife who lies to her husband about the paternity of the child he has every right to believe is his.”
“He got his wish.”
“Only after you extinguished any love he might have had for you. Something else I find unconscionable is the way you destroyed any hope of Paul and Maris getting together. He told me that clear back in high school you made certain the two of them never got together. All because you were sick with jealousy and frustration.”
Her teeth clenched. “I hated Paul for always hanging around you. He knew how I felt about you. I could tell he tried to keep us apart.”
“As I told you earlier, the chemistry wasn’t there, Olympia. Paul didn’t have anything to do with it, yet you hurt two people I loved very much. You knew Maris was crazy about him. How cruel was it to feed her lies, making her think Paul didn’t care for her?”
“He wasn’t good enough for her.”