Not long enough had been on the tip of his tongue, when he felt an arm at his back, lending him strength and levelling him in the moment. Had she somehow sensed that he would need this?
‘Hello,’ Célia said, reaching out her free hand to greet Meredith, whose practised smile turned positively feline.
‘So you are the one who has tamed the notorious playboy.’
It was a phrase he knew that Célia had both heard and read many times, but to hear it from his mother, it cut him deep. Célia was so much more than that.
‘Célia d’Argent, Meredith...forgive me, I don’t know which name you’re going under these days. It wouldn’t still be Liordis,’ he said, the bitter humour lacing his tone enough to make both women momentarily pause. ‘And you never much seemed to care for your maiden name. Are you back to being Meredith Leda, or—’
‘Timone,’ she interrupted, clearly not caring for his words. ‘I’m going by Timone.’
‘But soon to be Fairchild, yeah?’ the brash Texan said, shouldering Meredith in a way that she must have been braced for otherwise she would have been sent flying. Loukis happily caught the flare of frustration before Meredith schooled her features and hooked her arm around her fiancé’s.
‘Just think, the two of us, engaged and on the brink of such happiness,’ Meredith said, not looking so much at Byron, but between Célia and Loukis.
He genuinely couldn’t tell whether her engagement with Fairchild was as fake as his own, but whether Byron himself knew that or not was another matter. As the large man engaged Célia in a conversation, he finally turned to take in his mother.
Her hair was still the same brilliant blonde he remembered from his childhood—whether by artifice or nature, he couldn’t tell. Faint lines around her eyes had escaped the pull of Botox he was sure had been used liberally across features that felt so devastatingly familiar. Seeing her in person was so much more...affecting than on the front page.
‘Meredith—’
‘Where is Annabelle?’ she asked, looking around as if she might be there.
‘Not here,’ he replied, viciously enjoying the look of frustration on her features. ‘Why are you?’ he demanded again.
‘I wanted to talk to you about dropping the custody case.’
He scoffed. Loud and low and he could have sworn he saw her flinch, but instead he believed the avarice he saw glinting in her eyes.
‘How much?’
‘How much what?’ she asked, her artificial confusion grating against the frayed edge of his nerves.
‘How much would it take to walk away? Five million. Ten?’ His tone spoke of boredom, all the while his pulse raged in his chest as she finally revealed her true intentions. He knew that this would be the way he could finally get rid of her. Because he would pay. He would pay whatever price she—
‘I don’t want your money, Loukis.’
‘You don’t need to play this game with me, Meredith. I know how this works, remember? I’ve been here before. What was it again? Twenty million for the divorce, and an extra ten if you left me behind?’
‘Is that what this is about? You want to punish me?’
‘No.’ Although his inner voice cried liar. Loukis kept his voice low and his words lethal.
‘I will not allow you to hurt Annabelle. I will do whatever it takes to ensure that she stays with me, safely and happily, because I love her and want the best for her.’
‘Then you will understand that I will do the same. Because I do love her, Loukis.’
You just don’t love me, he raged silently, cursing his own weakness.
She nodded to herself and turned, searching her fiancé out amongst the crowd from where Célia had guided him, summoning him to her as if by some previously agreed signal.
‘We’ll be leaving now.’
‘We’re in the middle of the damn sea, Meredith. But I should not be surprised to find that you already had your escape route planned. Leaving is something you are clearly very good at.’
She resisted the barbed comment, and as she waited for Byron, she took in Célia as well. Loukis felt even more alert, poised, ready to defend what was his against his own mother.
‘I’m pleased at least that you have her. The way you look at her...’ Meredith trailed off. ‘Was more than I ever looked at your father. But I do mean it. I want Annabelle with me and I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back.’