Chapter 4

[Present day]

“Shall we?” he asked with a teasing smirk while stretching out his hand for her to take it.

“Of course,” she forced a smile.

They started the waltz. Regina felt uncomfortable under Giannis’s watchful gaze. He kept staring at her face with his mysterious and compelling black orbs.

“So, what brought you to New York? A billionaire like you in some random charity ball? It just doesn’t sit well with me,” she said.

“Well, what if I told you that you made me come all the way here?” He grinned.

“I pray that is not the case. I don’t want to believe that you have forgotten what happened between us. You also should know how I feel about being around you,” she snapped.

“I can also say the same, but here we are.”

Regina kept silent, and suddenly, Giannis asked, “How is Sylvia?”

“Why should you care?” She frowned.

“I do care. Sylvia is an amazing person.”

“She is fine. I imagine you wouldn’t know how famous she has become these days. After all, you’re too busy sleeping around with women of any race at all to notice anything else,” Regina spat.

As soon as she said that, she caught sight of her father watching them both with a strange expression on his face.

“Sleeping? Sorry to correct you, skinny dipper, but I don’t sleep with my women. I—”

“Oh, forgive my language. You screw them, but then I don’t see how that should concern me. Goodnight, Giannis,” Regina said, walking away from the ballroom as soon as the waltz ended.

Regina left for the snack bar. Luckily, no one else was there, so she helped herself to a slice of red velvet cake and a vanilla cake. She took the plates to an empty room and sat down with the door left slightly ajar.

Taking a bite of the vanilla cake, she moaned in delight when she heard someone cough from behind her.

If it was Tom or her father, they would have an issue with her eating such things. She turned around guiltily, ready for criticism, only to see Giannis standing there.

“Really? Can’t I have peace in my own hotel?” she snapped.

“Your hotel? I don’t think so. You are not even close to owning this place,” Giannis mocked.

“Well, my father’s hotel.”

“So this is what you do? Hide away and eat all this unhealthy stuff? You are very funny, Reg,” Giannis laughed.

“Can you just let me be? I have absolutely nothing to discuss with you. Whether I choose to eat cakes or not is absolutely none of your business.”

“Of course it isn’t, but that’s not why I’m here,” he said, taking his seat beside her.

Regina shifted uneasily and frowned before asking, “Why then are you here?”

“I just thought it should concern you if you knew about your doctor boyfriend banging his colleague.”

“Excuse me, what the hell did you just say?” Regina fumed.

“You should know how much I detest repeating myself,” he said, deadpan.

“Get the hell out of here, Seven! How dare you?” Regina rose to her feet.

She couldn’t understand why Seven was hell-bent on ruining her relationship. Why would he come all the way from his billion-dollar glory only to piss her off like that?

“Don’t you employ such a tone with me. I am only doing good for you by pointing out something so obvious. The fucker is cheating right under your nose. How—” Giannis was saying when Regina silenced him with a tight slap across the cheek.

“Don’t you dare! I don’t know why you have made it your lifetime responsibility to torment me, but I have no interest in playing your sick and dumb games,” Regina said before walking out on him.

His black orbs flashed with fury, and with their gold flecks, Regina was suddenly reminded of a jungle cat. Giannis was no longer the teenager she used to know, not at all. He was now an ultimate predator.

He was infamous for being a playboy with too much money and too much business sense. He played hard as much as he worked hard. Giannis had taken his family’s shipping empire to the next level and had even bought over several other companies.

Regina stared at his incredibly handsome face, slightly marred with a red palm print on the side of his face, and she felt terrible for getting that violent.

It wasn’t entirely her fault, though. After what Giannis had done to her in the past, he deserved much more than just a slap from her.

She could hear Giannis’s heavy footsteps behind her. “Reggie, listen. I was only trying to help you.”

“I don’t need your help, Seven!” she yelled, trying her best to walk faster in her four-inch heels.

They both heard muffled voices from a distance, and Giannis pulled Regina by the hand before shushing her by covering her mouth.

“Tom, baby, I’ve missed you so much. Why don’t you just make up an excuse for Reggie so we can just go home? Or better still, we could get busy here; I don’t mind,” a familiar voice purred.

Regina frowned at the sound of that voice. That definitely was Angela’s voice. Why would she want to go home with Tom?

“Behave yourself, Angela. I can’t do this with you right now. Reggie is here, and I won’t ever do anything that would expose our relationship,” Tom replied.

“Oh, come on, don’t tell me you don’t want all this,” Angela asked.

“You know how much I can’t resist that,” Tom replied, and from then on, sounds of gasps, shudders, and moans could be heard.

Regina felt her heart sink to the bottom of her stomach. Tom was cheating on her with Angela? Giannis was right, after all? How could Tom do that to her?

Regina attempted to make her presence known by confronting the passionate couple, but Giannis prevented her by holding her hand.

“You are so passionate,” Tom laughed.

“A great improvement from your impassioned statue, right?” Angela laughed.

“Don’t you dare insult her. Regina is the woman I love and will marry, I will not have you insulting her,” Tom snapped.

“Are you kidding me? What exactly do you like about her? She can’t even satisfy you. You don’t even get a chance to sleep with her because she’s such a block of ice!” Angela raised her voice.

“That’s enough. I’m heading back to the party. Don’t you ever talk about Regina like that. Meet me at our usual place at the party,” Tom said, and then they heard his footsteps retreat.

Angela waited a while before leaving as well. Regina didn’t protest when Giannis took her hand and led her back to the room where they came from.

Giannis locked the door and turned around to look at a shocked Regina. “Why aren’t you crying or making a scene?” he queried.

The Regina he knew from the past showed whatever feelings she had, no matter what, but the woman in front of him reminded him of a block of ice.

He had been getting a chilly feeling since he came close to her that evening. Was her cold and aloof nature a consequence of what had happened years ago?

She was extremely beautiful. Her face looked like the kind models and other celebrities went under the knife to get. Her red dress clung to her amazing body in a way that put him on guard.

He wasn’t supposed to find her attractive, not after what happened between them.

“Why should I cry? Because Tom is cheating with someone way older and beneath my class? What a joke; she isn’t even as pretty as I am or anything like that. I am just disappointed in myself. I can’t believe I was foolish enough to date such a scum like Tom. Why did you stop me? I need to embarrass him and that bitch. They need to feel the heat for messing with me,” Regina said, trying to sidestep him.

“Stop it, Reggie. This is a party with several important people present. What will you gain from making a scene?”

“You should know better than anyone else that you have lost the right to tell me what to do. Thanks for telling me about them, by the way,” Regina said before leaving the room.

She made her way back to the ballroom. Spotting Tom at the corner, discussing with an elderly couple, Regina walked up to him.

“Tom,” she called from behind him.

“Darling, I was just talking about you,” Tom said, smiling at her. His hair was styled perfectly, his lips were free of Angela’s deep red lipstick, and he looked nothing like a man who had just engaged in a passionate embrace with another woman.

Regina wasn’t thinking when her hand rose and collided with Tom’s cheek with a loud sound.

Gasps filled the room, and Tom held his cheek, wondering what exactly was wrong with his usually cold and uninterested girlfriend.

“That’s for cheating on me. I hope you and Angela rot in hell!” she yelled.

“What the hell? What’re you talking about?” Tom fumed.

The guests started murmuring, and within seconds, there was a commotion in the hall.

“Regina, what is this commotion about?” her father, Silas Sanders, asked. At sixty, he was a tall, handsome man whose face was now wrinkled due to his advanced age and workaholic lifestyle.

“Stay out of this, Father. This is just me dumping this scum of a boyfriend,” Regina replied.

“What?” both Silas and Tom gasped.

“Why are you doing this? I wasn’t cheating on you. I love you. How could I possibly cheat on the woman I love?” Tom queried.

“Let’s face it, this relationship was always more of what you could gain from my family. Now, I don’t think it’s working anymore. It’s over,” Regina said, taking off the ring Tom had given her for her birthday the previous year.

Camera shutters went off, and the paparazzi began taking photos of the drama in front of them.

Tom got on his knees and begged, “My love, don’t do this to us. Was it Giannis? Was he the one who put those silly ideas in your head?”

“You son of a bitch. You put yourself in this mess, you and that bitch over there,” Giannis said, pointing at Angela.

“I don’t have time for this. It’s over, excuse me, everyone. I apologize for the interruption,” Regina said and turned to walk out of the room.

“Stop! Stop!” Silas yelled and all of a sudden collapsed on the floor.

“Silas!” Sylvia yelled.

Regina turned in slow motion and saw her father lying unconscious on the floor.

“No, no,” Regina whispered.