are not thinking of yourself.” Which was something his plans counted on, so he wasn’t complaining. Merely observing.
“I’m not important in this.”
“You’d be surprised.” He asked, “Do you want your sister to maintain a directorial position with the company?”
He didn’t see Rhea happy as a homemaker and Chloe had stated her sister’s happiness was at the forefront of her priorities.
“She’s willing to step down completely, but is hoping you’ll keep her on in a managerial capacity. I’m hoping it will be a position with more normal hours and stress levels.” Chloe gave him a beseeching look. “Rhea’s smart. You know that. She’s got her MBA from Harvard. She has impressive contacts and if our father had stepped down five years ago, maybe the company wouldn’t be where it is today.”
Perhaps, but then again, perhaps not. Chloe was wholly unaware of Ariston’s moves behind the scenes and for now, he was content to keep it that way.
“She has more in common with your father than with you, Chloe, no matter what you’d like to think.”
Chloe surprised him by nodding in quick agreement. “But she’s not just like him, and for her sake as well as the people who love her, I don’t want to see Rhea become any more like Eber Dioletis than she is.”
“I think you are seeing a softness that isn’t there.” The woman had refused to leave her job despite the fact that the stress levels and long work hours had resulted in multiple miscarriages.
“No. It’s there. She cares about people. Samuel. Me. She saved my life.”
“What do you mean?”
Chloe looked away, an expression of shame flitting across her features. “It doesn’t matter—all that matters is that I’m here because she deserves for me to be.”
“And if you want me to listen to your pleas on her behalf, you’ll tell me why I should.”
“My reasons won’t matter to you.”
“I’ll be the judge of that, Chloe.”
“I stopped eating after I left Greece. Not on purpose, or anything, but food just didn’t appeal.”
“Why?”
Chloe shrugged. “Reaction to ending our marriage, I guess.”
“It was your choice.” But it certainly didn’t seem as if she’d enjoyed making it.
“Like I said before, some choices are harder than others.”
“And yet you made it.”
“I did.”
“But you stopped eating,” he prompted, wanting to understand how that could have gotten life-threatening.
Though looking at how thin she was two years on, maybe he already had his answer.
“Yes. I didn’t even really notice when I started losing weight. Rhea did and she went ballistic on me, insisting I see a nutritional counselor. She wanted me to go to the therapist, but relented when I changed my eating habits and gained back a bit of weight.”
“This is you after gaining some weight back?” he asked in shock. “How much had you lost?”
“More than I could afford and maintain my health.” The stubborn tilt to his ex-wife’s chin said she wasn’t going into more detail.
“What did your father think of all this?”
“I have no idea. Rhea respected my decision to cut ties with him.”
“Even though that must have caused problems between the two of them.”
“I’m sure it did, but Rhea never taxed me with it.”
“You’re very loyal to each other.”
“Yes.” Chloe’s eyes shone with unmistakable emotion.
He understood that sort of loyalty, probably better than most. He would do anything for his grandfather.
“You are saying you grieved the end of our marriage.”
“Of course I did.”
There was no of course, but they would get to that in due time.
“I find it hard to believe that you do not care if Dioletis Industries ceases to exist.” He knew Chloe wasn’t as enamored of the business as her father and sister, but no matter what she said, it was her heritage.
“As long as people stay employed? No.” Sincerity rang in Chloe’s voice. “One way or another, Dioletis Industries has taken more from me than I could afford to give.”
“What do you mean?” He was learning things about his ex-wife he’d had no clue about in the three years of their marriage.
“It always had all of my father’s attention. Though I truly believed he loved my mother, he neglected her. I was only eleven when she died, but I was old enough to have seen the impact my father’s priorities had on Mom. He hurt her time and again. And she always forgave him.”
“He hurt you, too, the daughter more interested in art than business, unlike Rhea,” he surmised.
Chloe nodded and then sighed. “That’s water under the bridge, just like my degree in fine arts. I’m really