by Alex Ryder
Well, that was that, she thought with a taste of galling defeat. It was a complete waste of time talking to the man and trying to make him change his mind. And then of course all this was very relevant to her own situation. It raised a big question. A very big question. Question numéro uno in fact. Their eyes challenged each other over the table then she asked quietly, ‘Do these rules apply to the men of the family as well as the women?’
Her eyes searched his face as she waited for his answer. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for. A twitch of the mouth? A flash of guilt in the eyes? Some sign of discomfort? But there was nothing. Just blank indifference as he confirmed her fears. ‘Yes. We too have our obligations.’
‘I see…’ Her voice betrayed her with a slight tremble but she got it firmly under control. ‘So if by some remote chance you ever do happen to meet someone and…and fall in love you’d just do your best to ignore her, would you?’
His answer was quiet and devoid of any emotion and each word he uttered pierced her heart like a jagged splinter. ‘I could never permit myself to fall in love, Carrie. I’ve already told you, it’s an indulgence our family can’t afford.’
It was what she’d expected, but to hear him actually say it…She steadied her aching heart with a deep breath. ‘Well, I suppose that’s only fair. I mean…you’re the head of the family and it’s only right that you should set an example.’
He inclined his head; a strange, politely mocking gesture, it seemed to her. ‘Good. I’m glad that you finally understand.’
She swallowed painfully. ‘Oh, I understand everything now, Nikos. You’ve made your position perfectly clear to me. And mine. You don’t believe in pulling any punches, do you?’ She pushed her glass away and dabbed at her lips with her napkin. ‘Well, thanks for the meal and the lecture. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m feeling rather tired.’
He got to his feet, the candlelight arranging his features in yet another forbidding aspect of light and shadow. Only the green eyes remained the same, cold and remote. ‘You and I still have an arrangement,’ he reminded her quietly. ‘As you said, it’s back to square one.’
She looked up at him, her dulled eyes suddenly bright with resentment and defiance. ‘No. Not any longer, Nikos. Not while my brother is free. You can’t harm him now so you’ve no hold over me.’
‘No,’ he conceded with a thinly threatening smile. ‘But when we do find your brother—’
‘If you find him, you mean.’
He shrugged. ‘He’s bound to come back for you, is he not? Or are you telling me that he’s prepared to abandon his own sister?’
She got to her feet, all patience gone and rekindled anger giving her strength as she attempted to push her way past him.
He grabbed her arm. ‘Wait. I’ll get Sofia to take you back to your room.’
‘I’m not going back to my room,’ she snarled. ‘I’m going to the Miranda. I’m leaving here right now. I’ve had enough of you and your family. You can all roast in hell as far as I’m concerned. Now let go of my arm or I’ll scratch your eyes out.’
‘You’re going nowhere,’ he told her with grim certainty. ‘You’re staying here until I decide otherwise.’
‘Then you’ll have to lock me up the same way you did Jimmy.’
‘I will if necessary,’ he warned.
She let out a long explosive breath and glared at him venomously. ‘What good do you think it’ll do you keeping me here against my will? If you imagine for one minute that I’m ever going to let you take liberties again with my body then you can—’
His angry growl cut her short. ‘As for taking liberties with your body, that is entirely up to you, but whether Helen is returned here or not you are still the price your brother has to pay for his mistake.’ His hand suddenly reached up and cupped her chin possessively. ‘You’ll stay here no matter how long that takes so get used to the idea.’ Letting her go, he rang a bell, and when the servant appeared he said briskly, ‘Send Sofia here. Tell her that Carrie wishes to retire for the night. When you’ve done that tell Theo to order a guard on board the Miranda tonight.’
There was nothing she could do except stand there and stare at him in bleak and bitter frustration. As usual he had the whip hand and it was now obvious that he was getting ready to use it with a vengeance.
When she reached the privacy of the bedroom she sat on the edge of the bed and clenched her fists in total exasperation. Sofia rummaged around in the wardrobe then handed her a flimsy nightdress before breathlessly demanding to know what Nikos had said during the meal.
‘Don’t worry,’ she told the maid tiredly. ‘I didn’t tell him anything.’
There was a sigh of relief. ‘Good. Was…was he very angry?’
‘Oh, yes,’ she said grimly. ‘I’d say he was angry.’ He’d been lots of other things as well. Arrogant…despicable…cold…
Sofia looked at her uncomfortably. ‘Neither Jimmy nor Helen ever thought you’d be involved. What is Nikos going to do now? Is he going to let you go?’
Carrie looked up at the maid’s crumpled face and said, ‘Don’t worry about me, Sofia. I can look after myself.’ She hadn’t done a very good job of it up till now but things were about to change.
‘They…they were going to send Helen to America,’ Sofia said in quiet outrage. ‘She and Jimmy would never have seen one another again. She had to escape with him.’
Carrie took the maid’s hand and said gently, ‘I know, Sofia, I know. They did the right thing and I’m glad that you helped them.’
‘I…I don’t suppose I’ll ever see them again now,’ Sofia whispered brokenly. ‘Now that Helen is gone they won’t need me around here so 1 suppose they’ll just sack me. I…I don’t mind that so much but I’d like to see Helen and Jimmy just once more. To see them together at last and happy.’
Carrie squeezed Sofia’s hand in hers. ‘I’ve a feeling that you will. When Jimmy realises that I’m here he’ll come and get me.’ She bit her lip. ‘I just hope that he has the sense to marry Helen before he does.’
Sofia’s face brightened. ‘Of course! If they are man and wife there’s nothing the family can do about it.’ She gave an excited laugh. ‘Can you imagine the look on their faces if Helen arrived with a wedding-ring on her finger?’
Carrie blinked as the sudden idea flashed into her mind. Why should she wait for Jimmy to come here? That might take long enough. What was to stop her leaving here and going to join him? Nikos had put a guard on the Miranda but there were plenty of other boats in the harbour. Faster and more powerful boats. She could steal one. Sofia would help her. Could they do it tonight? she wondered. It was dark and moonless outside.
Caution prevailed. This would have to be planned properly. She’d have to find out what the routine was in the harbour. Choose the right boat and make sure there was enough fuel. It would have to be tomorrow night. She thought about it a little longer, allowing common sense to temper her initial rush of enthusiasm, but the more she thought about it, the more determined she became to thwart the plans of that dark tyrant who treated everyone as pawns on some infernal chessboard of his own devising.
She wondered if she should put the idea to Sofia right now then decided against it. Sofia would probably just lie awake all night full of nervous excitement. She might even do or say something inadvertently that would alert another, less trustworthy member of the staff.
Sofia fussed around for another ten minutes or so, reluctant to leave until Carrie succeeded in assuring her that there was nothing else she needed and that the bed was comfortable enough and that it wasn’t too warm and that if she needed her for anything at all during the night she would be sure to ring the bell which was connected to the servants’ quarters.
Alone at last, she stripped and donned the sheer silk nightdress then lay down on the bed and stretched over to switch off the bedside lamp. She doubted very much if she’d get any sleep tonight. It was too quiet here and she missed the gentle rocking motion of the
Miranda and the sound of water lapping and timbers creaking. And then there were the feelings of anger and guilt that kept her mind in a continual turmoil.
In another week’s time her biological clock might miss a beat and that would give her the first hint of whether she could be pregnant or not but there was no reason to suppose that the seed of Nikos Spirakis wasn’t gestating at this very moment in her womb. There was nothing she could do about it now but it should never have happened in the first place.
She should have guessed that Jimmy would manage to escape sooner or later and she should have waited and given him a fair chance. But no. Not her. How long had it taken her to give in? Six nights, that was all! The night after the storm. That was when she’d surrendered. The night after the storm when she’d foolishly believed that fate had drawn her and Nikos closer together. The night she’d managed to convince herself that he was beginning to respect and like her. Yes. She’d been willing to settle for ‘like’, hadn’t she? Never mind ‘love’, ‘Like’ was good enough. At the time her own driving passion might even have settled for a lot less because deep down she was a fool. Nikos had been right after all. She was an idealist always ready to believe in a happy ending.
Well, there was going to be no happy ending now. Nikos had ruthlessly and brutally blasted all these foolish notions out of her mind. She meant less than the dust on the road to him. Even his own damned sister meant nothing. All he cared about was the spurious honour of the Spirakis name.
It was some time later when she was jerked awake from a fitful doze and she sat up and stared around the darkened room. Had it been a dream or had she really heard voices whispering? No. No dream. There they were again. She switched on the bedside lamp, got out of bed and padded over to the door. ‘Who’s there?’ she called nervously.
The whispering stopped.
‘Who’s there?’ she demanded again in a louder voice. ‘What do you want?’
A man’s voice answered, thick and heavy. ‘Open the door, Miss Stevens.’
‘No. Go away.’
The lock rattled impatiently then the voice said, ‘Nikos sent us to fetch you. Your brother is downstairs.’
Jimmy! Here! Her heart leapt for a moment and she reached for the key, then she paused. Something wasn’t right. Nikos would have sent Sofia to fetch her, not some stranger. She took a deep breath then said sharply, ‘Go back and tell Nikos to send my brother here. I want to hear his voice.’
She could hear another angry whispered consultation from the other side of the door then the man called back to her, ‘Your brother has injured his leg. We’re waiting for the doctor.’
She chewed nervously at her knuckle. Supposing they were telling the truth and Jimmy really was lying down there in pain surrounded by enemies? She put her ear flat against the door then asked, ‘How…how did he hurt his leg? What happened to him?’
‘We found him hiding up in the mountains. He tried to make a run for it but fell among some rocks.’
She straightened up. Now she knew that they were lying. Jimmy had gone nowhere near the mountains. They still hadn’t found out about the missing boat. Well, she didn’t need a crystal ball to guess what they were after. Desperately she looked around the room. The window was open. Could she find some way down from the balcony? Then what? Where could she go in a nightdress? Suddenly she saw the bellpush on the far wall. Would it do any good ringing for Sofia? What could the maid do? Might not the presence of somebody else at least frighten them off? Anything was worth a try. Playing for time, she called through the door, ‘You…you’ll have to wait till I get dressed.’
It didn’t work. She was halfway across the room when she heard the splintering crash as the door was kicked open and she whirled round.
There were two of them: Theo, the one with the thick lips and colourless eyes, and another who could have been his younger brother. For a moment they stood drinking in the sight of her then Theo wet his lips with his tongue and said hoarsely, ‘We thought you might be feeling lonely in here all by yourself. We’ve come to give you some company.’
‘Well, you thought wrong,’ she said in a tight, icy voice. ‘Get out of here. The pair of you. Right now.’ It was a desperate gamble but they might be scared off by a show of strength and fearlessness. Men who attacked women were usually cowards at heart.
‘She’s not very friendly, is she?’ Theo remarked to his companion. ‘We’ll have to do something about that, won’t we?’
She turned and made a dash for the bell but Theo was too quick for her and she screamed as he grabbed a handful of her hair and spun her around. ‘Scream as loud as you like,’ he sneered into her face. ‘No one will hear you from here.’ His breath was vile with garlic and she tried to turn her head away. He gave a signal to his companion who went behind her and wrenched her arms back. She tried to yell again but it was cut off as a hot, sweaty hand clamped itself over her mouth, making her want to gag.
There was no use pretending that she wasn’t afraid any longer. She knew exactly what was on their minds and she almost choked in horror as Theo ripped her nightdress from top to bottom, leaving her exposed to his lustful gaze. For long, agonising seconds she could almost feel her skin crawling as his pale eyes roved over her with an avid rapaciousness then he began loosening the belt around his waist and snarled at her, ‘Your brother struck me and left me tied up, Miss Stevens. I’m going to deal with him later but in the meantime my brother and I are going to have a little amusement with you. Nikos has already had a taste and now it’s our turn.’
Sick with terror, she could feel the power leaving her legs. There was a roaring in her ears and as the man behind her suddenly let her go she slumped to the floor on her hands and knees.
‘Bastards!’ The voice from the doorway was an explosion of fury and, gasping for breath, she raised her head in time to see Nikos lunge at Theo. There was a tremendous crack as Nikos threw a punch which split open Theo’s top lip. Clutching his mouth, Theo backed away and whined, ‘For God’s sake, Nikos! We’re only having a little fun.’
‘You think rape is funny, do you?’ thundered Nikos.
‘What are you worried about her for?’ Theo protested angrily. ‘She’s just trash like her brother. That’s why you went after her in the first place, isn’t it? To give her—’
‘Shut your filthy mouth!’ Nikos glared at him and the other man, his green eyes smouldering with fury. ‘You dare to call her trash! Neither one of you is fit to lick the mud off her shoes. The only trash I see here is you.’
He got down on one knee and touched her shoulder gently. ‘Carrie? Can you stand?’
She tried to speak but she was still traumatised with shock and her throat was tight. Weakly she nodded her head.
‘Good…’ He put his hands under her armpits then paused and looked up at the two men who were edging their way nervously towards the door. He gave a threatening growl. ‘Stay where you are. I’m not finished with you yet.’
He helped her up until she was sitting on the edge of the bed, clutching her torn nightdress around her, then turned his wrath on the two would-be rapists again. ‘You’ve disgraced the name of Spirakis forever. I want you out of this house immediately. You’ll leave as you are, in what you’re wearing. Everything else you own—cars, boats, shares in the business—is now forfeit. If either of you ever comes within ten miles of this estate again I’ll have you maimed for life. Now get out of my sight.’
The two men looked at each other in disbelief then Theo blustered, ‘You can’t do that to us! We’re not going to lose everything because of that little—’
Nikos took one step towards them and that was enough to send them both scurrying from the room.
Carrie’s heart was going like a trip-hammer and she was still trembling as he helped her to her feet and wrapped her tenderly in his arms. For a moment the idea of a man, even him, touching her sent an instinctive shiver of fear down her spine and she made a feeble attempt to push him away.
‘No, d
arling,’ he whispered softly. ‘They’ve gone. You’re safe now.’
Slowly, like an ebbing tide, her fear receded and his arms, which had seemed to imprison her, now became a protective barrier against the evils of the world. His hand gently stroked her hair, calming and soothing her further, and she buried her face in his chest, drawing strength from the rock-steady beat of his heart. In a muffled voice she said brokenly, ‘They were going to…to..’ She gulped. ‘You got here just in time. How…how did you…?’
‘Sofia warned me.’ he said quietly. ‘She heard them talking and saw them making their way here.’
‘Thank God for Sofia,’ she said fervently. ‘I…I told them to go away but they smashed the door down.’
‘I think I’ve let them off too lightly,’ he growled darkly. ‘I’ve a good mind to—’
‘No, Nikos.’ She had a vision of him cheerfully strangling them. ‘Don’t get yourself into trouble over them. They.. .they’re not worth it.’
He sighed with regret. ‘I suppose you have a point. They’re nothing but scum.’ He stroked her hair again. ‘Anyway, you’re safe now and that’s all I care about. Try to forget it.’
Another involuntary shiver went through her. That was easy to say but she didn’t think she’d forget this night as long as she lived. Things like that always happened to other people. You heard about it and felt sorry for them but you never imagined that it might be your turn one night.
Suddenly Sofia was standing in the doorway wrapped in a dressing-gown, her face pale with concern as she stared at Carrie. ‘Is there anything I can do, Mr Spirakis?’
Nikos nodded at her gratefully. ‘Yes, Sofia. Fetch some brandy and warm milk for Carrie. When you’ve done that go and prepare another room for her. A room with a spare bed for yourself, because I want you to spend the rest of the night with her.’
When the maid had gone off to carry out his orders he tilted Carrie’s chin up and kissed her tenderly on the mouth then whispered, ‘I let you down, darling. I guaranteed your safety in this house and this happened. Will you ever forgive me?’