by Judith Gould
“Ariadne, I want you to know that no matter what happens . . . I . . . the way I feel about you, well . . . I’ve never felt that way about anyone else.”
Ariadne wanted to reach over and kiss him. His words sounded so heartfelt, and she believed him. Her quickening pulse attested to that. At the same time, she was completely confused by whatever it was that he wasn’t telling her. He was clearly keeping something from her, and that didn’t make sense.
“Matt, you’re not leveling with me,” she finally said, staring straight ahead. “I don’t know what it is that you’re afraid to tell me, but I don’t like you playing with my feelings like this.”
“I’m not . . . or I don’t mean to,” he said guiltily. A deer appeared in the Jeep’s headlights. It was directly in his path, staring at the approaching lights.
“Oh, my God,” Ariadne cried, seeing it at the same time.
Matt slammed on the brakes and turned the steering wheel toward the shoulder of the road. Ariadne braced herself against the dashboard. The deer stared in their direction a moment longer, then leaped off the road and into the woods.
“Jesus,” Matt said, turning to look at Ariadne. “We could’ve been killed. Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I’m fine, but I would’ve hated to die not knowing what it is you’re not telling me.”
Matt pulled back onto the road. “I was hired to spy on you,” he said very low.
“Spy . . . on . . . me?” she replied in a stunned voice. She stared at him, her eyes wide. “But why on earth would anybody want to spy on me? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of.” A ripple of fear made her stiffen. She was supposed to be going back to the lovely campus at Williams College, but instead they were headed to a mysterious hideout in the woods. What’s going on? she wondered anxiously.
The road to the house was just ahead on the left, and Matt flipped on his blinker. After he’d made the turn, he said, “I don’t know all of the details myself, but the man who hired me is a big honcho at PPHL.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Papadaki Private Holdings Limited,” he said. “It’s a huge multinational corporation into all kinds of things. Shipping and so on.”
“Oh, right. I know of the company, of course, but not much about it. It’s privately held.”
Matt nodded. “Hold on a second.” He brought the Jeep to a stop before a stone pillar with an intercom. Ariadne watched as he pushed a button on the intercom.
“Who is it?” a disembodied voice asked.
“It’s Matt,” he said.
Wide iron gates swung slowly open, and Matt pulled through them. There was the crunch of pea gravel under the tires, and in the headlights Ariadne could see that the drive was lined with tall pines and hemlocks.
“Before we go another foot, I want you to finish what you were saying,” Ariadne said determinedly.
Matt didn’t look at her. “It seems that you may be a Papadaki.”
“What? But I’m Ariadne Megas. I—”
“I know you’re originally from Greece,” Matt said. “You were adopted by a couple there named Megas before you were brought to this country. I know that you were brought here and raised by another couple from the time you were ten years old. I know that Adrian Single, the man who owns this estate, is going to explain everything to you.” He paused and took a deep breath. “And I also know that, no matter what you think of me after tonight, I—I think I’m in love with you.”
Despite the many questions that swirled in her mind, she felt a jolt of electric excitement rush up her spine. He thinks he loves me. His proclamation of love overwhelmed everything else, at least for the moment.
Matt reached for her hand and took it in his. “Please remember that,” he said. “I mean it. From the bottom of my heart.”
They kept driving until light spilling from the windows of a big colonial house bathed the driveway in its glow, and Matt pulled the Jeep to a stop. Ariadne saw the front door open, and a man step out onto the front porch. Although there were lit lanterns at either side of the door, she could see only that he was tall and slender and appeared to be middle-aged. “Is that the man you said would explain everything to me?”
“Yes,” Matt replied. “That’s Adrian Single.” He switched off the engine and turned to her. “It’ll be okay, Ariadne. I promise you. You’ll be safe here. This man is your friend.”
“I don’t even know this man!” she exclaimed. She was both afraid and angry and suddenly felt on the verge of tears, but she held them back. Whatever this was all about, she thought, she would get it over with, then insist that Matt take her back to Williamstown.
He squeezed her hand again. “Let’s go in. You’ll see.”
Ariadne stepped out of the Jeep and let him lead her toward the porch. The air was perfumed with the scent of the pine trees, normally a comforting fragrance, but it did not soothe her now. The man stared at her for a moment as if he’d seen a ghost. Then his face broke out into a smile. “Ariadne,” he said, recovering his composure. “I’m Adrian Single, and I’m very happy to meet you.” He extended his hand, and she shook it firmly.
“I’m happy to meet you, too, Mr. Single,” she said, and then only half jokingly added, “At least I think I am.” She was certain she had seen him before—he was a very handsome man, tall, with dark hair and a sophisticated air—but couldn’t quite place him. “Matt hasn’t told me what this is all about.”
“That’s my fault, I’m afraid,” Adrian said. “Come in, and I’ll explain everything.”
He held the door wide for her, and Ariadne stepped into the large entrance hall. She quickly took in its black-and-white checkerboard marble floor, the elegant spiral staircase, and the pale pumpkin-colored walls. They were hung with paintings, some of which were landscapes.
“If you’ll come with me,” Adrian said, “I have some friends I want you to meet.”
In the well-lit hallway, Ariadne was suddenly certain where she’d met Adrian Single, but she didn’t say anything. She let him guide her through a large living room and into a book-lined library. Three strangers were sitting on leather couches, conversing among themselves, and they stood up as she walked into the room.
“This is Ariadne, everyone,” he said, “and Ariadne, I want you to meet Sugar Rosebury, Yves Carre, and Angelo Coveri.”
Ariadne shook hands and exchanged greetings with the three strangers, noting how they stared at her the same way Adrian had.
“The resemblance is eerie, isn’t it?” Sugar said to no one in particular.
“Uncannily so,” Angelo replied uneasily. “If not for the haircut, and I didn’t know better—”
Yves smiled thinly. “I know. You would swear she was her sister.”
My sister? Ariadne thought, more puzzled than ever. What are they talking about? And who, exactly, are they anyway?
Sugar suddenly hugged Ariadne. “Oh, sweetheart, we’re embarrassing you, aren’t we? Treating you like some sort of laboratory specimen. I’m so sorry. I hope you’ll forgive us.”
“Why don’t we all get comfortable?” Adrian said. As everyone took a seat, Sugar guided Ariadne to an overstuffed leather chair and sat on its big arm, close to Ariadne as if to protect her.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know what to think,” Ariadne said. “Nobody’s given me a clue about what’s going on here yet.” She looked back through the doorway for Matt. His presence would make her feel a little safer. “Where’s Matt?” she asked in alarm.
“I’m right here,” Matt said, coming in through another doorway. He stood behind one of the couches, facing in her direction.
“I think I’m owed an explanation,” Ariadne said warily.
“This is Matt Foster, as you know,” Adrian said, indicating Matt with a gesture.
“I’m quite aware of that,” Ariadne said with a hint of sarcasm.
“Matt’s been in my employ for some time,” Adrian said. “Expressly to keep an eye on you.”
&nbs
p; Ariadne stared at Matt with a sinking feeling, momentarily speechless. So all that attention he lavished on me was merely because he was being paid, she thought. How stupid of me to have been taken in by him.
“I don’t understand,” she said, tearing her eyes away from the man she’d thought she’d known. “Why would you keep watch over me?”
“What the hell is going on here?” Sugar asked.
“I’ll explain,” Adrian said. “I’ve been trying to keep watch on you over the years because I’m partially responsible for bringing you to this country.”
“So you helped take me from the only home I knew and brought me here to strangers with no explanation.”
“Yes, I helped Nikos,” he said, “but I thought in the long run it was the best thing for you. Then several months ago, I decided it was time to find out if you were prepared for the role we have in mind. So that’s why I instructed Matt to keep a close eye on you.”
“I see,” she broke in, the calmness of her words belying the agitation that she felt. She was almost overwhelmed by the sense of betrayal she was experiencing.
“Ariadne,” Adrian said, “we don’t want to alarm you, but if word somehow got out that you’re alive, you might be in great danger. We think it’s best to have someone around all the time. A personal bodyguard. So while you’re here and perhaps later when we take you into the city—if our plan works out—you will be seeing Matt. You can trust him with your life.”
Ariadne didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Trust him with my life? she thought. I wouldn’t trust him with my pocketbook, not now.
“Let me get this straight,” Sugar said to Adrian. “This young man”—she pointed at Matt—“and Ariadne have met?”
Adrian nodded. “She and Matt met in Williamstown while he was watching her.”
“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” Sugar said.
“Indeed, you do,” Angelo added. Some of the hostility he’d shown Adrian after Bianca’s death flared again, although they’d mended the relationship at her funeral. As grief-stricken as he was, he had come to realize that Adrian didn’t know about Bianca’s new job until it was too late.
“It’s time,” Adrian said. He paused and gazed around the room. “I’ve been reluctant to tell you all of this before because I was afraid that word might leak out somehow.”
“So you don’t trust us?” Angelo said.
“I do,” Adrian said, “but I thought until it was absolutely necessary I would keep my secret.”
“So you really don’t trust us,” Sugar said tartly.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Adrian said. “I’m telling you everything now. It was so long ago it seems unreal now, as if it happened in a fairy tale, not in this life.”
Adrian shifted in his chair. His eyes took on a faraway look as his mind cast backward in time. “It started in January of 1984,” he said. “It was a terrible night. I vividly remember how the waves and wind lashed the cabin cruiser that took me to the Papadakis’ villa in the Peloponnese.”
There’s that name again, Ariadne thought.
“Planes and helicopters couldn’t land because of the storm, and the roads had been washed out in places, but Nikos Papadaki had called me there, demanding that I come immediately.
“Anyway, Larissa had given birth,” he went on. “To twin girls.”
Everyone in the room abruptly turned to Ariadne, but she was making an effort to keep her face devoid of expression, despite her intense interest in the story.
“Nikos came rushing out onto the terrace and shoved a bundle at me.” He paused and looked at Ariadne. “It was you, Ariadne. The second born of the twins.”
“So I have a twin sister?” she said, astounded.
“Yes,” Adrian said. “And Nikos and Larissa Papadaki were your real parents.”
Ariadne started to ask another question, but he quickly picked up the thread of his story and continued. She decided to hear him out before asking anything else.
“ ‘Take this child,’ Nikos ordered me. ‘Leave it somewhere with strangers who don’t know who she is. Tell my wife nothing. Nor anyone else. Nothing!’ He’d reached into a trouser pocket and pulled something out. ‘See that the child receives this. It is her mother’s.’
“He thrust a small jewel-encrusted Byzantine cross on a gold chain into my hand,” Adrian said.
Ariadne felt for the chain around her neck and pulled it out. A cross, just as he’d described, dangled from the end of it. “It was this, wasn’t it?”
Adrian looked at the small cross she held in her hand. With a touch of awe he said, “So you still have it after all these years.”
“My mama in Greece made sure I took it when I was brought to America,” Ariadne said. “It’s all I have left of them except for memories.”
“And it belonged to your real mother,” Adrian said. “Larissa Papadaki.”
Ariadne fingered the small cross before finally letting it hang loose around her neck again.
“I’d received many strange commands from Nikos over the years,” Adrian went on. “He would have bouts of . . . madness. I don’t know what else to call them. Normally, I didn’t question him, but I truly found myself flustered when this happened. As Sugar and Angelo know, Nikos could be . . . well, terrifying. His rages were legendary, but this was one time I couldn’t simply follow orders without knowing what was happening.
“I asked him why the child was being taken away,” Adrian continued. “Why must she disappear?
“ ‘Twin heiresses are a curse!’ Nikos bellowed at me.
“That night, I thought Nikos was demented. I could see the zeal of the village peasant in Nikos’s eyes. And something else as well: fear. I knew it was useless to argue with him then. He didn’t even want to touch the baby that he had given me.”
Ariadne swallowed. He was obviously referring to her. She was the baby her own father had been afraid to touch.
“I asked Nikos how he could possibly be certain which baby was which. How could he possibly know that one of them was evil? He just roared he’d used his own judgment, and that everything he’d slaved for and built would—poof!—disappear into thin air if he didn’t get rid of you.”
Adrian paused again, and cleared his throat. “As I’ve said, there was no use arguing with him when he was having one of his spells. He pulled me over to the cliff side of the terrace and pointed down to the cabin cruiser I’d come on. I’ll never forget it. ‘Now go! Take that cursed creature and get it out of my sight!’
“I asked him where, and he said he didn’t know or even want to know. He said he’d set up a generous allowance for the baby’s care for me to administer. Said it could be a hovel for all he cared, so long as no one, above all you, Ariadne, ever learned your true identity. Then, in typical Nikos fashion, he made me swear to it. I figured I could argue with him when he came back to his senses. And I did. For years and years. But he was always convinced that he’d made the right decision. He truly believed in the curse.”
Adrian sighed wearily. “I had never disobeyed him, so I swore to him that I would do as he said.” He paused and looked at Ariadne. “I took you down the steep path to the boat. I remember I stopped on the path at one point because your blanket was soaked, so I took off my jacket and covered you with that, too. Anyway, I set off with you in the boat.”
Adrian drew a deep breath, coughing to clear his throat. “Within a week, I located a middle-aged couple on Hydra,” he said. “They lived on the almost-uninhabited part of the island, as far away from the town as you could get. They were childless and thrilled to accept Ariadne—you—into their home as their daughter. I sent them a monthly stipend over the years, from the fund that Nikos had set up.”
“But then why was I taken away from them?” Ariadne asked.
Adrian drew himself up straight, like a responsible executive. “I’d argued with Nikos over the years about whether or not he’d made the right decision, and I finally convinced him that you should b
e brought here. I knew that if you remained with the Megas family on Hydra, you would never be prepared to take control of PPHL if it ever came to that. You wouldn’t be properly educated.” His voice took on more passion as he continued. “I also thought you should be able to claim your birthright. You’ve always been Nikos’s heir as much as Niki is. Believe it or not, Ariadne, I was trying to do what was best for you. I even convinced Nikos to go get you himself. I thought he might have a change of heart if he saw you. But he didn’t. He was still afraid.”
There was so much information to digest all at once, Ariadne didn’t know what was best for her. “It sounds like something out of a Greek tragedy,” she murmured.
“What do you know about the Greek tragedies, young lady?” Angelo asked her, not unkindly.
Before Ariadne could respond, Adrian said, “I assure you that I arranged for the best education possible for Ariadne at one of the best boarding schools in the Northeast, and then she got into Williams College.” He addressed Ariadne as he added, “You’re not going there on scholarship, by the way. Your father set up a very generous bank account for me to use for your care.”
Ariadne didn’t appear to be listening. A faraway look had come into her eyes. “So . . . I have a sister,” she murmured reflectively. “I can’t believe that I never knew.”
“Yes. An identical twin,” Adrian replied.
“And a real mother and father?”
“Both unfortunately dead now,” Adrian said. “Your mother, Larissa, died in a car crash after your parents divorced, and Nikos, your father, died a few years ago of heart disease.”
Ariadne was overwhelmed by all this information. Finally, she said, “And my sister really is an identical twin?”
“Yes,” Sugar said, “but Niki is a very ... difficult sort.”
“She’s a monster, in my opinion,” Angelo said harshly. “I don’t think you’re anything like her. You certainly don’t seem to be.”
There was a long silence while Ariadne digested all she’d been told. The pieces of the puzzle that had been her past were beginning to fall into place at last.