by Sarah Morgan
His eyes were cool. ‘Yes, I knew it would upset your father. But presumably so did you. If he’d approved of what you were doing you wouldn’t have had to come to me in the first place.’
‘But I didn’t want him to find out yet. It was so important that he didn’t find out—why do you think I came to you in disguise?’ Realising how naïve she’d been to trust him, Selene took a step backwards, stumbling over his shoes discarded on the floor. ‘You warned me—everyone warned me about you—even Maria—and I didn’t listen.’ Because she hadn’t wanted to. Because she’d spun a fantasy in her head and she’d lived with that fantasy for five years and she wasn’t going to let anyone destroy it because it had been her lifeline. Her hope. Her dream. ‘I thought you were being kind and thoughtful but all the time you were just making sure I came with you so that you could score a point against a business rival.’
His expression was blank. ‘This is not about business. I separate the two.’
But she didn’t believe him. No longer believed in anyone but herself. ‘What sort of a man are you?’
‘A man who isn’t afraid to confront your father—which is why you came to me in the first place. I am exactly the person you knew I was when you walked into my office on that first day.’ He snapped the words. ‘It isn’t my fault if you turned me into some sort of god in your head.’
‘Well, don’t worry. I don’t think that any more.’ She choked on the words. ‘I can’t believe you’ve done this. This is worse than anything.’ Because now she was alone. She was on her own. There was no one out there who would help her. No one who cared. Certainly not this man.
‘I’ve done you a favour. Your father will realise you’re serious about wanting your independence. And before you get all sanctimonious can I remind you again that you came to me?’ he said flatly. ‘I didn’t kidnap you, force you into a dress and thrust a glass of champagne in your hand. You were the one who begged me for money and you were pretty much willing to do anything to get it, I might add. If you cast your mind back to your drunken episode my behaviour was impeccable. You did everything you could to seduce me and I said no.’
Humiliation piled onto anger and misery. ‘You’re just a saint.’
‘I never claimed to be a saint. You were the one who came to me in a nun’s outfit with ridiculous expectations.’
She stared at him, mute, seeing the uncomfortable truth in everything he was saying. It had been her decision to come. Her decision to drink champagne. Her decision to kiss him and go to bed with him.
She’d wanted so badly to be able to make her own decisions and all she’d done was make bad ones. Lonely and desperate, she’d built him up in her mind as some sort of perfect being and the truth was a horrible blow.
He’d used her to score points against her father and she was the one who would pay the price. And her mother.
Thinking of it made her limbs shake. ‘You’re right, of course. From now on I’ll be making more careful decisions. And the first will be to stay away from men like you. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? You wanted me to be more cynical. Well, now I am. I’m officially cynical.’
His features taut, he stepped towards her. ‘Selene—’
‘Don’t touch me. You only invited me to the party because you knew it would upset him.’
‘That isn’t true. I invited you to the party because you’re sexy as hell and your innocence was—refreshing.’
‘Well, I’m not innocent any more.’
‘You are overreacting. This will be to your advantage. Once he realises you’re serious about being independent and making your business a success he’ll let you go.’ Those wide shoulders lifted in a dismissive shrug. ‘I’ve done you a favour. There’s no point in rebelling if no one knows you’re rebelling.’
‘I’ve told you this isn’t about rebellion. It was never about rebellion.’ Selene could hardly breathe as her mind ran swiftly through the possible consequences.
‘If you allow your father to bully you, he will always bully you.’
‘You have no idea. No idea what you’ve done. No idea of the consequences that this will have.’ Galvanised into action, she stumbled around the room, gathering her things and stuffing them frantically into her bag. ‘I have to leave, right now. Is there a ferry from here?’ How long did she have? How long? She was panicking too much to make the calculation and truthfully it was impossible to know because she didn’t know what time her father would have seen the photographs.
He swore under his breath. ‘You need to calm down—’
‘When would these photos have come out? What time?’ Someone, somewhere would have seen them. She was sure of that. Her father was so paranoid and self-absorbed that he had whole teams of people scouring the media for mentions of himself. The moment the images had appeared on the internet someone would have seen them and would have told him. She had no doubt that he already knew everything. Nothing escaped him—especially something as catastrophic as this.
‘I don’t understand why you’re so concerned. I’ve already told you I’m giving you the money. You’ll be able to have the lifestyle you want. Buy what you like without your father’s approval.’
All the money in the world would be useless if she couldn’t get her mother away from the island. ‘What time?’
Stefan flicked his gaze back to the screen of his phone. ‘This one was posted around midnight.’
‘Midnight?’ Hours ago. And she’d been lying in his bed, basking in the ability to make her own choices, unaware that she’d made nothing but bad ones. Fear gripped her like a nasty virus. She felt dizzy with it. Sick. ‘If my father saw these at midnight then that means—’ He might already be on his way back to the island and her mother was alone and unprotected. ‘I have to leave now.’
Stefan swore under his breath and reached out his hand but she flinched away from him, flattening herself against the wall.
‘Get away from me. Don’t pretend you care about me,’ she mumbled. ‘I know you don’t. I don’t ever want you to touch me again.’
‘Fine. I won’t touch you.’ He spoke through clenched teeth. ‘But at least stand still and look at me. The way to handle this is not to sprint home like a good, obedient girl.’
‘You have no idea. You have no idea what you’ve done.’
‘At worst I’ve annoyed your father and reinforced the message that you want to be independent.’
‘You might have taken that opportunity away from me—’ Her throat was thick with tears. If her father returned home before her, her mother would be too afraid to leave. She’d lose her nerve as she’d lost it so many times before. ‘I want to leave. Now.’
‘Fine, if that’s what you want. Run home. That’s clearly where you belong. You’re a child, not a woman.’ Stefan’s face was a frozen mask as he strode across the room and opened a safe concealed in the wall. ‘I promised you money. I always keep my promises.’
‘Because you’re such a good guy?’
‘No.’ His mouth twisted. ‘Not because of that. Call my office any time you need business help.’ He dropped the money into her bag and strode towards the door. ‘I’ll arrange for your transport home.’
CHAPTER SIX
‘STEFAN, are you even listening to me?’
Stefan turned his gaze from the window of his Athens office to his lawyer, Kostas. ‘Pardon?’
‘Have you heard a word I’ve been saying? I’ve been telling you that Baxter has agreed to all our terms. We’ve been working on this deal for over a year. We should celebrate.’
Stefan didn’t feel like celebrating. He listened to his friend offer profuse congratulations, his mind preoccupied with Selene.
What the hell had possessed him to sleep with someone as inexperienced as her?
Her overreaction to the news of the photographs had made him realise how young she was. She’d said she wanted independence, but then freaked out at the thought of her father finding out.
Clearly surprised by
the lack of response, Kostas paused. ‘Don’t you want to hear the details?’
‘No. I pay you an exorbitant amount to handle details for me.’
Was it the sex that had made her panic? Remembering the bruises made him shift in his seat but nothing relieved the guilt. He’d never bruised a woman before. A love-bite maybe, but not bruises like those. They were finger-marks, caused by someone grabbing her too roughly, and the worst thing was he had no recollection of doing it.
Kostas closed the file. ‘Do you want to meet him in person?’
‘Meet who in person?’
Stefan went through their encounter in minute detail, trying to identify when exactly he’d hurt her. He’d been gentle with her. Careful. At no point had he been rough and yet somehow he’d caused those sick-looking yellow bruises.
Yellow bruises. He frowned. ‘How old is a bruise when it turns yellow?’
His lawyer stared at him. ‘What?’
‘Bruises,’ Stefan snapped. ‘Is a fresh bruise ever yellow?’
‘I’m no doctor, but doesn’t it take about a week for a bruise to turn yellow? Longer than a week?’
‘Theé mou.’ How could he have been so dense?
Driven by a sense of urgency that was new to him, Stefan pulled out his phone and called his pilot—only to be told that he’d already delivered Selene safely to Poulos, the closest island to Antaxos. From there she’d planned to catch a boat home.
Home, where presumably her father would now be waiting.
Stefan was in no doubt as to who was responsible for those bruises.
That was why she wanted to escape from the island. Not just because she wanted her independence, but because she was afraid for her life. Afraid of her father.
The memories came from nowhere, thudding into his gut like a vicious blow.
Why doesn’t she come home, Papa?
Because she can’t. He won’t let her. He doesn’t like to lose.
The emotion inside him was primal and dangerous.
How could he have been so blind? He was probably one of the few people who knew just what Stavros Antaxos was capable of and yet he’d let his own emotions about the past blind him to the truth of the present.
‘He’s not going to let her go. He’s never going to let her go.’ He growled the words and his lawyer looked at him, startled.
‘Who—?’
‘I’m going to get her out of there.’ Driven by emotions he hadn’t allowed himself to feel for over two decades, Stefan was on his feet and at the door before his lawyer had even finished his question. ‘I’m going to Antaxos.’
‘There is no safe landing spot on the island of Antaxos. It’s renowned for its inhospitable coastline.’
‘I’ll fly to the yacht and take the speedboat.’ He delivered instructions to his pilot while Kostas caught up with him, following him as he took the stairs up to the helipad.
‘What’s going on? Is this to do with Selene Antaxos?’ When Stefan looked at him, he shrugged. ‘The pictures are all over the internet. Why all the questions about bruises?’
His lawyer tone was several shades cooler than usual and Stefan shot him a look. ‘I don’t pretend to be perfect, but I don’t hurt women.’ Except that he had. Not with his hands, but with his actions. And by his actions he’d made it possible for someone else to hurt her physically. A cold feeling spread down his spine.
You have no idea what you’ve done.
Her final words still rang in his brain and alongside was a picture of Selene stuffing her new possessions randomly into her battered bag. He’d caught a glimpse of the nun’s habit and samples of her soap and candles. But it wasn’t the contents of her bag that stuck in his mind as much as the look on her face.
She was a woman who wore her emotions openly and over the past two days he’d witnessed her entire repertoire. He’d seen hope, mischief, flirtation, shyness, wonder, excitement and laughter. This morning he’d seen something new. Something he hadn’t understood until now.
He’d seen terror.
Suddenly his collar felt too tight and he called Takis, his head of security, and instructed him to meet him at the helicopter pad.
Kostas caught his arm. ‘I have no idea what you’re planning, but I advise caution where Stavros Antaxos is concerned.’
Stefan shrugged him off. ‘Your advice is duly noted and ignored.’
* * *
‘You have brought shame upon me and upon yourself and you did it with a man I hate more than any other.’
Selene stood stubbornly to the spot, clutching her bag like a life raft as her father vented his fury. She knew better than to answer back. Better than to try and reason because his anger was never driven by reason. And she was angry with herself, too. Angry for deviating from her original plan. If she hadn’t flown to the villa with Stefan she wouldn’t be in this position now.
‘Why him?’ Her father’s eyes blazed with every emotion but love. ‘Why?’
‘Because he’s a businessman.’ Because he’d talked to her when no one else had. Because he’d paid her attention and flattered her and her stupid brain had built him up into a hero so when he’d invited her to the party it had seemed all her dreams had come true. Instead of questioning what a man like him would see in a girl like her, she’d been blinded by his stunning looks and masculine charisma.
She’d lived in the moment without thinking about tomorrow and now tomorrow had come.
‘A businessman? And what is your “business”?’ The derision hurt more than any blow.
‘I have an idea. A good idea.’
‘Then why didn’t you come to me?’
‘Because—’ Because you’d kill it, the way you kill everything that threatens to break up our ‘family’. ‘Because I want to do this by myself.’
And she almost had.
It made her sick to think how close she’d come to a new life.
All of this could have been avoided had she simply shaken hands at the point where Stefan had agreed to give her a business loan, but she’d mixed business with pleasure and even she knew you weren’t supposed to do that.
‘He used you. You know that, don’t you? He used you to get to me and you have no one to blame but yourself. I hope you feel cheap.’
Selene closed her eyes, remembering the way she had felt. Not cheap. Special. Beautiful. But it hadn’t been real. He’d done it so that he could get juicy fodder for the photographers. All those things he’d said. All those things he’d done. It hadn’t been about her—it had been about scoring points against her father. He’d sacrificed her on the altar of personal ambition. ‘I made a mistake.’
‘We’ll say he forced you. Physically he’s much bigger than you, and you’re so obviously innocent no one will have any trouble believing it.’
‘No!’ Horrified, her eyes flew open. ‘That isn’t what happened.’
‘It doesn’t matter what happened. What matters is what people think happened. I don’t want our family image tarnished with this. I have my reputation to protect.’
Image. It was all about image, not reality. ‘He has his reputation, too. And he’ll deny it because it isn’t true.’ Just thinking of that story in the papers made her feel faint because simmering beneath the layers of pain that he’d deceived her was guilt that she’d let him think he was responsible for the bruises.
Her father’s expression was cold and calculating. ‘Who cares what’s true? Mud sticks. By the time he’s proved it wasn’t the case no one will remember your part in it, just his. People will always wonder. You’ll be the innocent girl he used.’
‘No.’ Selene lifted her chin. ‘I won’t do that to him. I won’t lie.’
There was a deadly silence. ‘Are you saying no to me?’
Her stomach cramped. ‘I can’t do that to him.’
She had money in her bag. If she could just calm the situation there might still be a way to get away. She’d persuade her mother to leave. They could slip away at night. She’d—
He stopped in front of her, too close, his hands clenched into fists that he was getting ready to use. ‘So if you liked being with him so much, why bother coming back?’
She knew better than to mention her mother. ‘I left because I wanted to have some fun. Freedom. Rebellion.’ She made free use of Stefan’s misconception. ‘I’ve been trapped here so long with no life and I wanted to get away. But I don’t actually want to leave my home. Or my family.’ She almost choked on the word because she knew that no family should be like hers. A family was supposed to be a unit knitted together by blood and love. All they had was blood, and too much of that had been shed.
‘So you admit you behaved badly?’ He flexed his fingers. ‘You admit you need discipline?’
The thought of the money in the bag gave her renewed strength. ‘I’m sorry my actions upset you.’
‘What’s in that bag?’
Her knees turned to water. ‘Clothes.’
He grabbed it. Wrenched it from her fingers so hard that he tore the skin.
Selene put her hand to her mouth and tasted blood. Inside that bag were her hopes for the future and she held her breath as he wrenched open the zip and dragged out the contents without care or respect, forcing her to watch as every one of her dreams was slaughtered in front of her.
First to fall was the red dress. That beautiful red dress she’d stuffed into her bag in a gesture of defiance against Stefan. She wished she’d left it. If ever she’d needed proof that hope was ephemeral she had it now as her father took that dress and wrenched it from neck to hem. She couldn’t even pretend that he didn’t know what it meant to her because he watched her face the whole time, and with every rip as she flinched a little more his mouth grew more grim. When the dress was nothing more than torn strips at her feet he kicked the pile of belongings and found her candles.
Selene didn’t realise she’d made a sound but she must have done because he glanced towards her swiftly, eyes narrowed, assessing the significance of what was in his hand.
‘This is it? This is your business idea? Did he laugh at you?’