the start.’
‘I—’ Nikos began, but she had seen the look in his eyes, the subtle change in his expression, and knew that, in spite of the way that he tried to hide it, he was thinking through his response very carefully, planning exactly what to say.
‘Honesty, Nikos. You owe me at least that.’
For a long moment his golden eyes locked with hers and she could almost hear his clever, ruthless brain working through the possibilities and coming to a decision.
‘Honestly, then…’ he said at last. ‘The answer is no. If you had not been your father’s daughter, then I would never have sought you out in the first place.’
If he had reached out and grabbed her hard by the shoulders, wrenching her towards him and pushing her down hard underneath the cool water, then he couldn’t have caused more of a shock to her heart. But, be honest with yourself too, Sadie reproached her foolish mind. Did you really think there would be any other answer? Hoping for a different response was such a foolish weakness. A wishful fantasy that could never be achieved.
‘And, yes, I lied to you—or at least kept from you the fact that the Konstantos finances were not in the best possible shape. But who can blame me when I already had overwhelming evidence of the way your father was working to bring the corporation down?’
‘You could have confided in me. Trusted me.’
‘Trust!’ Nikos scorned, throwing back his dark head in a laugh that seemed to turn the air around them into ice and then splinter it into a million tiny pieces. ‘You dare talk to me about trust when all the time you were part of the whole conspiracy your father had set up. When I was fighting for my life—for my family’s life—you were there, just waiting to stab me in the back.’
That was more than Sadie could take. In the past she had been forced to play along with her father’s wicked plans, forced to keep silent about everything that was going on in order to keep her mother and her as yet unborn baby brother safe. Now that part of the problem, at least, was all over. Her father was dead; he couldn’t hurt anyone any more.
‘If I hadn’t done what I did, then you would have lost your fight.’
‘What?’
Nikos’s intent stare from swiftly narrowed eyes made her wish that she could duck down into the water to escape it. But she’d embarked on telling at least this part of the truth. She couldn’t back down now. She doubted that Nikos would let her do it even if she tried.
‘And just what is that supposed to mean?’
Dredging up her courage, Sadie faced him across the clear sparkling surface of the water. Pride stiffened her spine and brought her chin up defiantly.
‘You talk about fighting for your family’s life, but it was really just to preserve some part of the family fortune.’
She’d missed something there. The sudden hard blink of those amazing eyes told her that she wasn’t actually in possession of all the facts. Once again Nikos had adjusted his expression, so that the one he showed to her was a carefully assumed mask, a polished veneer that hid reality behind it. But she couldn’t stop to think about what it might mean. So far Nikos had seemed to hold the upper hand, but in this at least there was something he didn’t know and she was determined to make sure he knew it.
‘And if I hadn’t done what I did then you would have lost everything. As it was, you were at least left with the Atlantis.’
As she named the one rather run-down hotel that was all her father had let Nikos and his family keep from their ruined estates, she knew that she had hit home. If her words had been a slap in his face, then he couldn’t have reacted more strongly. His whole body stilled in the water, his face freezing into a hard, set façade that gave away nothing of what he was thinking.
‘And what do you know about the Atlantis?’
But the sense of injustice that had buoyed her up until now had abruptly deserted Sadie, taking all her courage with it. She couldn’t take any more, couldn’t face that ruthlessly probing look, the way that his amazing eyes seemed to burn right into her.
‘Enough,’ was all she could manage, and at the sight of his frown, the way that his mouth opened to demand more of an answer, her nerve broke completely and she made a swift dive into the water, kicking out her legs and turning to swim away, heading for the far side of the pool as fast as she could.
But of course Nikos came after her, his stronger stroke and more powerful muscles driving him through the water so that he came up behind her fast, long arms reaching out to grab at her. He caught her just as she was about to scramble up the ladder on to the side, hauling her back against him and twisting her round in his arms so that she was forced to face him.
‘Explain,’ he snarled, issuing an order with no doubt at all that it would be obeyed.
But Sadie’s throat seemed to have closed up over the words she needed and she couldn’t get them out. She could only shake her head in despair, sending her soaking wet hair flying so that drops of water spun off and landed on Nikos’s face, close to his eyes. He dashed them away with a brusque movement of his head, refusing to let go of her arms in order to brush them aside. Instead his grip around her arms tightened and he gave her a rough little shake, pushing her to give him the answer he wanted.
‘Explain,’ he said again, and to her astonishment just a little of the attacking quality had gone out of his voice. ‘What you are saying doesn’t make sense. When your father set out to bring down the Konstantos Corporation, he damn nearly succeeded. In fact, we thought that he had done just that—taken everything. It was only later—after…’
Again he made a slight adjustment, as if there was something he was covering up, hiding from her.
‘Afterwards that I discovered Carteret had not quite managed to take everything. There was one little piece of the company left—something that had either been too small or, in his mind, not important enough to bother with…’
As he paused to stare into her eyes, Sadie found the strength to fill in the gap.
‘The Atlantis.’
Nikos nodded sombrely, his eyes never leaving her face. But she felt the way his hard grip on her arms had eased and knew it meant his mood had changed.
‘And you can only know about this because you were somehow involved in making sure that it was still ours. That it was the one thing your father didn’t get his hands on.’
It was a statement not a question. His tone of voice and the dark-eyed look was levelled on her face told her that he already knew the answer but he wanted her to confirm it.
‘Yes.’
As she nodded her head in response, she suddenly felt a rush of pride and determination come back to bring new strength to her mind and body.
‘Yes, I was involved. I could have saved the island for you—my father actually gave me the choice, and I considered it at first—but at the time I felt choosing the one small hotel that was the other thing he had been prepared to concede might actually be more practical help than the sentimental attachment you had to Icaros. And I was right, wasn’t I?’
Nikos nodded slowly, his expression unreadable,
