the exact details, no.’
Scepticism flared. ‘You expect me to believe that? When you walked willingly by his side up the aisle?’
‘Tell me you’ve never done something against your will and I’ll call you a liar,’ I replied.
The flare of his nostrils confirmed what I suspected—that this marriage was as much without his approval as it was without mine.
‘Assuming it was solely your father who pushed for this, what steps did you take to stop him?’
None. Because my protests, like everything else, had fallen on deaf ears. I didn’t say the words out loud, his timely reminder that, despite the promise I’d made, my mother’s fate was in my father’s hands, stilling my tongue. My hesitation gave Axios the answer he needed.
‘I didn’t, and the details don’t matter. We are where we are. But I know there’s an agreement between you. I simply want you to spell it out for me so I know what I’m dealing with.’
He stared at me, his measuring gaze weighted. I shouldn’t have been relieved, even a little pleased to see the cynicism fade a little, but I was.
‘Maybe he didn’t tell you. How very like Petras to want to keep the spoils all for himself,’ he muttered almost absently, before dropping his hands from my arms to say abruptly, ‘Under an agreement signed between your grandfather and mine, Yiannis Petras, or any appointed representative after his death, can collect on a debt owed by my family. Your father wanted twenty-five percent of my company or the cash equivalent. We settled on one hundred million euros. And you.’
I couldn’t hide my gasp at the confirmation that I’d been sold like a chattel.
Again, his cynicism receded. ‘He really didn’t tell you? Are you saying you’re a victim in this?’ he breathed.
The label smarted. ‘I’m not a victim. But, no, he didn’t tell me.’
Jaw gritted, he shoved a hand through his hair. ‘So you don’t know that under the terms of the agreement he’ll also receive the deeds to Kosima?’
‘What is Kosima?’
A bleak expression darkened his face. Whatever Kosima was, it held an emotional attachment for him.
‘It’s the private island where my grandfather was born. It was his favourite place on earth. Your grandfather knew that when he and my grandfather struck their unholy agreement. I assume he passed the information on to your father.’
My heart lurched with guilt, and for a wild moment I wanted to ease his pain. ‘And my father demanded it as part of the agreement?’
Again his lips twisted, before his gaze slanted over me from head to toe. ‘Of course. Just as he demanded that I marry you.’
This time my heart lurched for a different reason. He truly hadn’t wanted this marriage—was entangled in it against his will just as I was.
About to stress that I had known absolutely nothing about this, that my father’s avaricious demands were nothing to do with me, I heard that stern warning from my father slam into my brain. I didn’t doubt that he would make my mother’s life even more of a living hell than it was now.
The realisation that nothing had changed, that nothing would change, settled on me like a heavy, claustrophobic cloak.
‘Why did you go through with it?’ I asked. When he frowned, I hurried to add, ‘You obviously hate what my family has done to you, so why…?’
My disjointed thoughts rumbled to a halt, my insides twisting with dread. A caged lion was an unpredictable creature, and from the first moment I’d set eyes on him I’d felt his banked fury.
Now I knew why.
His eyes blazed grey fire at me. ‘You think I didn’t try to find a way that didn’t involve tying myself down for twelve months or handing over a multi-million-euro pay-out your father has done nothing to earn?’ he sliced at me.
My breath caught. ‘Why twelve months? Why not three…or even six?’
His mouth tightened. ‘Ask your father. He had the power to nullify some or all aspects of this agreement. He chose not to. And he counted on me not fighting this in court because adverse publicity is the last thing my company needs right now. Your grandfather was an unreasonable man who my own grandfather had the misfortune of partnering with.’
‘I know they started the airline business together, but—’
‘Your grandfather wasn’t interested in an airline business. He wanted to invest in boats, despite knowing next to nothing about them,’ he spat out the words. ‘But because they were tied together my grandfather was forced to work twice as hard to maintain both arms of the business. The only way Petras would agree to dissolve the partnership was to leave without taking his quarter-of-a-million-dollar share of the business immediately. If he had done so he would’ve bankrupted the company. But that didn’t stop him from demanding crippling interest on the loan, and an agreement promising a percentage of Xenakis Aeronautics should he or any other Petras need a future bail-out. But even then, it was too late. My grandfather had spread himself too thin, trying to maintain two suffering businesses, but he was too proud to declare bankruptcy. The strain broke his marriage and his family, and after my grandmother died his heart just…gave up.’
My heart twisted at the anguish in his voice. ‘I…’
What could I say? I’m sorry? Would Axios even believe me? What did it matter? My father had cunningly used the past against him. Against both of us.
‘I didn’t know any of this.’
His jaw rippled. ‘My grandfather was my mentor. He taught me everything I know. But he withheld the extent of how bad things were until it was too late. Until I had to watch him wither away.’
After an age of losing himself in the bleak past, his eyes zeroed in on me.
‘Why? If you didn’t know all this, why present yourself to me at that altar like a sacrificial lamb?’
The cynicism was back full force. ‘I’m not a lamb!’
One corner of his mouth lifted. ‘No, I’m learning that my initial impression was mistaken. But I still want to know why,’ he pressed with quiet force.
How could I tell him without speaking of the very thing I’d done all this to avoid? If my father had managed to pressure a powerful man like Axios Xenakis to do his will, what would he do to my mother if he found out I’d been divulging family secrets?
‘Perhaps I had something to gain too,’ I responded truthfully, knowing how it would be viewed.
True to form, his eyes slowly hardened, and that disappointment I’d briefly spotted at the altar flashed across his face.
As one of his hands slowly rose to cup my face, it seemed he wanted to delve deeper, perhaps even attempt to understand how we had become caught in this tangled web. But then he slowly withdrew, his demeanour resigned, even a little weary.
An urge to soothe him spiked through me. I managed
