let out a laugh of disbelief that had Alice slipping her gaze to focus on the older man’s face. ‘You think I would trust you with my company?’
‘Why should you not?’ It was a banal enough question, but Alice heard the undertone of steel and looked to Thanos once more. A tight smile was cracking his face but waves of anger were shifting off his frame.
‘Because you are your father’s son, and I will not have my family’s legacy dragged through the mud.’
Alice sucked in a sharp breath, surprised at how offended she was by the scathing indictment. Thanos turned to face her, the noise apparently drawing his attention, and when their eyes locked, sympathy exploded inside her.
‘I know you are not like him,’ Kosta hastened to add, an apology inherent in the words. ‘You are different. But the potential for scandal is the same.’
Thanos dipped his head forward, so Alice couldn’t see how he reacted to this explanation.
‘I cannot open my paper without seeing your photo,’ Kosta continued. ‘You drink too much, party too much, sleep with any woman who moves. Your reputation as the playboy prince of Europe is almost too mild for your excessive lifestyle.’
Thanos lifted his head, his face like a mask of iron. ‘And what is my lifestyle to do with this? Do you think it affects my ability to run your company?’
‘I think there is no one better than you,’ Kosta contradicted. ‘You have a head for business that I have always admired. Even when you were still a boy, following after your grandfather, watching him as though he were an idol brought to life, you had more nous than he and I in our little fingers.’
Alice wondered if Thanos felt pride then, if the compliment did anything to soften his response.
‘I learned from the best,’ Thanos conceded, finally.
‘Yes. Nicholas was one of the best men I have ever known.’ Kosta leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the table. ‘I always respected him. Liked him. What your father did—’
That same muscle twisted in Thanos’s cheek as he ground his teeth together. ‘Is not relevant. I made my peace with it a long time ago.’
‘Did you?’ Kosta’s look showed disbelief, but he didn’t pursue that line of questioning. He sipped his coffee.
‘Your grandfather and I were from a different generation. Things were different. Our parents, and us, we valued family. Old-fashioned morals. We liked things to be respectable. A handshake was as good as a contract.’ Kosta shook his head and Alice saw a spark of longing in his eyes. ‘The world is different now. Perhaps I am a relic, with no place in it.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘But if you think I’m going to see my company fall into the hands of a man who regards womanising as a sport, then you know nothing about what this business means.’
Thanos held Kosta’s gaze across the table. Neither man faltered and Alice felt as if she was intruding on a deeply personal moment.
‘No one will work harder for P & A than I will,’ Thanos promised, at length.
‘That may be so,’ Kosta agreed. ‘But I will not sell it to you.’
Alice swept her eyes shut for a moment, more invested in the outcome of this meeting than she would have thought possible.
‘I don’t intend to take no for an answer.’
‘You don’t like to hear no from anyone. It’s part of why you’ve been so successful in repairing the damage your father did. But that does not change my answer. I will not sell P & A to a man like you, Thanos Stathakis. Not for twice what you’re offering; not for anything. Not until you’ve grown up.’
Alice flicked through the pile of bills, a half-eaten sandwich to her left. Her credit card had very little available cash on it—it wouldn’t come close to paying off her mother’s latest hospitalisation.
Her heart squeezed as she remembered the sight of her mother being rushed through the corridors, the blood clot threatening her life, panic surging through Alice as she knew how close they were to the end.
But Jane Smart had defied all odds and survived—she remained in a coma, but she remained.
Alice flipped over to another bill, nausea filling her. It was too much. How could she ever manage to cover this?
She was so engrossed in her finances that she didn’t hear the door to Thanos’s office click open, nor did she hear his approach until he was practically on top of her.
Self-consciously, she laid her hand over the bills, aware that it barely covered the bright red paper demanding immediate payment.
‘Did you need something, sir?’
He didn’t correct her use of the formal title now. He was brooding. Thinking. Even more determined since Kosta had walked out of the office. ‘What did you think of Kosta Carinedes?’
Alice was surprised by the question. She sat back in her chair a little, momentarily forgetting about her bills, and her lunch. ‘In what way?’
‘In any way. Did you perceive he was serious in his reasons for not wanting to sell to me?’
Alice captured her lower lip with her teeth, gnawing on it thoughtfully. ‘I can’t see why he would lie,’ she said finally.
‘No, nor can I. After all, the price I’ve offered is above the market rate of the company. He’s a fool to walk away from it.’
‘Perhaps he doesn’t really want to sell?’
‘He knows he must.’ He shook his head, dragging a hand through his hair, throwing it into even greater disarray. ‘He’s just being stubborn.’
Alice nodded, turning back to her desk thoughtfully. After all, the older man had raised a valid point. Thanos had a reputation for seducing women left, right and centre. He was rarely without a date on his arm, and it didn’t seem to be the same woman for long. He partied non-stop, but what did that matter? Everything he touched in a commercial sense turned to gold. Surely that was more important when it came to handing a business over?
‘Maybe he’ll change his mind,’ she offered, lifting her gaze back to his face. He was staring out of the window, his expression unreadable.
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Then you’ll just have to change it for him,’ she said quietly, turning back to the bills, flicking to the next one with a frown on her face, unaware of the way his eyes swivelled to follow her.
Thanos regarded this mild-mannered assistant thoughtfully. She was plain-spoken and unaffected. Unlike most of the women he dealt with, she wasn’t going out of her way to flatter and please him. She was acting as though she barely noticed he was a man. It was unusual for him to come across a woman who didn’t respond in a certain way.
And
