by the almost-expression on Petros’ dour features.
‘And?’
‘She is demanding to see you.’
For an instant Stavros felt his eyes widen in astonishment. That anyone should demand to see him. Or that his well-trained staff should not be able to escort a lone female off his premises, no matter how demanding she was. Either eventuality was extraordinary.
His curiosity grew. ‘Who is she?’
‘She refuses to give her name, kyrie.’
Stavros raised an eyebrow. ‘And yet her presence here bothers you? She isn’t Press?’ Intriguing.
‘She says not. No Press card. Not the right attitude either.’
Stavros forbore to query that. His staff were professionals, they knew their business.
‘And…?’ Of course there was more.
‘And she says it’s urgent she sees you, speaks with you privately.’
If he made time for every crank, competitor or journalist who wanted to see him, Stavros would never have privacy. Or time to run the most exclusive fine jewellery enterprise in the world.
The House of Denakis had a generations’ old reputation for magnificent artistic creations, avidly acquired by the wealthiest of the international élite. Its pieces were worn by royalty, if they could afford it. It set the standard to which other houses aspired. Managing it required not only dedication, flair and outstanding business acumen, but also ruthless single-mindedness.
He curbed his impatience as Petros pulled out a palm-sized portable monitor and handed it over. The screen showed a young woman sitting on a straight-backed chair in a bare room. Her back was to the camera but Stavros could see she wore the ubiquitous modern uniform of jeans and a T-shirt. She was slim. Dark hair pinned up on the back of her head.
Her posture caught his attention. She sat straight and alert in her hard seat. But it wasn’t nerves that made her sit so. She didn’t project an aura of apprehension. Instead her bearing seemed almost regal.
He frowned at her air of confidence. Who was she to be so sure of herself after trespassing onto his property? For a moment something about her nagged at his subconscious. Could he know her? Have met her perhaps?
He shrugged. It didn’t matter. She hadn’t been invited so he didn’t intend to see her.
‘Show her off the premises,’ he said as he passed the monitor back. ‘She’s wasting your time.’
But still Petros lingered. He cleared his throat.
Stavros tilted one impatient eyebrow.
‘There’s more, kyrie. You may wish to consider meeting her.’
‘And why would I do that?’
There was no doubting Petros’ discomfort now.
‘She has your ring. With your family seal.’
Stavros froze. He stared into his security chief’s hard features. This wasn’t a con. The ring was distinctive, one of a kind, and Petros had been with the family long enough to know the genuine item when he saw it.
Even though the ring had been missing now for four years.
‘You have it?’ Stavros held out his hand, but Petros shook his head.
‘I’ve seen it, examined it closely. But she has it on a long chain round her neck and refuses to give it up till she sees you. I could have taken it from her but it seemed best to wait and be sure…’
To be sure just who this woman was.
Again Stavros experienced that jab of curiosity. Its intensity disturbed him.
There were no unwelcome surprises in his life. He paid an army of staff very well to ensure just that. Even his professional life followed the anticipated pattern—the pattern he laid out for it. There were challenges, goals and opportunities but, with his formidable business skills, his extreme wealth and above all his determination, success was guaranteed.
His ring.
He took a slow breath as he registered the turmoil of almost-buried emotions.
It was his duty to get the piece back if he could, to pass on to the next generation. It had been ancient when one of his ancestors had worn it into battle during the War of Independence. Old even when an earlier ancestor had travelled to Byzantium seeking the emperor’s favour.
And it held more recent memories too. Of a time he’d rather forget.
Of the only time in his life that he’d failed.
‘Come!’ He turned his back on the noise of his engagement celebration. ‘Show me this woman who claims to have my property.’
Tessa refused to give in to the exhaustion that threatened to swamp her now she’d finally arrived. She pushed her shoulders back, lifted her chin and prepared to wait.
Just a little longer, and then it would be over. Then she could rest.
She surveyed the blank white wall in front of her. The bare table, the empty chair. What was this room used for? It looked like an interrogation cell.
She shivered as a flash of memory burst upon her. Of another small, windowless room. Not so pristine, or so quiet. The paint on those walls had long since peeled away, leaving the slapdash structure of mortar and cheap bricks visible. The floor was gritty underfoot and littered with debris.
And the smell. Her nostrils flared as she remembered.
That room had been rank with the scent of fear. Fear and pain.
Resolutely she turned her mind back to the present. She was half a world away, literally, from that place. And that room no longer existed, had long since been bulldozed into rubble.
The trouble was that memories couldn’t be destroyed as easily as buildings.
She took a deep breath and automatically reached for her talisman on its chain. Its weight was comforting between her breasts. It had seen her through hard times, a promise of hope in times of need and despair.
And now she’d come to give it back. She didn’t need it any more.
It had been a shock to discover its real owner was very much alive. She must have sat, statue-still, for long minutes as she’d stared at the magazine, right into the face of the man who’d haunted her for the last four years. The airport lounge had receded to a peripheral blur as she took in his unmistakable features. His arrogant air of assured power.
‘The golden couple: Stavros Denakis and Angela Christophorou. Will it be wedding rings for two?’ So the caption had run.
The photo above it had shown a glamorous couple entering a nightclub. She was gorgeous, model-chic in a figure-moulding silver dress that revealed a fashionable amount of superb cleavage. And an even more stunning amount of diamond jewellery.
Yet
