Authors: Aleka Nakis
“You’re somewhat right,” he conceded. “She is extremely independent, but she is also very fragile. You don’t know her like I do.”
“The only time she second guesses herself, or doesn’t trust her opinion, is when it comes to men. You’re a man. So if I were you, I wouldn’t give her a reason to distrust me.”
“When did you become Dr. Sensitivity?” Demo said, sarcasm dripping from his words as he rubbed the stubble on his chin.
“Hey, don’t give me that much credit. Zoë told me that stuff,” Tony admitted and finally drew a laugh from his brother. “It was thanks to her that we did a search for someone like Daniel Bradley.”
“Women are complex beings.” Demo’s voice cracked in amazement. “How did she come up with that one?”
“Maybe it’s weird, but it’s a direct hit. She said he’d want to leave a trail and leave crumbs for Sammy to find—so she’d be afraid.”
“She might be afraid, but I’m going to make sure she knows I’m with her. I won’t abandon her like her old man did.”
“Listen, I’m new to these kinds of games, but I’d follow Zoë’s advice if I were you.”
“I hear you. I’ll take care of things here. Get the
bastardo
before he finds out where she is. We’ll talk again in a few hours.”
The brothers disconnected, and Demo hurried back to the house. She was strong, and she was smart. His brother was right. He had to get her alone and tell her the truth—regardless of what it would cost him. She may leave him. He might lose her. But, he wasn’t going to give Sammy any more reasons to distrust him.
Demo backtracked and went by the
taverna
to inform Manoli. He then cut through the fields and made it home in half the normal time.
*****
Sammy exited the bedroom showered and dressed. Thea Eleni saw her from where she sat on the balcony and called her over. “
Ela, paidi mou
.”
“
Kalimera, Thea
.”
“
Bravo, koukla mou. Poso heromome pou eheis mathei Ellinika.”
The old woman took her hand and smiled waiting for a response, but Sammy was lost at “
bravo, koukla mou
.”
“No, Thea, I don’t understand.” She shook her head side to side illustrating her words.
Thea raised her arms and shrugged her shoulders. Her brows came together in a puzzled expression. A silence settled between them, and Thea folded her hands in her lap.
The old woman broke the quiet. “
Cafè
?” She pushed a cup of the thick brown coffee toward Sammy.
“Yes.
Ne, efharisto
.” Sammy took the coffee, grateful to have something to do other than talk.
This situation gave a new meaning to the phrase “crash course.” She was sitting with a woman who spoke only Greek, and all she knew were the words in the back of her dictionary.
Sammy jumped to her feet and raised a finger, slowly saying, “wait.” Disappearing into the house, she returned with the dictionary.
“Maybe this will help us communicate,” she said, placing it in front of the older woman.
“
Exipno paidi
,” Thea said, and smiled. Then she took the dictionary, found the word she had said, and pointed first to the word, then to Sammy. Smart, Thea had called her smart.
Sammy smiled and placed her palm over her heart. “
Eharisto, Thea
. I want to learn Greek, but it is difficult.”
She flipped through the dictionary, found the word “want,” and then the word, “learn”, then the word “Greek.”
“
Ne, paidi mou
.” And then Thea found the word for good,
kalo
.
The women were happy to communicate via the dictionary and hand signals. They laughed at the way each of them flipped through the pages, but their system worked.
“What did you study?”
“Law.”
“
Kalo,”
Thea said.
“
Efharisto
,” replied Sammy and bowed her head.
“Do you have a big family?”
“No. Mom and me.”
“No brothers or sisters?”
“Only child.”
“
Ohh, paidaki mou,”
no translation. Thea sighed.
“How long do you know my Demo?”
“A few months.”
“Does he make you happy?”
“Yes.” It was Sammy’s turn to sigh.
“Demo loves Sammy very much.”
“Sammy loves Demo,” Sammy answered.
Thea took Sammy’s face in her hands and kissed her on each cheek. Then she pointed to her, found the word “many,” then the word “children,” and put her hands together as if in prayer.
Sammy’s felt her face grow hot and the bile rise from her stomach. Trying to appear casual, she raised her brows and shrugged her shoulders like the Greeks did to express their emotions.
“I don’t know. It is too soon to consider.” The old woman waited for Sammy to find the word in the dictionary, but she didn’t. Instead, she pointed to her bare ring finger and said, “See, no ring.”
Thea took her right hand and pointed to the ring Demo had told her to wear the night before. “
Ne, tou Pappou
.”
“I hear the house is full of beautiful women. Is it true?” Demo repeated himself in Greek coming through the door.
“
Ne, ne, ela, paidi mou
.” Thea Eleni’s eyes twinkled as she answered him. She stood to greet him and then went in to the kitchen to make his breakfast.
“We need to talk, Sammy. There is something very important I need to tell you.”
Dread consumed her. He had bad news. She could feel it.
“First, I want to apologize. I know you won’t be happy with what I have to say, but Samantha, I made a mistake.”
Yes, she’d made a mistake too. She’d believed she could leave the past behind and enjoy the summer with the man she loved—even if her joy had an expiration date.
He touched her chin and turned her to face him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you everything about Daniels, because I wanted to protect you.”
“Brad?” she whispered.
“Yes, there is more than you know. I thought that I could shield you from him, hide you in these mountains and keep you safe. He’s really lost it, and he’s worse than you know.”
“What are you talking about, Demo? He’s always made empty threats, but he never carries through.”
Demo slammed his hand on the table. He lips narrowed into a tense line, and his eyes glared at her. “And why do you think that is?”
“What are you saying?” She scraped her lower lip with her teeth and tried, in vain, to swallow. But her throat was dry and scratchy, as if she’d spent the last hour in a desert sandstorm.
He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. Rubbing his eyes with both hands, he exhaled loudly and said, “I know that he never executed his threats, he was not able to because—”
“
Paidia mou, fevgo
,” Thea Eleni said, placing breakfast on the table. She spoke with Demo in Greek and then kissed each of them before she discreetly left the house.
“We’ve upset your aunt.”
“No, I’ve upset her,” he said, placing an open palm at the center of his chest. “She knows I haven’t been completely open with you. She’s annoyed at me.”
Sammy squared her chin and stared at him. Her lip trembled and she bit it again to steady it.
“
Agape mou
, that night when Daniels wouldn’t leave from outside the office, I was scared for you. You refused to have me with you, so I placed security on you.”
She couldn’t believe it. He’d had her tailed for months. He knew her every move. Demo had pretended not to know anything, when in reality, he knew everything. He’d lied to her!
“They sent me a report every week, but I never opened any of them. I didn’t want to invade your privacy, and I knew you were okay because you came to work every day. They were instructed to call me immediately if you were ever in danger, and they did, twice. Once on Christmas and then again on Valentine’s Day. Sammy, he knows where you live.”
She tried to listen to what he was saying, but the jackhammer working full steam in her head drowned out his words. Sammy only heard that he had her followed. Her eyes burned, her stomach roiled and her head pounded.
Why would he do that? Why go through the trouble and not read the reports?
“I didn’t want to pry. I wanted to keep you safe.” She saw him swallow and his Adam’s apple bulge before he continued. “If you despise me for that, then hate me. I’m not sorry for trying to keep you safe. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you. But, God help me, I would do it all again if I were in the same situation.”
“Why?” she asked, trembling and blinded by the tears in her eyes.
“Because I protect what I love.” His large hands closed around her waist and he lifted her against him, clamping his fingers to her as if he needed her support to breathe. “
Agape mou,
I could not bear it if something happened to you and I did nothing to prevent it. It would tear me apart to lose you.”
“You did it. You are the mysterious tenant. You rented the apartment in the lobby of my building.”
“Yes. I also changed the intercom system and the front door. And, like I’ve already admitted, I would do it again if I had to.” His fingers released her. He must’ve realized the pressure he was applying was too great. Then he shook his head. “No, I take that back. I wouldn’t do it again. I’d make you move into the penthouse with me. I’d tell you the whole truth if it happened today. I wouldn’t give you a reason again—a reason to leave me.”
“Tell me everything you know. I need the truth, no matter how bad it is,” she told him, forcing her stomach to settle.
“Like I said, he knows where you live. Security intercepted him at your building’s entrance on more than one occasion. It was a good thing they were off-duty police officers, because one look at their badges and he turned to leave. That was the extent of my physical interference in your life.”
“You had no right.”
“I should have told you. I’m sorry for that. I had no choice but to take action.”
She didn’t want to admit it, but on a deeper level, she was thankful. She nodded and reluctantly listened to his reasoning.
“Since last Saturday, he’s sent your work e-mail account twenty-seven messages—all threatening and some gory. Monday, poisoned chocolates were delivered from an anonymous admirer.”
“You knew all this and didn’t say anything?”
“No. Not all of it. I talked to Tony while you were in the shower and he read me the updated reports. I knew part of it, but I wasn’t sure about most. I didn’t want to worry you.”
Finding new strength in her fear, she jumped to her feet and walked to the opposite side of the table. “I know my e-mail is monitored, but how do they know the chocolates were poisoned?”
“When I called the office on Monday, Tony’s secretary asked me if you’d mind if she distributed the chocolate. She said it was a shame to let such good stuff go to waste. It was a cliché—poisoned chocolates. But I had it sent to a lab for testing. The truffles were laced with a common street drug.”
She gasped in horror and raised a shaky hand to cover her mouth. “Truffles are my favorite.”
“I know, and I guessed that Daniels knows it too.” He stood and walked around the table to stand beside her.
Visually daring him not to answer her, she met his gaze. “How long have you suspected all of this?”
“Since the night you left New York.”
“And were you planning to share this information about my life with me?
“No,” he said, breaking their eye contact and looking down. “Like I said, I didn’t want to worry you. I know now that it was wrong not to tell you. You’re a strong woman, and you’ve been taking care of yourself. I just didn’t want you to slip into the state you were in at the beginning of December. You were so sad, so hurt.
Agape mou
, no one should ever make you feel like that.”
Never would she have guessed that he’d known how she’d felt during that horrid time. She’d had no clue that he cared or noticed. But he had, and she wanted to sing it from the rooftops. He’d noticed her. He’d cared.
“I won’t keep anything from you again. I promise.” Making the sign of the cross, he gave her his word. He tried to touch her hair, but she turned and walked away.
“Is there any more?”
“Yes. I think he’s in Crete,” he said.
She spun on her heels and stared at him. That did it. She was terrified. The monster was here? How could she confront that tormenting face again?
Demo nodded to confirm she’d heard correctly, and this time she let him touch her and rub her upper arms.
“Yesterday, I thought a car was tailing us when we went for lunch.”