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A spear of ice pinned her in place as her lips parted on a soundless gasp. A full minute passed. Her lungs burned until she managed to force herself back from the brink of unconsciousness. ‘Excuse me, I...I think you’ve got the wrong number.’
The ugly laugh at the end of the line shook her to the very soul. ‘We both know I don’t have the wrong number, don’t we, sweetheart?
She didn’t respond—couldn’t—because the phone had fallen from her nerveless fingers.
Another full minute passed. ‘Hello?’ came the impatient echoing voice. ‘Anna?’
Numbness spreading through her, she picked up the phone. ‘I told you there...there’s no one by that name working here.’
But it was too late. She recognised the taunting, reedy voice at the end of the line. It was a voice she’d been dreading hearing again since her return from Point Noire.
‘I can play along if you prefer, Anna. Hell, I’ll even call you by your new name, Brianna Moneypenny. But we both know to me you’ll always be Anna, don’t we?’ mocked Greg Landers.
CHAPTER SEVEN (#u92907484-af35-5d5e-9473-9686b63013ed)
‘WHAT DO YOU want, Greg?’ Brianna snapped into her mobile phone as she threw her bag on the tiny sofa in her small living room.
‘What? No hello, no pleasantries? Never mind. I’m glad you were sensible enough to return my call. Although, I don’t get why you didn’t want to speak to me at your office. I made sure Pantelides wasn’t there before I called.’
Shock made her grip the edge of the seat. ‘You’re having him watched?’
‘No, I’m having you watched. You’re the one I’m interested in.’
‘Me?’
‘Yes. For now, at least. Tell me, why the name change?’
Bitterness rose in a sweltering tide, bringing a sickening haze that made the furnishings of her small flat blur. ‘Why the hell do you think? You destroyed my life, Greg. After you lied and swore under oath in court that I embezzled funds from your company, when we both know that it was you who set up that Cayman Islands account in my name. Do you think after what you put me through anyone would’ve hired me once they knew I’d been to prison for embezzlement?’
‘Tsk-tsk, let’s not blow things out of proportion, shall we? You served well under half of the four-year prison term. If it’s any consolation, I only expected you to get a slap on the wrist.’
‘It’s not a consolation!’
‘Besides,’ he continued as if she hadn’t interrupted, ‘I hear those prisons are just a step down from glorified holiday camps.’
The scar on her hip—the result of a shiv, courtesy of an inmate whose attention she wouldn’t return—burned at the careless dismissal of what had been a horrific period of her life. ‘It’s a shame you decided not to try it out for yourself, then, instead of turning coward and letting someone else take the blame for your greed. Now, are you going to tell me what this call is about or shall I hang up?’
‘Hang up and I’ll make sure your salacious past is the first thing Pantelides reads about when he steps into that ivory tower of his tomorrow morning.’
Brianna’s hand tightened around the phone at the ruthless tone. ‘How did you find me, anyway?’ Not that it mattered now. But she’d used every last penny to erase her past, to make sure every trace of Anna Simpson was wiped clean as soon as she’d attained her freedom.
‘I didn’t. You found me, through the wonderful medium of TV. Imagine my surprise when I tuned in, like every environmentally conscious individual out there who’s horrified about the Pantelides oil spillage, to find you right behind the main man himself. It took me a few minutes to recognise you, though. I much prefer you blonde to the brunette you used to be. Which is the real thing?’
‘I fail to see...’ She stopped because the Greg she’d known, the man she’d once foolishly thought herself in love with, hadn’t changed. He believed himself a witty and clever conversationalist and was never one to get to the point until he was ready. It was one of the things—many things, she realised now—that had irritated her about him. ‘Blonde is my natural colour.’
Greg sighed. ‘Such a shame you chose to wear that dull brown when I knew you. Maybe I’d have thought twice before taking the route I took.’
‘No, you wouldn’t have. Your slimy nature makes you interested in taking care of number one. Are you going to tell me what you want any time soon?’
‘You’re distressed so I’ll let that insult slide. But be careful now or I’ll forget my manners. Now, what do I want? It’s very simple: I want Pantelides Shipping. And you’re going to help me get it.’
You’re out of your mind was the first of many outraged responses that rushed into her head. She managed to stop herself before they spilled out. Slowly, she sank onto her sofa, the only piece of furniture in her living room aside from a lone coffee table, as her mind raced.
‘And why would I do that?’
‘To protect your dirty little secret, of course.’
She licked her lips as fear threatened to swamp any semblance of clear thinking. ‘What makes you think my boss doesn’t already know?’
‘Don’t take me for a fool, Anna.’
‘My name is Brianna.’ The woman Greg thought he knew no longer existed.
‘If you want to keep calling yourself that, you’ll give me what I want. And don’t bother telling me Pantelides knows about your past. He’s scrupulous when it comes to any hint of scandal. You’re the last person he’d employ if he knew your past was as shady as his father’s.’
This time her gasp was audible. It echoed around the room in tones of pain, shock and anger. ‘You know about his father?’
‘I do my homework, sweetheart. And if he’d bothered to do his he’d have discovered who you really were. But I’m glad he didn’t, because now you’re in the perfect position to help me.’
The vice tightened harder around her chest. ‘What exactly is it you want me to do?’
‘I need information. As much as you can get your hands on. Specifically, which of the board members hold the largest shares, aside from Pantelides. And which of the other members will be amenable to selling what shares they have.’
‘You know this will never work, don’t you? Sakis—Mr Pantelides—will crush you if you come within a whisper of his company.’
‘God, you haven’t gone and done it again, have you, Anna?’ came the soft taunt.
Brianna shivered. ‘Done what?’
‘Offered that foolish little heart of yours on a silver platter to another boss?’ he murmured in a pitying voice.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ But deep down there was no hiding from the truth. Her feelings for Sakis had morphed from purely professional to something else. Something she was vehemently unwilling to examine right now, when she needed all her wits about her to defend herself against what her grimy ex was intent on pulling her into.
‘You have four days, Anna. I’ll be in touch and I expect you to have the information I need.’
Her mouth went dry. Her heart hammered with sick fear and loathing and the unmistakeable, sinking feeling of inevitability. ‘And if I don’t?’
‘Then your boss will wake up to a most tantalising double-page spread of his treasured assistant in the tabloid press on Saturday morning. I’m pretty sure with very little effort I can get Pantelides Shipping to start trending again on all social media.’
Her belly quivered and she clenched her muscles hard. ‘Why are you doing this? Haven’t you done enough? Aren’t the millions you squirrelled away enough?’
‘Every Joe Bloggs knows how to make a million these days. No, sweetheart, my ambitions are set much higher than that. I’d hoped my association with Moorecroft would see me there but the fool folded at the first sign of adversity. Fortunately, I have you now.’
‘I haven’t agreed to anything.’
‘But you will. You covet your position almost as much as I covet the prospect of acquiring Pantelides Shipping. Make no mistake, I will have it.’
‘Greg—’
‘I’ll be in touch on Friday. Don’t disappoint me, Anna.’
He hung up before she could appeal to his better nature. Who was she kidding? Greg had no better nature. He was a vulture who ruthlessly fed on the weak.
The discovery that he’d engineered her to take the fall for his failing company over three years ago had rocked her to the core. When he’d pleasantly asked her to act as his co-director, she’d thought nothing of it, especially when he’d brought in a legal expert to explain things to her. Of course, it’d turned out the so-called legal expert had been in on the scheme to bleed his company dry before declaring bankruptcy and leaving her to take the fall.
She’d had time to dwell on her stupidity and gullibility in the maximum-security prison the judge had sentenced her to, to set an example.
Brianna staggered up from the sofa, swaying on shaky legs as her mind spun with the impossibility of her situation.
The very idea of betraying Sakis made her stomach turn over in revulsion.
He would never forgive her if she brought his company under unpalatable scrutiny so soon after his tanker’s crash and having the memory of his father resurrected.
She could resign with immediate effect. But what would stop Greg from spewing his vitriol purely out of spite?
Telling Sakis the truth was out of the question.
Betrayal is betrayal. The reason for it ceases to matter once the act is done.
Casting her gaze around the almost empty room, another shiver raked through her.
Run!
The stark reality of her harsh childhood had made it impossible for her to fully imbed herself in any one place, even this place she called her sanctuary. At least, if she had to run, she could be out of here in less than half an hour.
She pressed her lips together as a spike of rebellion clayed her feet. Why should she run? She’d done nothing wrong. Her only folly had been to delude herself into thinking Greg cared for her. But she’d paid the price for it.
No more. No more!
Throwing down the mobile phone, she went into her equally sparsely furnished bedroom. The bed lay on wooden slats on the floor. Aside from a super-sized papier-mâché cat she’d bought at a Sunday market months ago, only a tall, broad-leafed ficus plant graced the room. Her only indulgence was the luxury cashmere throw and the fluffy pillows on the bed. Even the built-in wardrobe held only the collection of designer suits Sakis had insisted she used her expense account for when she’d joined Pantelides Shipping. Her own clothes consisted of a few pairs of jeans and tops, one set of jogging bottoms and jumper and two pairs of trainers.
Those would be easy to pack.
No; she refused to think like a fugitive. She had nothing to be ashamed of.
With shaky fingers, she undressed and entered the en suite bathroom, suddenly eager to wash away the grime of her conversation with Greg. But his threat lingered in the air, in the water. No matter how much she scrubbed, she felt tainted by the thought that she had even contemplated betrayal to save her own skin.
The pounding at her door finally registered over the hammering of her heart and the rush of the shower. Twisting the tap shut, she heard the faint sound of her mobile just before another round of hammering made her lunge for her dressing down. With a quick sluice of a towel over her body, she went to her door and peered through the peephole.
The massive frame of Sakis looming through the distorted glass quickly eroded the relief that Greg hadn’t found his way to her flat.
It seemed the two people responsible for the angst in her life were determined to breach her sanctuary at all costs today.
Pulse skittering out of control, Brianna cracked open the door. ‘I...I didn’t know you knew where I lived.’ She looked into his clenched-jawed face and her words died on her lips. ‘Why are you here?’
‘I came here because...’ He stopped, then clawed a hand through his hair. ‘Hell, I’m not exactly sure why I came here. But I know I didn’t want to be at the penthouse by myself.’ He raked his hand through his hair again. The weariness she’d glimpsed on his face earlier seemed amplified a hundred-fold. The soft place inside her chest that had been expanding since their pancake episode this morning widened even further and she found herself stepping back.
‘I... Would you like to come in?’
Lips pursed, he nodded. Standing to one side in the narrow hallway, she held her breath as he entered her sanctuary.
Immediately, he dwarfed the space. She shut the door and entered the living room to find him pacing the space in short, jerky strides.
‘Can I get you a drink?’ She hadn’t touched the bottle of scotch that had come with her Christmas hamper last year. Now she was grateful for it as she produced the bottle and Sakis nodded.
She took out a glass, poured a healthy measure and passed it to him.
‘Aren’t you having one?’ Despite his question, his gaze was focused on the amber liquid in his hand.
‘I don’t really...’ She stopped. After what she’d been through already tonight, what she sensed was coming, perhaps a small drink wouldn’t hurt. She poured a single shot for herself, took a sip and nearly choked as the liquid burned a fiery path through her chest.
With a grim smile, Sakis tossed his own drink back in one unflinching gulp. He set his glass down on the coffee table and faced her.
‘Why did you leave?’
The reason for returning home blazed at the back of her mind. Although she’d done nothing wrong, guilt clawed through her nevertheless. She licked her lips then froze when his eyes darkened. ‘I haven’t been home in a while. I just wanted to touch base.’
‘And touching base precluded you from answering your phone?’
She glanced at the phone she’d abandoned on the sofa after her call with Greg. Picking it up, she activated it and saw twelve missed calls on the screen.
‘Sorry, I was in the shower.’
His agitated pacing brought him closer. He stopped a couple of feet from her. But the distance meant nothing because she could feel the heat of his body reaching out, caressing her, claiming her. Tendrils of damp hair that had escaped the knot clung to her nape, sending tiny rivulets of water down her back. Supremely conscious that she was naked beneath her gown, she tried to take a step back but her feet were frozen on the carpet.
His gaze traced over her and stopped at the rapid rise and fall of her chest. She watched his fists clench and release as stark hunger transformed his face into a mesmerising mask.
‘I’m sorry to have disturbed you,’ he rasped, but nothing in his tone or his face showed contrition. Instead, his stare intensified, whipping the air around her until a helpless moan escaped her lips.
Abandoning reason, Brianna stepped closer, bringing her body flush against his. Knowing she risked betraying her very soul, but unable to stop herself, she cupped his jaw. ‘You ordered me to stop working. I didn’t think you’d need me tonight.’
Her breath caught as his gaze moved hungrily over her lips.
‘No, Brianna. Far from it. I need you. More now than I’ve ever needed you before. You’re the only one who makes the world make sense to me.’
‘I...I am?’
‘Ne. I didn’t like it when I couldn’t reach you.’ His head dropped a fraction until his forehead touched hers. ‘I can’t function without you by my side.’
‘I’m here now,’ she whispered, her throat clogged with emotions she couldn’t give name to. No, scratch that: it was desire, passion and compassion all rolled into one needful and relentless ache. That visceral need to connect with Sakis that she’d never felt with anyone else, not even her own mother. ‘Whatever you need, I’m here.’
One hand fisted her damp, precariously knotted hair, pulling it back almost roughly so her face was tilted up and exposed to his. ‘Are you?’ he enquired roughly.
She gave a shaky nod. ‘Yes.’
‘Be very sure, glikia mou. Because this time I won’t be able to stop. If you don’t want me to go any further, tell me now.’ His eyes searched her urgently, his need clearly displayed in the harsh whistle of breath that escaped his parted lips.
The hard body plastered to hers made thinking near impossible but Brianna knew one thing—this could be her one chance to be with Sakis. After Friday, she’d be out of a job—one she would be sacked from or have to resign from.
