The Innocent's Surrender (10 page)

He shrugged uncomfortably. ?She knows everything, except that Mandrakis can rob her of her home if he pleases. That at least we have kept from her, in case, by some miracle, he decides to be merciful after all.?

She said quietly, ?I don?t think mercy features largely in his plans,? and put down her bags.

As she moved towards Madame Papadimos, Maria ran over and seized her arm.

?Sister?we have been waiting for you, Christina and I. Our husbands say this is ruin for us all. But this cannot be. Tell us what we must do.?

?I thought I already did,? Natasha said, wondering how many thousands of pounds? worth of jewellery Maria and Christina were wearing between them. ?Just a few weeks ago. But no one wanted to listen. Now it looks as if the boys will have to find jobs in order to keep you in manicures. It?s a tough old world out there.?

?How cruel you are,? Maria said, stifling a sob. ?Anyone would think we were to blame, and not that pig?that brute, Mandrakis.?

?Oh, I think I know exactly where the guilt lies,? Natasha said, and turned away. As she did so, she encountered a look from Irini so venomous that she almost took a step backwards. My God, she thought. Isn?t one damaging vendetta enough for this family? Does she have to carry on her hate campaign even now when we should be standing united?

But she recovered herself, and made her way over to Thia Theodosia.

She knelt beside her foster mother?s chair, and took a thin hand in hers.

She said softly, ?I?m so terribly sorry, darling. Thank heavens Thio Basilis can?t know what is happening.?

?The seeds for this harvest were sown a long time ago,
pedhi mou
, and I always knew its fruit would be bitter.? Madame Papadimos sounded calm but tired. ?Basilis could have stopped it so many times, but he would not do so, even at the last.? She sighed. ?You saw only the good side of him, my child, but he could be cold?cold like ice. Harsh, too, and unforgiving. And as a result our lives, our security have been destroyed.?

Natasha stared up at her with faint shock. She had never heard Madame Papadimos utter a word of criticism about her late husband before. But then, she couldn?t remember her foster mother making any overt reference to the feud, either. In fact, she?d always sensed that the older woman found the subject too painful to discuss.

Whereas I, she thought, decided it was just a lot of macho rivalry between two powerful men that had had been allowed to get ludicrously out of control. Something that could be safely ignored.

I certainly never realised how serious it might become?or that I could get caught up in it, and be made to suffer like this as a result.

After Alex Mandrakis had left that morning, she?d simply stayed where she was, sitting on the terrace, too numb to move as her mind circled on the same weary, hopeless treadmill, looking for some means of escape, and failing to find one. Knowing that, unless she co-operated, he would do exactly as he?d said.

Baraskevi, accompanied by a younger girl, had come eventually to clear the breakfast things, both clicking their tongues over how little she had eaten, and anxiously offering other food and fresh coffee, all of which she?d declined before, once she was alone again, sinking back into her bitter reverie.

And most of her mental struggles, she had to admit, had involved the frail woman beside her, who?d shown her nothing but sweetness and affection since her arrival in Athens as a scared, silent child. Someone who did not deserve to have her comfort and peace of mind wrecked in an act of triumphant vengeance by a man who had already taken too much. But who wanted everything.

Looking back, she could see that there had always been an element of sadness about Madame Papadimos, which, with hindsight, might have suggested her marriage was not the easiest of relationships.

But because they both loved me, Natasha thought unhappily, I took the love between them for granted too. Yet it may have been a more complex situation than I ever dreamed.

Now she carried her foster mother?s hand gently to her cheek. She?d never had any real choice, she thought, as Alex Mandrakis had known perfectly well when he offered it. Whatever her private thoughts on the rest of the family, there was no way she would allow Thia Theodosia to suffer the ignominy of eviction on top of everything else.

And all she could do now, she told herself, was steel herself to the inevitable?and survive.

?Not everything will be lost,? she said quietly. ?And that?s a promise.?

She saw Irini approaching, and rose hastily. She already felt brittle enough to shatter in tiny pieces, and decided that any more petulant hostility from the other girl might just push her over the edge. Something she could not afford in the circumstances.

She needed to be calm and in control of herself and her emotions at all times, particularly if she was to make Alex Mandrakis totally regret this one-sided bargain he?d forced on her.

She needed to ensure that any pleasure he derived from her would be less than minimal, and if that meant retreating back into a shell of bored indifference to resist his advances, then that was exactly what she?d do.

I?m one victory he?ll never win, she resolved stonily, moving to the side of the room and looking down with spurious interest at the neatly arrayed newspapers and journals on a table there. I?ll make damned certain that he?ll be glad to call it a day?or a night?and send me home.

But when, a moment later, a hand touched her arm, she spun round with a little choking cry, only to find herself confronted by a complete stranger?a thin, grey-haired man with glasses.

?Kyria Kirby?? He inclined his head with formal politeness. ?I regret if I startled you. My client, Kyrios Mandrakis, wishes to know whether you have yet come to a decision on the matter he discussed with you earlier. I am to take him your answer.?

She swallowed, steadying her flurried breathing. ?Then you may tell him?yes,? she said huskily. ?That I accept his terms.?

He nodded. ?I will convey that to him,
thespinis
,? he said, and moved away.

Watching him go, Natasha wondered almost hysterically if he had the least idea of the precise nature of the morning?s discussion. Whether or not he knew he?d just put an unwilling girl in his client?s bed. Or if he?d even care.

Get real, she told herself, scornfully. It won?t be the first dubious transaction of this kind that he?s been involved with. Not when he works for a man like Alex Mandrakis.

Nor would it be the last.

And suddenly, for no good reason that she could fathom, Natasha found herself sinking her teeth painfully into her lower lip.

The summons to the conference room came a few minutes later. Allowing sufficient time for her message to be delivered, Natasha thought bleakly as she allowed herself to be ushered down the corridor, only Madame Papadimos and her daughters-in-law remaining behind as non-board members.

Drawing a deep breath, she took her seat at the foot of the long polished table, Stavros and Andonis providing a solid bulwark between Irini and herself.

But she could still feel the other?s dislike reaching out to her like the first scorching touch of a naked flame.

What?s the matter with her? Natasha wondered silently. Surely she can?t hold me responsible in any way for what?s happened?

The opposing lawyers were lined up on either side of the table, bulging document files open in front of them, maintaining an appearance of civilised professional chat, while secretaries were bustling in with bottled water and trays of thick, sweet coffee.

But nothing could lessen the tingling tension in the room. The oppressive suggestion that some countdown had begun.

Because, at the head of the table, an empty chair was waiting. A throne for the conqueror, she thought bitterly. Whenever he chose to appear in order to stake his claim to his new empire.

And to herself?

It occurred to her uneasily that she should probably have informed her brothers in advance of her reluctant agreement with Alex Mandrakis. Warned them what to expect.

Except that they?d have undoubtedly gone into full explosion mode, she thought with a silent sigh, possibly wrecking the single concession her surrender had achieved in the process. She could not risk that.

But perhaps, too, she was still foolishly hoping?praying?that even now he might have a last-minute change of heart. That he might decide she was not worth the effort, after all, and simply accept her spoken compliance with his wishes instead of the coldly resentful physical capitulation which was the most he could hope for.

If so, there would be no need to say anything at all. And last night, therefore, could be put behind her as if it had never happened.

Unless?

But she wouldn?t let herself think about that. Refused to consider the possibility that her first, soulless encounter with a man might, even now, be bearing fruit.

Not that, she thought passionately. I can stand anything but that.

She was not watching the door at the far end of the room, yet she knew the exact moment when Alex Mandrakis finally came in.

It was not necessary for her to look up from her fixed scrutiny of the table, because a faint tremor went through her, as if a lazy fingertip had trailed the length of her spine, even before the scrape of chairs announced that the legal fraternity had risen respectfully to greet him.

Under her shirt, her skin felt damp. She had to resist an impulse to shift restlessly, to lick dry lips and raise a nervous hand to push back a stray tress of hair.

Beside her, she saw Andonis?s hands clench on the table until the knuckles turned white, and she placed a hand gently over his taut fist.

?Don?t let him see,? she whispered under her breath. ?Never let him see.?

Alex Mandrakis spoke calmly and quietly in his own language, bidding everyone present good afternoon, and welcoming them to the meeting. There was no false note, or audible gloating in his voice.

As if, Natasha thought almost dazedly, this was just another day, with just another deal to be done. As maybe it was?for him. But not for them, or for the distraught women waiting in the other room.

And not for me
?

As people resumed their seats, she ventured a swift glance under her lashes. But he was not looking at her, as she?d half expected. His attention was fixed on the sheaf of papers that had been placed in front of him, and which were being delivered to everyone else round the table, herself included. His expression was aloof and even a little stern.

As the man with glasses, who introduced himself as Ari Stanopoulos, rose to outline the main features of the buyout, Stavros and Andonis were leafing through their bundles of documents almost feverishly, their faces strained and dejected as each item of bad news was finally and irrevocably confirmed.

But as he reached the end, Andonis gave a smothered gasp. ?The house,? he muttered behind his hand. ?There is no mention of the house. Perhaps that devil has some atom of humanity, after all.?

But he?d obviously not spoken quietly enough, because all heads turned in their direction, and Alex Mandrakis himself looked down the table at them, his mouth twisting in cynical hauteur.

He said silkily, ?Or perhaps I have decided to trade it for something I prefer, Kyrios Papadimos.?

And for a nanosecond, his gaze flicked to Natasha.

No one else could possibly have noticed, but she was aware of the fleeting caress of his eyes, just as he?d intended she should be, and she felt her body burn suddenly under her clothes. She poured some water into a glass and drank, forcing the cool liquid past the tightening muscles in her throat, as she made herself accept that there would be no reprieve. That he intended to enforce their unholy deal.

There was a pause, then Ari Stanopoulos, with a slight cough, renewed his summary of terms, while Stavros and Andonis exchanged bewildered shrugs.

Natasha let the words brush over her, without even attempting to follow them. Her mind was already reaching ahead to the end of the meeting. To the ?trade?, and all its implications.

You do what you have to do, she told herself steadily, as and when he requires, and no more. You don?t protest, and you don?t plead. You speak only when spoken to. You ask for nothing. You don?t look at him unless you have to, you certainly don?t smile, and you never cry. That above all.

She realised that Ari Stanopoulos had finished and sat down, allowing the Papadimos lawyers to voice their objections, but it was clear their hearts weren?t in it. They?d been defeated long before this meeting had been scheduled, and they knew it.

It?s all over bar the shouting, she thought as she took the pen she was handed and silently signed her name where indicated. And the shouting was probably about to begin.

She watched the broad smiles of the Mandrakis team as they shook hands with each other, exuberantly applauding the young man sitting quietly and collectedly at the head of the table.

?Let us go,? Stavros growled, getting to his feet. ?I wish to get out of here, before I choke.?

Alex Mandrakis pushed back his chair, and rose too, the hubbub around him silencing immediately.

He said softly, ?Natasha
mou
,? and held out his hand.

So this was how it was to be done, she thought as her stomach churned. Publicly and irrevocably, just as he?d warned.