‘You say you signed papers, which I assume implicated you. Did he force you to sign them? Did he stand over you with a gun or threaten you in any way?’
‘Um...no, he didn’t. He tricked me.’
His disbelieving snort stopped the flow of her words. ‘You expect me to believe that the ruthlessly efficient executive assistant who’s been in my employ these last eighteen months was the same person who would sign papers without first checking them in triplicate? I assume you were so in love with him, you believed every saintly word that fell from his lips?’
She flinched but remained silent and her hands dropped.
Sakis was glad his rage had ravaged every other emotion otherwise he’d have felt the drowning desolation of that silent confirmation. The woman he loved...loved someone else.
Jerking to his feet, he rounded his desk and called his head of security. Once he’d hung up, he stared down at the papers on his desk, willing his frozen mind to focus. ‘Give me your phone.’
She frowned. ‘What?’
‘Your phone. I know you’ve got it in your pocket. Hand it over.’
Almost in a daze, she did as he asked. ‘What are you going to do with it?’
He threw it in his desk drawer, locked it and pocketed the key. ‘As of right now, it’s evidence of your duplicity. I’ll hand it over to the police when the time is right.’
She sucked in a frightened breath. ‘No! Please, Sakis. I can’t...I can’t go back to prison.’
Despite thinking he was too numb to feel, the torment and horror in her eyes sent a shaft of pain through him.
His gaze dropped to her hip, to the place where her scar resided. ‘That’s where you sustained that injury, wasn’t it? In jail?’ he asked, feeling another shot of scalding pain.
‘Yes. I was attacked.’
Theos! He turned to face the window so she wouldn’t see his eyes clamp shut or the steadying breath he took.
When he heard the knock on his door, relief flooded him. Sheldon entered and Sakis shoved unsteady hands deeper into his pocket and turned around.
‘Escort Miss Moneypenny off my property. Put her on the same plane returning the other company employees. I want her under twenty-four-hour guard until you hear from me. If she tries to run, you have my permission to physically restrain her and call the police. Is that understood?’
A stunned Sheldon nodded. ‘Yes, sir.’
‘Sakis, I know you don’t believe me, but please be careful. Greg’s a slippery bastard.’
He didn’t turn around.
‘Sakis!’ Her desperate plea made him flinch but her betrayal cut too deep.
Nevertheless, he allowed himself one last look. Her face was devoid of colour and her lips trembled uncontrollably. But her eyes, even though they pleaded with him, held a condemnation that made his fists curl in his pockets.
Sakis wasn’t sure how long he stood there. It might have been minutes, it might have been hours.
When his door was thrust open, he turned slowly, his body feeling alien and frozen.
‘Is everything okay?’ Ari asked as he sauntered in, Theo close behind. There was an almost pitying note in his voice that made Sakis’s belly clench hard.
‘No, everything is not okay.’
‘Ah, that’s too bad, brother. Because all hell’s broken loose.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
BRIANNA DRAGGED HERSELF out of bed and walked to her window, hoping for a miracle but knowing hope was useless.
Sure enough, Sakis’s guard dog was in place in the dark SUV, just like he’d been for the last three days. She didn’t bother looking out of her kitchen window because she knew there would be another SUV stationed in the back alley behind her building, should she get the notion of flinging herself out of her second-floor apartment window and making a run for it.