Stavros’s expression changed slightly. ‘You’re very emotional, and I’m not surprised. You must be feeling very hurt. Used.’
Stefan saw the confusion on Selene’s face and presumably so did her father because he carried on. ‘I don’t know what this man said to you, but I’m sure it has confused you. He used you to get at me so don’t make the mistake of thinking that he cares for you.’
‘I know that.’ Selene lifted her chin. ‘And I used him to get away from you, so that probably makes us equally manipulative. It was my choice to have sex with him.’
Her father moved quickly for a man carrying such excess bulk but Stefan was faster, blocking the blow and delivering two of his own, one low and one straight to the jaw that gave a satisfying crack and sent the other man sprawling on the path.
The Antaxos security team moved forward but Stefan turned his head and sent them a single fulminating glance because now he had evidence of why she’d been so desperate to leave home.
‘You really want to defend a man who hits women? Is that in your job description?’ When they hesitated, he transferre
d his gaze to the man now crumpled at his feet.
The man who was responsible for so much pain.
His knuckles throbbed. ‘Get up.’ Stefan barely recognised his own voice. It was thickened with anger and rage and suddenly he knew he wasn’t safe around this man. ‘This is what you do to women, isn’t it? You live in this place so they can’t escape and then you treat them like this. And they don’t all get away, do they?’
‘Stefan—’
Selene’s voice penetrated that mist of fury but he ignored her, all his attention focused on her father.
‘I’m taking her away from you. You’ve lost her. And I’ll be contacting lawyers and the police. The real police, by the way—not the ones you’ve bribed.’
He watched with a complete lack of sympathy as the tycoon dragged his overweight frame upright, staggering slightly as he stood. Without the support of his security team he appeared to shrink in size.
Stefan turned briefly to Selene. ‘Go. Get in my boat. Takis will help you.’
He knew that, wounded and publicly humiliated, Stavros Antaxos was perhaps even more dangerous now than he’d been a few moments ago but to Stefan’s surprise instead of denouncing his intention to take his daughter the man appeared to crumple, the fight draining from him.
‘If she wants to go she can go, of course. I just want the best for her like any father would. But if she goes then she must live with the consequences.’
Stefan frowned. ‘The only consequences will be positive ones. Get in my boat, Selene.’
But she didn’t move. Her eyes were fixed on her father. ‘I can’t.’
He glanced at her impatiently, thinking that he must have misheard. ‘What?’
‘If I leave, he’ll hurt her. That’s what he means by living with the consequences. He’ll hurt her and it will be my fault.’
‘Who?’
‘My mother. He’ll hurt my mother.’ It was a desperate whisper. ‘It’s what he always does when I don’t do what he wants.’
‘Your mother?’
And then it fell into place, all of it, and he wondered why on earth it had taken him so long to work it out. This was why she’d wanted the cash. To get her mother away from the island. And she’d wanted to do it while her father was away in Crete. This was the plan. No rebellion. No business plan. Just an escape plan.
An escape plan he’d wrecked.
She had no other source of income. No place to go. All her resources cut off by this brutal tyrant.
Exasperation that she hadn’t told him the truth mixed in with another, unfamiliar emotion. Guilt? ‘Where is your mother now?’
‘In her room.’
With a simple movement of his head Stefan indicated that his head of security should deal with it. Reluctantly, he let go of Selene. ‘Do you feel well enough to show Takis the way? If so, go and bring her here.’
Face pale, she glanced at her father and then back at him. It was obvious she didn’t know whom to trust and the uncertainty in her face almost killed him.