Shaken, Nikos had still refused to go to the funeral, or meet his half-siblings. He’d also refused the shares in the company. He hadn’t wanted any part of the family who’d been more important to his father than he and his mother had been.
But it was the kindness in her letter that had shocked him the most. She’d been so gentle, when he’d expected only hate. The confusion and pain had driven him to Anna’s house. He’d instinctively sought her comfort, her arms, her bed, and they’d conceived Michael...
Anna gave him a piercing turquoise glance, as if she guessed his thoughts. “But how can you still hate your father now that you know that he helped you?”
“If I’d known he was the investor behind the venture capital firm that financed my first hotel, I would have tossed the money back in his face.”
“But—”
“He was a married man when he seduced my mother. He got her pregnant, then sent her packing to New York. The man is nothing to me.”
“But your stepmother—”
“Don’t ever call her that again.”
“Your—your father’s widow said he tried to send you money every month of your childhood. Your mother was the one who always sent it back.”
Yes, he remembered what the Greek woman had said—that his father had always loved Nikos, that he’d tried to visit and send child support but his proud mother had refused. She’d even said that his father hadn’t wanted his mother to go to New York, that he’d been heartbroken when she’d left. She’d said his mother was the one who had refused to let him see his son.
Nikos didn’t know who to believe.
His mother, of course, he told himself furiously. She had died taking care of him. She deserved his loyalty.
The last thing Nikos wanted to do was read another of the Greek woman’s letters. The past was dead and gone. Better to let it remain buried.
Unfortunately, Anna didn’t see it that way. Her lips pressed in a determined line. “I’m going to read the letter.”
He grabbed her hand as she reached for the letter opener on his desk. “You’re quick to arrange my family affairs. Is it to avoid dealing with your own?”
She hesitated. “What do you mean?”
“Why did your sister come here? You’ve evaded the question for over a week. I’d like an answer.”
She tugged on her hand, but he held her fast. “It’s nothing,” she mumbled. “A family quarrel.”
“Does it have anything to do with Victor Sinistyn?”
She pulled away with a savage force that he hadn’t expected. “Just stay out of it! I don’t need your pity and I don’t need your help. I can handle it on my own—”
She grabbed at the letter opener with a trembling hand, plunging the sharp edge of the blade into the side of the blue envelope with far too much vigor. It sliced her palm, and she squelched a scream, holding out her bleeding hand.
“Let me see your hand,” Nikos demanded.
She turned her face away in a fruitless attempt to hide her tears. He was relieved that she didn’t resist as he gently took her hand. Blood from the cut smudged against the cuff of his shirt as he narrowly examined the wound.
“I don’t think you’ll need stitches.” He’d been hurt enough times while sparring in his boxing club to be a pretty good judge. “Let’s just clean it in case of infection.”
He led her into the adjoining bathroom, and she followed him, seemingly in a daze. She winced as he placed her hand under the running water. He dried it off softly with a thick white cotton hand towel.
“This might sting a little,” he said, before he applied the antiseptic he kept in the cabinet for any injuries he got working out at the club.
She closed her eyes. His hand tightened over her fingers and he felt a strangely agonizing beat of his heart that he was hurting her, even though it was for her own good.
He placed the small bandage over the cut. “All done.”
She opened her eyes. “Thank you.” She started to pull away, but he stopped her.
“Anna, tell me what hold Sinistyn has got over you.”
“He doesn’t.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“I don’t need your charity, and I don’t want your help,” she said. “It’s my family’s private business.” But even as she spoke the words he could see the tremor of her swanlike throat, the nervous flutter of her dark lashes.
“Not if it affects my son.”
Her eyes went wide. “You think I would endanger Misha?”
He glowered at her silently until he saw her blush. Good. Let her remember her worldwide travels to unheated ramshackle apartments on her own.
“Go to hell,” she said, and left him. But she’d barely gone three steps back into his office before he caught her unhurt hand.
“Tell me, or I’ll beat it out of Sinistyn. Or maybe I’ll just ask Cooper to track down Natalie. I doubt she’s gone far.”
“Please don’t.” She lowered her gaze to her clasped hands, then sank slowly into the hard wooden chair by his desk. “All right. I’ll tell you. We’re in debt.”
“How much?”
She took a deep breath, still unable to meet his eyes. “It was six million, but now it’s four.” She suddenly gave a hysterical laugh and leaned forward, rubbing her temples. “It’s at a thirty-five-percent interest rate and compounding daily. That’s why we were at my great-grandmother’s palace, trying to get it into decent shape to find a buyer. But the palace needs a fortune in renovations to make it livable.”
“You should have asked me for the money.”
“You think I’d sell myself for a palace?”
“Anna!”
“Thank you for your kind offer, but we found a buyer already.”
“For the palace, or for you?” he asked, trying to spur her into energy. Anything to make her eyes look less dead and defeated than they did at this moment. But she didn’t even rise to his bait.
“Both, I think,” she said dully. “Victor bought the palace from my mother for two million dollars. That’s why we only owe him four million instead of six. He’s planning to raze the palace and build a new house as a wedding present to me.”
“What?” he exploded.
“Victor has wanted me for a long time.” Rubbing the back of her neck wearily, she rose from the chair and started to pace. “He’s been lending my parents money over the years because he knew that eventually we’d default. I think it was his way to...to back me into a corner.”
Rage went through Nikos. Looking at the circles under her eyes, he wanted to rip the other man apart. “I’ll kill him.”
She shook her head. “No. I can handle him. I’ll talk to Victor, make him understand that I don’t love him and I’ll never be his wife. If you want to help me, there’s just one thing you can do. One thing that would really, really help me.”
“What’s that?” Nikos asked, relieved at her admission that she had no intention of marrying Victor Sinistyn.
She looked at him with a painful expression of hope in her lovely almond-shaped eyes. “Hire me back as your secretary so I can pay back our family’s debt.”
“I told you. You don’t have to worry about the debt. I’ll handle it,” Nikos said. And I’ll start by destroying Sinistyn, he vowed privately.
“Please, just hire me back,” she begged—Anna the proud, who never begged for anything.
He took her hand. He wanted to cover her with kisses, let her know that she was safe, let her know that he’d never let anyone hurt her again. “I’ll keep you safe, and your family, too. I swear to you on my life.”
“I just need a job.” She licked her lips nervously—full pink lips that were made to be kissed. For a moment he couldn’t stop looking at her mouth. Why hadn’t he bedded her yet? Why hadn’t he kissed her every hour, every moment? He tried to remember as she continued desperately, “I’ll work from home so I can still take good care of the baby. And you’ll be glad to have me back in your office, I promise. I’ll make you so glad—”
“No,” he said harshly, furious at how tempted he was to give in to her. Hell, he’d love to have her as his secretary again. His life was so much easier with Anna by his side. And it was hard for him to deny her anything when he wanted to kiss her so badly. But he couldn’t be selfish. Not now. “I don’t want you as my secretary. I want you as my wife.”
“Nikos, please,” she whispered, with those full pink lips. She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts upwards beneath her slim white shirt. “I need this so badly—”
So did he.
Taking her in his arms, he kissed her.