He asked. ‘Was it you that night? The night we met?’
Something inside her relaxed a little. That was an easy question. ‘Yes, it was me.’
An expression crossed his face fleetingly. Too quick for her to decipher. She tensed again. What would he make of that information?
He took a step back from the bed. ‘I’ll leave you now. The doctor said you need to rest. I’ll come back in the morning.’
Sophy watched as he turned to leave. She only noticed now that he was wearing sweat pants and a long-sleeved top. Hair mussed. Not his usual pristine self. The thought that he hadn’t showered since they’d made love made her skin prickle with awareness. She wondered how on earth she could be feeling so carnal after what had just happened.
After what she and her sister had put him through. He was almost at the door and on an impulse she called out, ‘Wait... Apollo?’
He stopped and turned around. A muscle clenched in his jaw. ‘Yes?’
Her fingers plucked at the sheet nervously. ‘I just wanted to say... I’m so sorry. For everything.’
Apollo nodded tersely. ‘We’ll talk about it when you’re ready. Get some rest.’
He walked out, closing the door behind him. That was the problem. Sophy didn’t think she’d ever be ready to talk about it. She sagged back against the pillows. She felt more fatigued than she’d ever felt in her life.
There was little relief in remembering everything, even though she was grateful to have her memory back. To have herself back.
Sasha was dead.
She knew it instinctively, if not factually yet. There was no way she could have survived that crash. Sophy was still too numb with shock to fully absorb the death of her sister who she had loved more than life itself for so long. But who had also caused her more heartache than anyone else.
To say they’d had a complicated relationship was an understatement, but Sophy would never have guessed that Sasha would go as far as she had to engineer a good life for herself.
She’d also never forget that awful last haunting image of Sasha, pushing her free of the doomed car and saying, ‘I won’t take you with me.’
For all of her faults and frailties, her sister had saved her twice in her life...
Oh, Sash...what did you do?
Tears filled Sophy’s eyes and she turned her head to the wall, unable to stem the rising tide of emotion that engulfed her. She realised she wasn’t just crying for her sister, she was also crying because she now remembered everything that had happened the night she’d slept with Apollo.
She remembered why he hadn’t pursued her after their night together.
Because he hadn’t wanted to see her again. Because she’d been inexperienced, a virgin.
And now she knew why. Because he’d told her he didn’t do relationships after losing his entire family.
So not only had she lost her sister and realised she’d been betrayed by her too, she’d also remembered that she’d fallen for Apollo all those months ago, when they’d first met.
And they’d never had a chance.
Two days later
Sophy’s nerves were wound tight. She’d had a reprieve of sorts from facing Apollo and the inevitable discussion since returning to the villa because he’d had an emergency meeting to attend in London.
He’d left her in the capable hands of Kara and Rhea and the doctor had come to check on her that morning. Apollo must have explained everything to his staff because at one point Sophy had attempted to start to tell Rhea but she’d just patted her hand and shaken her head, saying, ‘You don’t need to tell us. We knew something was different. We’re sorry for your sister.’
Sophy had been inordinately touched, especially after everything Sasha had put them through. She knew how difficult her sister could be. She’d endured a lifetime of it and had never been quite able to break away completely.
They’d been living together in London and that was how Sophy had ended up covering for Sasha that night at the function where she’d met Apollo and where she’d had to call herself Sasha. It had been a classic Sasha request: ‘Cover for me, Soph, please! This other thing has cropped up—I’ll lose my job!’
She’d done it, of course. Just as she’d said yes to most of Sasha’s requests. After all, she’d owed Sasha so much... If it hadn’t been for her sister, Sophy might not even be—
There was a sound behind Sophy on the terrace and she looked around. It was Kara. ‘Kyrie Vasilis is in his study—he’d like to see you.’