Illicit Night with the Greek

“I had an emergency meeting with the security team.” He looked pale. Shaken. “They’ve informed me that there’s a credible threat against you.”

“Impossible,” she said. She knew Stergios spent millions on security cameras, safety features and armored cars. He had put a four-guard detail on her whenever she left the island and he had mentioned getting her a body double to distract the aggressive paparazzi. “Why would anyone focus on me?”

He leaned closer and splayed his hand on her rounded belly. “You’re carrying my child,” he said thickly. “It’s the best way to get back at me.”

“What are the threats?”

He reluctantly pulled away, as if he wanted to keep shielding his child with his bare hands. “I’m not discussing it with you.”

“Not...” Her mouth gaped as she watched him walk to the house. “I’m not delicate, Stergios. I have a right to know.”

He held the door for her and ushered her inside. Once he closed the door he went straight to the drink cabinet. She watched him grab a shot glass and the clear bottle of Tsipouro. She knew the threats had gotten under his skin. She had remembered how troubled Stergios had been the last time he had reached for the potent liquor.

Jodie wrapped her arms around herself as she approached him. “Why would someone tell you what they’re going to do? That ruins the element of surprise.”

“They do it to instill fear.” The drink splashed in the shot glass. “It’s amazingly effective.”

“How long have the threats been going on?” she asked.

He froze, the glass midway to his mouth. She wasn’t sure he was going to answer. “After we made our first public appearance at the museum.”

She exhaled slowly. “That long? And this is the first time you tell me?” She struggled to lower her voice. “You lecture me about not trusting you and you were hiding this?”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” he said before he downed the shot and grimaced.

Jodie shook her head. Stergios seemed to think that his need for security outweighed everything else. “So what are we going to do? Increase security?”

He paused and set the glass down hard as though it was a gavel. “I’ve decided that you’re going back to New York. You will be far away from the threat,” Stergios said as he walked to the window. He set his hands on his hips. “I’ll have the security team look over your apartment and—”

“You want our baby born in Greece,” she reminded him. Why was that no longer important? Her pulse fluttered with panic as she saw his grim face in the reflection. “You want me here.”

“This is only temporary.”

She tasted fear and swallowed hard. She hated that word. Temporary. It was vague. All of her homes had been temporary. She was finally feeling settled. This was becoming her home and now she had to leave. “What if it isn’t?”

He was silent. Stergios didn’t turn around. He didn’t move.

Jodie raised her hand in defeat. “You know what? I’ll go back to your mother’s house. That place is a fortress.”

“You are going back to New York if I have to drag you there.”

She’d like to see him try! “What about the wedding?”

He gave a deep sigh and turned around. “We have to postpone it.”

The panic that had bubbled inside her was now flowing over. All this time he wanted the security of marriage. Now he had changed his mind. No, she thought bitterly, it was just a postponement. It was temporary.

“Stergios, you have wealth, fame and power.” She hated how weak her voice sounded. “That is going to attract the good and the bad in people. Once this threat fades, something else is going to replace it. You can’t put your life on hold.”

“I am not going to allow anything to happen to our child,” Stergios said in a fierce growl.

“Neither will I,” she promised. “But leaving home because one person made a threat? Why, when this island is well protected?”

Stergios raked his hands in his hair. It was as if he had gone through this argument several times before. “The security team thinks this is the best course.”

“I disagree,” she said as she clenched her jaw. “I think it’s unreasonable. How are you going to conduct business from across the world?”

“The threat isn’t focused on me,” he said quietly.

Jodie tilted her head. She didn’t like his carefully modulated tone. She was missing something. “You just said that this is probably a way to get to you.”

His eyes were inscrutable. “I have to stay in Greece.”