Page 86 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

And something shifted inside of him, down deep. Because he’d expected her to laugh at the idea, he realized, the way his father had when he’d even hinted that he and Alceu were handling themselves, thank you.

But it was more than that. He would have sworn on any stack of holy books offered to him that this was the very first time Jolie had ever asked him a completely honest question, without any edge to it.

He wanted to savor it. Instead, he shrugged. “We buy things,” he told her. “And we saw that sometimes the things we bought required...refurbishment. So we took it upon ourselves to provide it. When we’re done, we sell them on.”

That was more or less true.

“Are you talking about...antiques? Or something more like a corporation?”

“Alceu is particularly well attuned to locating the wounded,” Apostolis said after a moment’s consideration. “It is as if he can sniff them out. Whether it is an estate, a hotel, a corporation, it doesn’t matter. If it has a weakness, Alceu will know it. Often before the entity in question does. In the beginning, we were concerned with selling ourselves to these entities, to prove what we could do. Now we simply offer something too good to be refused.”

Her blue eyes glinted. “And this is what you do. You swan about bullying people and making money off of misery.”

“Never that,” he said, instantly. “We fix broken things, Jolie. We paste them back together and make them better than new. And when we leave, we leave the things we’ve fixed happier than when we found them.” He laughed when he saw her skeptical expression. “You do not have to believe me. I cannot say that I care if you do or not.”

That was...not as true as he wanted it to be, so he pushed on. “But I can tell you that Alceu informed me some years ago that if he did not know me personally, he would have put the Andromeda on our list.” This was the sticky bit, and he was almost unwilling to do it. He reminded himself that this was a strategy, that was all. It was an admission that he had been forced to make to himself once he’d realized the truth. And then, today, theextentof that truth. “Before you, that is.”

He heard her sharp, indrawn breath. He saw the way she stiffened. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You do.” He waved a hand over the desk where she’d been sitting. “My father cared only about the party, as you said. This is not under dispute. But seven years ago, there was suddenly a steady hand on the wheel. And now the hotel is no longer bleeding out its resources in every possible direction. I know exactly who is responsible for that.”

“Your father gave me free rein with the office work,” she said, though she looked guarded. “I assume that might be one of the reasons he left me part of the hotel. He clearly knew that you didn’t need his money.”

“But you did need the money,” he said, softly. He had anticipated playing this particular card later, but something told him it was better to do it now. “Did he tell you to take a salary?”

“He insisted upon it.”

“It is not very difficult to track money, if you know where to look,” Apostolis said softly. Very softly, and he saw her spine straighten. That was what happened when secrets were exposed. “What I have noticed is that every time money goes into your account, you take ninety percent of it and send it back out again.” He watched her closely. “Why?”

And for a moment, she looked...panicked.

It was the only word that fit, and he wasn’t sure that he quite believed it. Jolie Girard Adrianakis...panicked?He couldn’t imagine what that meant. It was certainly not the response of the hardened mercenary he’d expected. Or that of the Andromeda’s proprietor and personal savior.

If he had been under the impression that she was somehow larcenous, which he hadn’t been, he might have expected to see a hint of panic—but not like this. Apostolis had intended to simply note that there were no more secrets between them. That he knew every move she made.

And, yes, he had wanted very much to watch her reaction to that reality.

Now she looked as if he’d gone over and punched her in the stomach.

Lookingcaughtwas different from this, whateverthiswas.

He almost moved toward her, but held himself back—and it was harder to do than it should have been.

“What does it matter what I do with money I’ve earned?” she asked, but her usual fire was gone. If anything, she sounded shaky.

“You should consider trusting your husband,” he replied.

“But I don’t.” And her chin tipped up, as if she was remembering herself in her defiance. “I don’t trust my husband. I didn’t trust my first husband and I trust my second husband even less.”

“As someone who knew Spyros well, I find that difficult to believe.”

“Spyros was always exactly who he said he was,” Jolie told him with a laugh. Though it sounded strained. “For better or worse, what you saw was what you got. The same can’t be said about you.”

He did not give in to the urge to interrogate her on that—though he realized that she wanted him to. Shewantedhim to lose the thread of this conversation, so that they got back to talking about him instead of her.

“You do not send this money to the same place every time,” he said, to make sure she knew he wasn’t bluffing. That he really did know. “But you send it all the same, like clockwork.” He considered her. “Who are you paying off? Who knows the truth about you, what is that truth, and why would you pay so much to keep it hidden?”

He could see that he taken a wrong turn, because her shoulders inched down from her ears. “Everyone deserves their own secrets, Apostolis. Even me.”

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