Page 5 of Forgotten Greek Proposal
‘No.’
Thanasis thought hard and quickly. If it was only the four of them who knew the full truth, they could keep it contained. ‘What about Athena?’
‘She knows nothing.’
‘Keep it that way. And keep her away from the hospital. She’s a loose cannon.’
He heard Alexis suck in a breath at the slight to his only sister, but Thanasis didn’t care. Of all the Tsalikis, Athena had proven herself to have the most poisonous sting. ‘The press have been tipped off about the accident,’ he said. ‘The hospital’s security team have moved them off the grounds but they are waiting to ambush her as soon as she’s discharged.’
It went without saying that Lucie abhorred the press, and it was a mark of her affection and loyalty to the monster that was Georgios Tsaliki that she’d willingly put herself in the media’s spotlight to save his fortune.
‘When will that be?’ Alexis asked.
‘A couple of days at least. When she’s released, I will take her to my island—no one can reach her there. In the meantime, I propose we put out a short statement confirming the accident and confirm that she is recovering well and that the wedding is going ahead as planned.’
‘Is it?’
Thanasis closed his eyes, recalling the message Lucie’s mother had sent him only a few minutes earlier.
She believes you were in love. Unless you want her to run again, play along with it until the wedding.
‘If her memories stay lost and your sister keeps her mouth shut then yes, I am certain Lucie will honour the agreement.’
‘Good.’
A figure stepped into the corridor. Rebecca Tsaliki. Lucie’s mother.
Thanasis met her stare and felt a wave of loathing towards the Englishwoman. Bad enough that he and Alexis were planning to use Lucie’s amnesia to their advantage, but this was her mother conspiring against her.
‘I need to go,’ he said curtly into the phone.
‘Keep me updated.’
‘Likewise.’
‘And, Thanasis?’
‘Yes?’
‘I suggest you play things differently with her this time. For all our sakes.’
CHAPTER TWO
THANASIS ENDED THE CALL, rolled his tense neck and slowly filled his lungs with air.
Barely two days ago he’d thought his world on the brink of collapse.
‘You’re an immoral, lying bastard and I’d rather marry a plague-ridden rat than marry you!’ Lucie had screamed before snatching the keys to his Porsche 911 from his hands.
‘I never lied to you,’ he’d retorted furiously. ‘Now give them back.’
She’d delivered a curse of such uncouth viciousness that he’d recoiled. Never in his life had he been on the receiving end of such an insult, not even from Lucie.
If he hadn’t recoiled, none of what followed would have happened. If he’d kept his wits he’d have been able to take his keys from her without any force—Lucie was easily half his size and weight—and she wouldn’t have had time to storm out of his penthouse shouting, ‘The wedding isoffand I don’t care what the world thinks. I never want to see you again. I hope you have ahorriblelife.’
He’d chased after her. Of course he had. Lucie had been like a human grenade whose pin had been released, and there had been no telling how far her explosion would spread. He’d stepped into his foyer as the elevator doors had closed and so had raced down the seven flights of stairs and reached the underground car park to find her reversing out of his space with the clunking of gears and the screeching of wheels, whereupon she’d spun the car towards the exit and put her foot down, flipping him the bird as she’d passed for good measure. He had no doubt that if he’d stood in front of the car in the hope of stopping her, she’d have hit the accelerator even harder.
She couldn’t call the marriage off, he’d tried to assure himself even as he’d made the terse call to Alexis to inform him of what had happened. If the Antoniadises went down then so did the Tsalikis. Everyone would lose.
