Page 123 of Malicious Claim

She had always gazed at me with defiant helplessness, resentful but with nowhere to go. But this time the defiance was different. It was weighted. It was purposeful.

I shifted my head by a fraction. "Stefanos."

His body contracted very slightly. "Yeah?"

"Tell me. What did you and Leila do when I was gone?" I said, trying to be careless.

He smiled, touched the back of his neck. "Nothing. Just watched over her and entertained her."

I tapped my fingers on the table slowly and without rhythm. "Entertained her?"

Stefanos smiled. "Yeah. You know how she gets when she's left alone too long."

I let the fake suggestion slide. "And what did you do to entertain her?"

He shrugged, his tone not nearly as concerned as it ought to. "I gave her a ride around the city. We ate dinner together at a restaurant."

"You did what?" My voice rose to a bellow.

"I did not think that it was such a big thing. I thought that she would be able to have some fun while you were away so she wouldn't be bored. We had dinner, and returned. I mean she's here now, is she not?"

Stefanos was not brave enough to make eye contact with me as he uttered these words. He glanced towards the table, waiting for my reaction.

I settled into my seat slightly, curled my fingers around the arms of my chair. Outside, I appeared composed. But on the inside, my brain was already pondering on the implication of dumbass Stefanos actions.

Leila had been let out of the estate. Unsupervised.

She was a resourceful woman. If she wanted to establish communication with someone, if she was waiting for such a chance to receive help to take me down or to get out of here that was her moment.

I wasn't upset at the outing itself, but at what Leila may have done. Nicolai ought to have been watching over her. That was my order. Stefanos had deliberately kept him at arm's length so that he could be with my wife freely.

Stefanos would not have been watching her so vigilantly. Which meant that I had no idea what she did when she went out no matter what rubbish my idiot cousin says.

Leila did not seem bothered at all by the exchange.

"Get up both of you," I said to them. "We're leaving."

Stefanos blinked. "Where?"

"The restaurant where you had your dinner."

Leila became stiff next to me.

Stefanos' fingers twitched next to his glass.

They had expected me to let this go.

They were wrong.

Chapter Forty Seven

The Negligent Revelation

LEILA'S POV

Makros had all of us in one car.

Nicolai was behind the wheel, Stefanos was stiffly sitting in the passenger seat, and I was stuck in the back with him.

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