Page 29 of The Konstantos Marriage Demand

What else had she expected? Sadie asked herself, struggling with the bitter pain that had put a taste like acid in her mouth. Had she really believed that Nikos would deny the accusation she had thrown at him? That he would claim—pretend—he had actually felt something for her? That he would even declare that he had loved her?

She’d known the real truth all along. Ever since her father had enlightened her. And yet it still hurt so terribly, ripping great raw and bleeding holes in her heart.

‘But not now,’ she managed.

‘Not now,’ Nikos confirmed darkly.

‘Of course you have a new fiancée now. A new lo…’

But her voice failed her then. There was no way she could form the word love. It didn’t belong on her tongue and it seemed to have formed a cruel knot in her throat, so that she could barely manage to breathe.

‘I will do my very best to create a wonderful wedding for you both.’

It was the only way she could thank him for the reprieve he had offered her and her family. The chance to try and make sure that her mother survived the upheavals in their life and maybe found a future to look forward to. The thought of her mother twisted on nerves deep inside her. She had made the best provision she could for Sarah, and that text at least made it seem that she was coping for now. But Sadie had never been away from home for more than a day since the truth about George had burst on the family. She could only pray that her mother would cope.

‘When will I meet your fiancée?’

Or even get to know her name? It was the first time she’d ever taken on a commission with so little information and no chance to meet the bride-to-be. She had never encountered a set-up like this.

‘You’ll have all the information you need when the time is right.’

At that moment a bell sounded and a light came on over the seats, an indication that they should fasten their seatbelts. Immediately Nikos held out his hand, palm upwards.

‘Phone…’ he snapped, with an impatient beckoning gesture of the hand that was between them.

Her mind still half on her mother and George, Sadie blindly followed the command that was in his rough, irritated voice. She had dropped her mobile phone into his upturned palm before it occurred to her to question what he wanted with it.

‘Hey—hang on…!’

But she had spoken too late. Even as she opened her mouth Nikos’s long fingers had snapped shut over her phone, and without another word he dropped it swiftly into the pocket of his jacket, out of sight and out of reach.

‘You can’t do that!’ she protested. ‘That’s my property!’

The look he turned on her said that he could do whatever he wanted and she couldn’t stop him.

‘I prefer to have your communication with the outside world under my control.’

‘But how can I keep in touch with my mother—with home?’

A touch of panic made her voice raw. How would her mother cope if she wasn’t at the end of a line to offer help if she was needed? The rough and ready support system she had been able to set in place might be enough, but only if Sarah could contact her daughter at any moment she felt she needed to.

‘You will be able to phone Thorn Trees once a day to see how things are. But other than that—’

‘It isn’t enough!’

‘It will have to be enough. Because that is how it is going to be.’

‘But my mother—is unwell.’

She was severely tempted to move forward, try to snatch the phone from the pocket of his immaculately tailored jacket, but the urgent sense of need warred uncomfortably with a strong sense of self preservation. She was here, on her own, in his plane, thousands of feet up in the air. If she caused a scene, started a struggle, then she was at a disadvantage from the off. Nikos would only have to raise his voice and call his staff…

No, don’t be ridiculous. He wouldn’t even need to call anyone, she acknowledged to herself. Nikos could see off her feeble attempt at resistance so easily that she would be a fool even to try it. But even so she still couldn’t give in to such domineering behaviour.

‘You have no right—!’

‘I have every right. I am the one who makes the rules, not you. You are here because I allow you to be here—no other reason. And you are here to do a job.’

‘A job I can’t do without a phone…’

Her eyes went to the laptop case still in his possession, carefully tucked under his arm, and a shiver of cold panic ran along every nerve. Did he really mean to isolate her totally, have her under his complete control?

‘Or my computer.’

‘Any information or help you need will be provided once we are in my villa. All you have to do is ask.’

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