Page 38 of The Konstantos Marriage Demand

‘If you need the code for England then this is it…’

Nikos scrawled a number on a piece of paper and pushed it towards her. Then he pulled out a chair at the head of the desk and dropped down into it, switching on the computer before him as he did so.

Not quite so generous or so trusting after all, Sadie acknowledged privately to herself. He might have handed her the phone, but he was still staying around in the office to make sure that she didn’t say anything he objected to. She was not to have any privacy with her phone call.

But she wasn’t going to look any gift horses in the mouth. Her mother’s mental balance and her own peace of mind were too important for that. So she pulled the sheet of paper towards her, punched in the numbers and pressed ‘Dial’. Perching on the edge of the desk, with her back to Nikos, she waited anxiously for her mother to answer. She would know how things were from the moment that happened.

‘H-Hello?’

Oh, no! Sadie closed her eyes briefly in distress, her shoulders tightening as tension held them taut. She knew that tone of voice and it meant there was a problem. Her mother was clearly in a very different frame of mind from the previous night.

‘Mum, it’s me—Sadie. How’s things?’

‘Sadie—where have you been all day. I’ve been expecting you to call…’

‘I had things I had to do, Mum.’

Sadie kept her voice low, hunched herself over the phone, as if by doing so she could cut herself off from the man at the other side of the desk, where she hoped that the click of keyboard keys meant Nikos was concentrating on what he was doing and so wouldn’t catch anything of her mother’s words.

‘I’m here to do a job, remember?’

‘I know you said that—but do you have to be away so long?’

Sadie’s heart sank at the querulous note in her mother’s voice, the way it rose so sharply on the final words. She was very much afraid that, without her there to supervise, Sarah hadn’t taken her medication and so was worryingly off balance.

‘It’s only a couple of days.’

But that was longer than her mother had been left alone at any time since George’s birth, she acknowledged. And clearly the older woman was finding it hard to cope.

‘What is it, Mum? What’s wrong?’

And suddenly it was as if her question had pressed a switch, making the words flow. Sadie could almost see her mother perched on the edge of her chair, her fine-boned face drawn taut with nervous tension as she gave voice to her fears. She couldn’t believe that the letter Nikos had sent yesterday was real. It seemed impossible that it was true. Impossible that they wouldn’t be forced out of their home after all.

‘It will be fine, Mum.’ She could only pray that she sounded convincing. That there was enough conviction in her words to get through the panicked haze inside her mother’s head and reassure her. ‘I promise you that everything’s going to be fine.’

If she could believe that herself then everything would be so much easier.

‘But how do you know that, Sadie? How can you be sure? How do you know that Nikos Konstantos will keep his word? What if he changes his mind?’

‘That isn’t going to happen. I won’t let it happen, Mum. I’ve made sure of that.’

What else could she say? she asked herself. When she was so far away from home, how else could she persuade Sarah to calm down? And it seemed to have worked. The nervous questions eased, and she could hear her mother’s breathing settle from the frantic, uneven gasps that had so worried her.

‘I’ve got everything in hand,’ she said again. ‘You know you can rely on me.’

‘You’re sure? We can stay?’

‘Mmm…’

The non-committal sound was all Sadie could manage. Painfully aware of Nikos’s dark, silent presence behind her, she didn’t dare to try for more. And even more than before she prayed that nothing her mother had said could reach him.

When she had explained the situation to Sarah on that first evening after her meeting with Nikos at Cambrelli’s, she had deliberately aimed to emphasise the positive. Nikos was letting them stay in the house for now. And at least as long as Sadie was working for him they were safe. That was what she had to hold on to until she had any sort of a chance to think of any other way out of their situation. But she knew that by highlighting the good things she was risking letting her mother think that all was completely well and their future in Thorn Trees was assured.

But she hadn’t dared risk anything else.

If Nikos had caught her mother’s words then what was he going to think? Would he believe that she had taken too much for granted? That she had assumed he would hand over a house worth millions simply because she was doing a job for him, planning his wedding? A sneaking cold shiver ran down her spine at the thought of his possible reaction.

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