Chapter Six
Dion had been making an effort to leave the office at a more reasonable hour than usual so he could try to spend time with Sophia—although he got the distinct impression she’d been avoiding him since their talk about his childhood. But time was ticking, and with his mentor being sick, he wanted to wrap things up as quickly as possible.
Would anything really change if he closed the deal and started dismantling his father’s company before something happened to Elias? Probably not. But maybe there was some childhood logic lurking in there that told Dion if he got it all done in time, then maybe God would see that Elias was effectively Dion’s father and spare him. At least for a little while longer.
Therefore, Dion couldn’t treat Sophia like she was a ghost in his house, even if that’s how she was acting.
He pulled his car into the driveway, the Corfu sun beating down relentlessly through the windshield. It was barely four p.m. and unheard of that he would leave the office at such an hour. But he wanted to catch Sophia off-guard in the hopes that he might convince her to come for a walk. Or perhaps a swim.
When he entered the house, it was quiet. No music or talking. No sounds of any kind. That was the very reason Dion’s gasp felt like a gunshot. Stuck to the wall in his foyer—looking wholly and utterly out of place among the white marble tile and pale walls—was a picture of a turkey.
A stuffed one…and not the kind he knew Americans ate on Thanksgiving, either.
Oh no. This was a taxidermied turkey, and it came all the way up to Dion’s thigh. Its eyes bored menacingly into his, tail fanned out majestically behind it. Dion gulped.
Above it, at eye-level, was another picture of a deer head. Walking as if in a stupor, he continued through the house toward the large, open-plan dining area, where he saw two more pictures taped to the wall with bright green painter’s tape. A fox, similar in color to the one Sophia had taken to leaving all over the house, and a cat.
In his study was a picture of a squirrel standing upright on his desk. It had been taped to his desk lamp. The beady black eyes stared at him, as if challenging him to go one step farther into the room. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of Dion’s stomach. He would bet all the money in his bank account that there were more animals lurking in his house. Well, print-outs of animals, anyway.
He could only hope these were “inspiration” pictures rather than planning pictures.
A few minutes later, Dion found Sophia in the room overlooking the garden, sitting on the floor and hunched over the coffee table. A jigsaw was spread out in front of her, and she worked, quiet as a mouse, tackling each piece as gently and methodically as an archaeologist might brush the dirt from a fossil.
“Are you turning my house into a menagerie?” he asked.
Sophia jumped, clapping a hand across her heart. “Dion! You frightened me.”
“I could say the same for you.”
Dion watched her from his vantage point, noting the tangle of dark hair sitting atop her head and the flowy pink dress with buttons all down the front. A pair of fuzzy bunny slippers capped her feet. She didn’t have a scrap of makeup on, and her shoulders were tinted pink from the sun. Freckles that hadn’t been there a few days ago had started to dust her nose like cinnamon powder, coaxed to life by hours reading and working beside the pool.
Attraction jolted him like a punch to the chest. Sure, the bunny slippers weren’t the sexiest things he’d ever seen, but there was something raw and beautiful about her. It was like he’d caught her unaware, before she’d had time to slip a mask on.
“You’re home early,” she said, her voice a little wary. “I wasn’t expecting you for a while.”
“I thought a break might do me good,” he said.
“And you normally sneak up on your guests?”
“I’m simply returning the favor, given your turkey startled me when I walked through the front door.”
“He’s majestic, right? I named him Tuttle.” Her lips curved, and there was a glint of wickedness. “I’ve been trying to settle on the perfect home for each piece in my collection. We had our house redesigned a few years back, and the interior designer taped out the measurements of each piece of furniture so she could get an idea of how it would look in the space. I thought I could use that trick with my darlings to see which ones worked best in each room.”
So they were planning pictures.
“How many do you have in your collection?” he asked, unsure if he actually wanted to know the answer.
“Twenty-three.” She cocked her head, frowning. “Well, maybe a few more than that. I count all the rodents as one, because…well, they’re small.”
“Rodents?” Dion blinked. “Plural?”
“Yes, I have a few rats and squirrels and a prairie dog. Oh, and a chinchilla.” She nodded as though she might be talking about her collection of handbags or lipsticks or an extensive library of books, each of which would have been vastly preferable to a zoo of dead animals. “I’m trying to figure out the best way to have them all shipped over.”
Whatever attraction he’d felt evaporated in a puff of smoke. The thought of all those eyes following him as he moved through his house gave him the creeps. He’d always hated the paintings in the orphanage where he’d grown up—it was bad enough being watched by all the nuns, but being watched by the paintings was worse.
“What are you working on?” he asked, nodding to the table, desperate to move the conversation on to something more palatable.
“A puzzle.”
“Yes, I got that from all the scattered pieces.” He walked into the room, looking over her progress. “What’s it of?”
“I have no idea.” She laughed when he looked at her strangely. “Seriously. I never really understood the point of a puzzle if I knew what the picture was going to be in the end. Where’s the fun in that?”
“Isn’t that how puzzles are supposed to be done?”
Sophia shrugged. “I was never very good at doing things the way they’re supposed to be done.”
Her list of quirky habits seemed bottomless. But at least this one wouldn’t involve him having to explain to his friends why there was suddenly a turkey by the front door and a peacock in the bathroom.
Things you never thought you would have to say…
He could see she’d started to make progress on a few sections of the puzzle’s edge. The pieces looked to be green with hints of blue, but otherwise there was no real discernible image.
“Can I help?” he asked.
Sophia watched him for a moment, her eyes full of distrust. But in a flash, the expression was gone, and he wondered if he’d really seen anything at all. “Sure.”
“What’s the strategy?”
“It’s easiest to start with the edges and corners. I’ve put all the edge pieces to one side of the table, and then I start grouping them by color.” She indicated to one section of darker green pieces and one of lighter, along with a small pile of blue. “And then I try to fit them together.”
Dion’s hands drifted to two green pieces that looked like they would fit, and sure enough, they clicked together easily.
“Good job.” She grinned, and it felt like the first time Dion had seen a genuine smile from Sophia.
Not a smile she felt like she should be giving or one that was a mask for something else. But a real, sparkling, warm smile. It lit up her whole face, and for a moment Dion was certain this was who Sophia really was: bunny slippers and bare skin and blind puzzles and pretty smiles.
On some deep level, his intuition tingled. She’d seemed very startled that he’d come home early—was it simply that he’d unintentionally snuck up on her? Or was it something more? Was she different when he wasn’t around?
There’d been a hint of vulnerability during their dinner the other night. He sensed an intellect and earnestness lurking beneath her outlandish fashion and behind the taped-up pictures of stuffed turkeys and squirrels. Was it possible that it was all an act? She’d said she was on board with the idea of them being married, on board with her father’s wishes…but something was definitely off.
And he was going to figure out what.
Later that evening, Dion sat in his office. The picture of the squirrel stared at him unnervingly, so he torn the photo down and crumpled it in his fist, suppressing a shudder. Then he grabbed his phone and dialled his assistant’s number. Iva had worked for Precision Investments for the last five years as both his Executive Assistant and Chief of Staff. She was the person he trusted most in the world, aside from Nico.
“Hi, Dion,” she said in a chirpy voice. “What can I do for you?”
“It’s something you’re not going to like.” He leaned back in his desk chair. “And I don’t want any questions.”
“Well, when you put it like that…” She let out a breath. “At least tell me I’m not going to be committing a crime.”
“I need you to follow Sophia while I’m in London.”
He was going to be in the UK for two nights, just long enough to close a deal.
“At what point did you add private investigation to my job description?” Iva asked.
“Remember that line at the bottom that says all other duties as required?”
She huffed. “Yeah, like accompanying you on business trips and occasionally picking up your dry cleaning if you’ve been pulling all-nighters. It does not include following people around and spying on them.”
“If I’m going to marry her, then I need to know what I’m getting into.”
A pregnant paused stretched on for several heartbeats. “Excuse me?”
“I was going to think of a more delicate way to tell you, but delicate isn’t really my style.” He pushed out of his chair and walked over to the window. Outside, the garden glowed under a blanket of stars. “Yes, I’m marrying her. No, we’re not in love.”
“I wasn’t going to ask,” Iva replied. “Because I know you better than that.”
“You know I’m a heartless bastard?” He laughed.
Nobody had ever called him that, because Dion could handle anyone. After he’d grown up and realized he’d be worth nothing unless he earned that worth himself, he’d gained a reputation for being charming…and disarming. Dion could put out a social fire with little more than a smile. Being on the outside as a child had meant lots of time to observe. And learn.
He learned how to read people, how to gain their trust, and how to peek behind the curtain that almost everyone hid their true selves behind. His intuitions were sharpened like a sword. Which was precisely why he knew something was up with Sophia. What that thing was, however, was another issue entirely.
“I know that you believe in the institution of marriage as much as you believe in unicorns.”
“I’d say there’s a case for unicorns,” he quipped.
“Why are you marrying her?”
“Business reasons.”
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to be married to someone you love, let alone someone you don’t even know?” Iva was divorced, so he wasn’t about to argue that he knew more than her on the subject of marriage. “Marriage is hard work.”
“I’m not afraid of hard work.”
“And she wants this, too? A loveless marriage with a stranger?”
“She wants to please her father.” He didn’t quite understand it, but he wasn’t going to argue if she was making that element easier for him. “And she’ll have a comfortable life with me. Money will be no issue, she has a beautiful home to live in, and she can do whatever she pleases.”
“Whomever she pleases?” Iva asked.
Dion’s nostrils flared.
As far as he was concerned, marriage was still a vow. A promise. Just because they weren’t in love—which was another thing he believed in as much as unicorns—didn’t mean there weren’t promises to be upheld. He wasn’t going to be like his father, sleeping around on his wife and wreaking havoc on people’s lives. It had felt a little too intense to jump into that discussion already with Sophia, but it would have to happen before they exchanged rings.
He’d put up with a lot of things…but not that.
“I want you to keep an eye on her while I’m gone. Report back. Oh, and I want to know what she’s wearing.”
“What she’s wearing?”
“Yes. What she’s wearing, where she goes, if she meets up with anyone. Everything.”
“And how the hell am I supposed to do that?”
“She doesn’t have a license here, so I’ve told her she can use one of the drivers. Make sure they call you the second she asks to go anywhere.”
Iva sighed. “I’m going to be expecting a fat bonus this year, Dion. If anyone else were asking me…”
“I know. I know.” He nodded. “I appreciate it.”
Whatever was going on with Sophia Andreou, he was going to find out. If she had any plans of pulling a fast one on him, then he’d be right there to catch her out. He would figure out what her real plan was.
…
Sophia leaned against the back seat of the Audi and sighed. The weight on her shoulders was far lighter than it had been in weeks. Dion had left for London early that morning, and she’d been roused sometime around five a.m. by the rumble of an engine outside the house.
Now that it was a much more respectable hour, she’d awoken, showered, spent an hour doing website content updates for one of her virtual-assistant clients, and dressed for her trip into Corfu Town to meet with Theo. It was so nice to dress how she wanted. Sure, it probably would have been safer to throw on her scratchy cardigan and lime-green heels to maintain her character, but she was planning to slip out of the house before the staff could see her. And the driver on duty this week was a younger guy Sophia hadn’t met previously. So nothing to worry about there.
The car raced along the coastal road, and Sophia had her window down, the breeze whipping her hair around as she enjoyed the view and the warmth on her bare arms. Stupid arranged marriage aside, it really was a beautiful place to be. Blue skies, bluer waters. Lush green trees and colorful buildings that looked like a rainbow selection of ice cream.
If Sophia was being totally honest with herself, it was exactly the kind of place she would want to live. She certainly didn’t miss the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn, nor the clanking sound of garbage trucks, the constant rush of traffic and the intermittent wail of sirens that seemed to punctuate the hours there. It was all too easy to see herself in a crumbling little building overlooking the sea, with a huge sunny window for her mother to sit beside and a library heaving with books.
The driver pulled up and let Sophia out of the car. “Just call when you’re ready to go home,” he said. “I’ll be close by.”
“Thank you.” She stepped out of the car and fished around in her purse for her sunglasses.
Theo had suggested they meet at a little tavern that was tucked away down a skinny alley, one of those out-of-the-way places that would afford them some privacy. Sophia trailed her hand along the building beside her, her shoulders almost bumping the smooth, white surface. On the other side was a courtyard with tables and chairs, and Theo sat with one ankle propped on his knee, the picture of confidence.
“I thought you might not come,” he said as she took a seat across from him.
“Why’s that?”
“You didn’t look too impressed to be talking to me at your big party.” His eyes were obscured behind a pair of mirrored sunglasses. But his intent to rile her up was still evident in the quirk at the corner of his lips.
“I wasn’t.”
“So why call me?”
Why, indeed. Because Theo had a tense relationship with Dion, which made him the perfect person to help her out of this situation. The only question mark hanging over her head was what he would want in return.
“I got the impression we might be able to help each other.”
Theo looked like the cat who’d got the cream. He paused while two coffees were brought to the table. “I took the liberty of ordering you a drink. Now, how exactly can I help you?”
Sophia stared into the dark liquid, her stomach tied up in knots. Could she trust Theo? Her gut waved huge red flags, but what other option did she have? So far, Dion took all of her antics on the chin. Sure, he didn’t exactly look thrilled when she’d walked into the middle of his party ready to draw eyes to her for all the wrong reasons, but he hadn’t said a word about it. Nor had he mentioned her clothing, made any disparaging remarks about the fox, or said anything remotely indicative that he might be giving her father’s demands a second thought.
She could keep up with her persona, but would it be enough? She wasn’t convinced.
“You said that if I wanted out, you could help me.” She tilted her chin up, hoping she appeared a hell of a lot more confident in her decision than she felt.
“So I was right?” He sipped his coffee and leaned back in his chair. “You’re a clause in a business deal?”
Acid burned the back of her throat. “Yes.”
“I didn’t think Mr. Perfect would need to stoop to that level to get a wife,” Theo mused. “He must want whatever you’re selling really badly.”
“I’m not selling anything,” she spat. “If I was the one doing the selling, then I wouldn’t be in this position, would I?”
Theo raised a brow. “Message received. So, if you don’t want to marry the guy, why not tell him that?”
“It’s…complicated.”
“I’m sure it’s actually very simple.”
Sophia sighed. “My father made this deal with him, and I didn’t have a say in it. For the sake of my mother, I need Dion to decide not to go ahead.”
“Otherwise your father will be angry?”
“If he only got angry, it wouldn’t be such a big deal.” Her chest tightened at the thought of what he might do. All of a sudden, emotion swirled inside her. Worries about her mother swam in her head. “He, uh…doesn’t accept no for an answer.”
Theo’s expression shifted. A tightness overtook his jaw and lips, giving his face a hard edge. “I see.”
“Can you help me?” she asked, her heart beating so hard it felt like the damn thing had traveled all the way up to her mouth.
“I can.” He nodded. “But I’m also a businessman. I don’t offer my services for free.”
What on earth could he want from her? “And I don’t offer myself in exchange for a favor.”
“Relax, asteri mou. You’re not my type.” He pulled the sunglasses from his face as the sun shifted behind a cloud. Now she could see all of him—and the bottomless black pits of his eyes were far more unnerving than not knowing what was behind the mirrored lenses.
“Then what do you want?”
“Something that belongs to me. Dion stole an item, and I want it back.” He assessed her with a cool stare, possibly to see if she’d react. She didn’t. “My father’s ring.”
“What does it look like?” She was certain she knew the answer already.
“It’s a gold signet design. Square top.” There seemed to be a fire in his eyes. Sophia would have bet her last dollar that this had nothing to do with a simple piece of jewelry. “His initials are engraved on it.”
“I know the one.” It was the only item of jewelry she’d seen on Dion, besides his watch. But it was strange that he’d so brazenly wear an item that he’d stolen.
“Get me the ring, and I’ll get you out of your arrangement.”
“How?” She shook her head when he didn’t respond immediately. “I’m not sure if you’re used to people taking you at your word, but I don’t know you. I certainly don’t trust you. I’d like to know exactly how you plan to get me out of this.”
Theo cocked his head, those dark eyes running like a laser over her. “It’s probably a good thing you’re looking to get out of this. A woman like you can bring a man to his knees.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant by that.
“It’s a compliment. You’re smart, and he probably hasn’t realized it yet.” His smirk bloomed into a sharp-edged smile. “More fool him.”
Sophia folded her arms across her chest. She wasn’t looking to have Theo stroke her ego. “This is the point where you give me the plan.”
“You’re going to develop a bad habit.”
“Another one?” If the taxidermy hadn’t worked, then why would another strange habit be more effective?
“Theft. You can’t only take the ring, or he’ll be suspicious. So, you’re going to take a lot of things and then I’ll out you.”
She blanched. “You want me to steal from him?”
“You didn’t seem concerned about taking the ring.”
“Yes, but,” she spluttered. “You said he stole it from you, and, therefore, I’m simply returning it to its rightful owner. That’s a totally different situation.”
“You don’t have to actually steal anything, Sophia. Just hide the items somewhere it’ll take him a while to find.” Theo sipped his drink. “If he questions you, blame one of the staff.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m not going to make anyone lose their job.”
“Do you want out or not?”
She bit down on her lip. “Yes, of course I do. But not like that.”
It was one thing to make Dion distrust her, but to ruin someone else’s reputation… She would never do that.
“Then what did you have in mind? You don’t strike me as the type to come to a meeting unprepared.”
“I thought we could have an affair.”
Theo’s expression flickered, something stormy and visceral flashing for the briefest of seconds before he went back to looking perfectly calm again. But the change left Sophia ill at ease. He’d looked mad enough to spit fire. “And I thought you said you didn’t trade your body for favors.”
“Not a real affair, obviously. A pretend one. Text messages, not-so-secret meetings.”
“There are few things in the world that a man hates more than an adulterous wife.”
The dark statement sent an icy chill down Sophia’s spine. Whatever happened to Theo was none of her business. The only thing she cared about was getting a plane ticket home, and if that meant doing something that skirted the boundaries of her ethics, then so be it. But she wouldn’t pretend that one of his staff members had done something illegal. No way. A fake affair would only hurt her reputation.
“So, do we have a deal?” she asked.
“No.” Theo stood. His eyes were like fire. “I’ve had enough trouble with one cheating wife. I certainly won’t help to fabricate another.”
Sophia’s stomach sank as she watched him walk away. What on earth was she going to do now?