Chapter 11
Nikos frowned at the envelope in his hand. He felt like he had been frowning an awful lot lately. It was addressed to him but there was no postage or markings on the front. It didn’t have the stamp that the mailroom usually put on mail to sort it for distribution. It had simply been slid under the door.
Turning it over, he slid a finger under the seam. A knock at the door stopped him and he looked up, dropping the envelope on his desk. His mouth tightened when he saw Cassandra casually leaning against the door jam. He had been studiously avoiding her and had been fairly successful at dodging her. He knew it was only a matter of time before she cornered him. Apparently, it was time to find out what she wanted.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” she said with a mock pout. “That’s no way to treat an old friend.” She stepped into the office and closed the door behind her.
“An old friend? Is that what we are?” Nikos crossed his arms and leaned against the front of his desk.
“Of course. Nikos, you know how much I’ve always cared for you.” As she talked she closed one blind and then the other, effectively shutting them off from the world beyond. She meandered back to the door and looked over her shoulder as she clicked the lock into place. “I want to talk to you without being disturbed.”
Nikos raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She glided over to the couch and patted the seat next to her. “Come here.”
He scoffed and grabbed a chair dragging it with him and before pointedly sitting to face her. She rolled her eyes. “I don’t bite, Nikos.”
“Actually, you do, if memory serves. Besides, I’m not worried about the bite. It’s the poison that concerns me.”
Her eyes flashed. “Don’t be so dramatic, Bémpis. How is our daughter?”
Nikos controlled the urge to shake her until her teeth rattled. He had been dreading this moment ever since she had reappeared in his life. “My daughter is thriving. You do not have a daughter. You signed away the right to claim that almost five years ago.” His tone was clipped and any wise person would note the edge of fury in each syllable.
“It was a mistake, Nikos. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her.” Cassandra’s eyes were big and pleading. They reminded him of Abby’s eyes. She used that exact look when she knew she had done something wrong and was trying to get out of being punished for it. He looked at her, the picture of remorse and felt his anger soften slightly.
Once, I would have moved heaven and earth for her, he thought. She is Abby’s mother. With a sigh of resignation, he said, “Abigail is well. She goes everywhere at a dead gallop and wants a unicorn for her next birthday. She has your eyes.” Nikos forced himself to stop. He didn’t like the feelings stirring inside him. Nostalgia pulled hard at him. He moved to the couch and drew out his cell phone from his jacket pocket. Sitting next to her, he pulled up a picture of Abby. “This is Abigail at the beach this summer.”
Cassandra leaned into him as she regarded the picture. “God, you gave her that old lady name. Are there others,” she asked gesturing to the phone. Nikos shook his head, amazed. He would have bet that she didn’t have a maternal bone in her body. He flipped through a year’s worth of pictures of Abby. Cassandra watched them and her hand rested naturally on his leg as he walked her through her daughter’s life.
When the photos came to an end they lapsed into an easy silence. He looked at her as she stared at the carpet. Another shock went through him as he realized she was crying. He automatically wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. He had always held her when she cried. After every disastrous break up or failed relationship, he would be there to hold her as she poured out her broken heart.
She cried quietly for a few moments before pulling back and wiping away the tears. She gave him a small smile and placed her hands on his chest. “You always had the best shoulders for crying on.” Tipping her face up, she kissed his mouth lightly.
Nikos stiffened and started to pull away. Her hands slid around his neck and she kissed him again, deeper this time. He felt the old feelings rising within him. Her siren song that had blinded him to her nature for so many years rang in his head as her body pressed against him. His hands slid behind her and for a half a heartbeat started to pull her to him before reason crashed through is mind.
No way am I falling for this again, he thought and pulled roughly away from her. Her moan of protest didn’t fool him. She wasn’t protesting his absence as much as her failure to achieve her objective. “Enough, Cassandra. What do you want? Stop with the games.” He shot to his feet and took several steps back. He glowered down at her with a glare that would have sent most men scurrying.
Cassandra just pouted prettily and looked up at him. “I’m sorry, Nikos. I just got caught up in the moment.”
Nikos crossed his arms and let her read the disbelief on his face. “Try again.”
This time the pouty look dissolved into a glare of defiance. Finally, Nikos thought, we can get down to business. “I want to see her.”
“No.” His reply was immediate and absolute. He had told Abigail that her mother hadn’t been able to take care of a baby. It was a subject they all avoided, but one day, it would have to be addressed. That day was still very far away as far as Nikos was concerned.
“You can’t keep me from my daughter.”
“Actually, I can and I will.” Nikos’ temper boiled over and his hands fisted at his sides. “Do not cross me on this Cassandra.” He forced himself to take a deep breath. “Leave, now.” He stalked toward the door but her words stalled him half way there.
“If we don’t come to an agreement, Nikos, I will tell everyone that I am her mother and that you have kept her from me. You know the press is always sympathetic to the mother.”
He whirled around and took two steps toward her before he was able to get control of himself. He couldn’t strangle her. She sat coolly regrading him from her seat on the couch. Her point was valid. It wouldn’t matter to the press that she had signed her right and been paid a king’s ransom to forget she had a daughter- a daughter that she had told him time and time again she didn’t want. The tabloids would have a field day with it and the family name would be smeared all over every headline in the Mediterranean.
Nikos didn’t believe for a second that she had suffered a sudden attack of maternal remorse. Cassandra always had an agenda. “What do you want, Cassie?”
“Sit down, Nikos. I don’t like having you looming over me.” He sat woodenly in the chair. “That’s better. I think I would find about 10,000 euros a month would help me get over being forced to live apart from my daughter.”
Nikos stared at her. Blackmail? After all these years, she was going to blackmail him? He sat back in the chair, baffled. “Why do need money? Doesn’t Dimitris keep you well enough?”
“Oh he treats me well, but I have expenses I would rather not tell my dear D about. I don’t think he would approve.”
“Gambling again? I’ve told you for years it is a nasty habit.” Nikos relaxed a bit. “Why do you think I’ll pay you anything? All I have to do is tell Dimitris that you are a gambling whore and he’ll cut you lose.”
“Oh, don’t be so sure. Darling D isn’t going to let me get too far away. He isn’t the choirboy you are and I have the pictures to prove it.”
Great, Nikos thought. Apparently age and responsibility haven’t made ‘Darling D’ grow up. Dimitris had been a hell-raiser in his youth and Nikos had been involved in many of his capers. When Nikos’ parents died, his party days had abruptly ceased. God only knew what Dimitris had gotten into with his fast and loose lifestyle. It was time for Dimitris to grow up.
“Take your pictures and have this conversation with Dimitris. You’re not seeing Abigail and you’re not getting a euro out of me.” Nikos rose to show her the door.
Cassandra didn’t move. She sat there looking at him with her Cheshire cat grin. “What I have on Dimitris is insurance. You’ll pay me what I ask or I will go have a little tet-a-tet with Sarah Pallis. You remember Sarah, don’t you? She writes that nasty little gossip column for the City Press and has a bit of a fascination with you. I really liked that picture of you and Emma in yesterday’s edition.” She paused and looked at her with those big brown eyes that held nothing but calculation and malice. “Speaking of Emma, I am sure you’ve told her all about us and our history. I’m sure it would be old news for her to read about how you paid me to give up my daughter and exploited my position to take her for yourself.” As if by magic, Cassandra transformed her face, allowing it to crumple with profound sadness and remorse. She made a picture perfect victim.
Nikos made a disgusted noise. This was a new low, even for Cassandra. Anger boiled in him as he realized that while it all could be explained and ultimately she would be disproved, the very public scandal would be devastating.
Cassandra rose and closed the distance between them. Nikos held his ground even though he wanted to recoil from her. She laid her hands on his chest and brushed a light kiss across his stone cold features. “I will give you a day to think about it, for old time’s sake. I know you won’t believe this, but I’m sorry to do this to you.” A flicker of something close to true remorse crossed her eyes before she turned and left him standing in the middle of his office drowning in tidal wave of anger, indignation, and fear.