Two days later…
Kassi knocked on the second-floor library door and entered. Leo and Alexi sat in front of a laptop. Alexi started to rise, only to be stopped when Kassi looked to Leo. “Something’s wrong with Gemma and she’s hiding it from you.”
Leo strode from the room. “I’ll be back.”
Kassi and Alexi watched him go. Alexi turned to his cousin, his brow rising in question. “What’s going on with Gemma?”
“She was sick before they flew home from Dubai. She’s been throwing up and she almost passed out a few minutes ago when she bent over to pick up Damien.”
Alexi looked alarmed. “Where is Damien?”
“Aimee took him to the beach for a while.”
“The beach?” Alexi pulled his phone from his pocket and punched in a series of numbers. “Who is watching Aimee and Damien?” He listened to the answer, murmuring something Kassi couldn’t quite hear before hanging up. “I’m going to go find my mitéra and have her call the doctor.” Alexi touched Kassi’s shoulder. “Efkharisto, Kassi. I know something is not quite right in your world and as soon as I deal with a small problem, you and I are going to sit down and figure things out.”
Kassi nodded. Hopefully, that will be many weeks from now. “Fine.” She watched Alexi leave. Turning, she saw the two brothers had left their laptop open on the table. Knowing how private they were, she walked towards it, intending to simply shut the lid, securing the information contained on the device.
As she reached for the lid to pull it down, a picture of herself and Aimee, swinging Damien between them stopped her. She smiled at the picture, remembering the afternoon they’d spent in town a few days earlier. “I wonder where they got this picture?”
She moved the cursor to the see if there were more pictures, but the screen closed, revealing an opened email underneath. The words on the screen made her blood run cold.
So you think you’re better than me? You think you can ignore me and I’ll just go away? Your brother made the same mistake and became fish food. That’s right. It took me a while, but I accomplished my goal.
I must say, you’ve surprised me. I was sure you wouldn’t rise to the occasion, but continue your self-centered lifestyle. Alas, your sense of responsibility has arisen and now I must eliminate you as well as the other members of your family. Don’t think I can do it? Take a look at the attached picture. I can get to you anytime I want.
Enjoy being in control for the time you have left. This time, there will be no one left to come to the Moustakas family’s rescue. If you’re not afraid now, you should be.
Kassi’s entire body shook as she finished reading the email. She glanced at the email address the threatening letter had been sent to and then frowned. “This is Alexi’s private email address. But the letter seems to be written to Leo?”
She heard a noise at the door and quickly shut the laptop. When the footsteps continued past the door, she took one last look at the computer and then left the room. Aimee was out for the next few hours, but when she returned, she and Kassi were going to talk about both the picture and the email. Alexi and Leo were keeping things from her and Kassi wouldn’t have that. Someone was trying to kill her new family. Kassi had already lost one set of parents and didn’t even want to contemplate the idea of losing any more members of her family.
Alexi reappeared in the doorway. “The doctor is on his way.” He retrieved the laptop, not seeming to notice she’d closed it. “What are you up to for the rest of the day?”
Kassi shrugged, her mind still spinning with questions about the emailed threat. “I don’t know. Aimee wanted to take some more landscape pictures. I thought maybe we would head down to the docks.”
Alexi frowned for a moment and then his face cleared. “Fine. I’ll make sure there is someone available to watch Damien if Gemma is not feeling better.”
“Why don’t we take him with us? You’ve got more than enough men watching us all to ensure Damien remains safe.”
Alexi shook his head. “Not at the docks. There are too many people milling around and he’s getting too good at hiding. If he got away from you there, he’d be very hard to find and Gemma isn’t feeling well. She doesn’t need to worry about her son going missing as well.”
Kassi gave him a chagrined look. “You’re right. I would feel awful if we lost him. We’ll leave him here.”
“While I would prefer you all stay close to the estate, I also realize telling you to do so would be like waving a red flag in front of a bull. That being said, I would like you to be more cautious than normal.”
Kassi looked at her cousin, suspicion that Alexi and Piotr had talked growing in her mind. She said nothing.
Alexi nodded, evidently taking her silence for consent. “When are you going?”
“Later this afternoon.” When Alexi opened his mouth to give her further warnings, she stayed him with a raised hand. “Look, stop worrying about us. We’ll be careful and back here for dinner. Nothing’s going to happen to us. We’re just going to walk around and Aimee’s going to take a few pictures. We’ll be back before you even realize we’ve gone.”
“Be careful.”
She bit back her retort, not wanting to invite another lecture, or worse—a change of mind. Alexi and Leo must think I don’t have a brain if they’re keeping something like a threat against the family from me. I’ll show them I can take care of myself. Then they’ll see they can trust me.
*****
Two hours later…
Gemma cooperated with the doctor’s exam, wishing she had told Leo what she suspected before now. She’d intended to share her news with him on their wedding night, but the picture of Alexi had thrown the entire family into a tailspin. Knowing how protective Leo could be, she’d kept her news to herself, not wanting to be left behind when he went searching for his lost twin. And then her body had betrayed her.
She’d been feeling ill for several days, but after Leo had threatened to take her to the hospital, she’d tried her best to hide how poorly she was really feeling. She’d even started to second-guess her condition, her sickness more than she’d endured with Damien. She felt nauseous, at times unable to keep the contents of her stomach where they belonged. Her breasts had become unbearably tender, and she’d admitted to Aimee just that morning that she felt more tired after sleeping for ten hours than she had before going to sleep.
When she’d rushed from the room at breakfast with Kassi looking on, she’d known her ability to conceal her condition from Leo had come to an end. Kassi was gone when Gemma had left the bathroom, and Leo stormed in mere seconds later.
Alexi had been very helpful, getting his parents involved and summoning the doctor to come straightaway. Now she and Leo were awaiting the results of the doctor’s tests.
The doctor cleared his throat. “Congratulations, Mrs. Moustakas. You are pregnant.” He patted her on the shoulder, shook Leo’s hand and then excused himself from the room.
Gemma searched Leo’s eyes for his reaction to this news. This was not quite how she’d envisioned telling him he was to be a father again. Not at all.
Leo seemed to be in shock. “Are you happy?”
Gemma looked at her husband of barely a week. “I think so. I thought I might be pregnant, but with everything else going on, I didn’t want to distract you.”
Leo sat on the side of the bed, his hands moving tenderly over her still flat stomach. “You are exactly the kind of distraction I will always need.”
Gemma smiled up at him and then brought one of his hands to her lips, kissing his palm lightly. “I don’t remember feeling this sick before. I almost had myself convinced I wasn’t pregnant.”
“The doctor said it could vary each time,” Leo reminded her gently.
Pregnant! The word rattled around in Gemma’s head. What had just been a suspicion was now very much a reality and she felt a smile break over her face. “We’re going to have another baby.”
Leo lifting her hand to his mouth. “Yes, and this time you won’t be alone. I will be here for each and every step. Every visit to the doctor. The delivery. All of it.”
Gemma smiled at him. Damien’s excited voice announced his arrival, and she looked to her son. “Damien, did you have fun?” she asked as Aimee followed him into the room.
“Castle!” he told her, pulling himself up to sit beside her. Leo lifted him into position and Gemma looked to Aimee for an explanation.
“He’s talking about the sand castle we built this morning. This one didn’t fall down, thanks to Grigo and his help.” Aimee ruffled Damien’s hair. “I just passed the doctor downstairs. What’s going on?”
Gemma looked at Leo and he nodded once before picking Damien up and striding from the room. “The doctor was here for me.”
“Oh my God! What’s wrong with you? Are you still sick?”
Gemma nodded and then hurried to calm her friend down. “I am, but the doctor assures me it will go away. In about eight and a half months.”
“What? You’re pregnant?” Aimee asked, disbelief on her face.
Gemma smiled and covered her stomach with a hand. “Yes, only just barely… It seems Leo is more virile than normal.”
“I’ll say. I mean, you’ve only been married a little over a week.” At Gemma’s blush Aimee shook her finger at her. “You naughty girl. The two of you didn’t wait, did you?”
Gemma shrugged, looking smug. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
Aimee rolled her eyes and then turned as Kassi and Tressa came into the room. Kassi’s smile looked forced, but Tressa’s was heartfelt and tearful. “I would say they’ve heard the good news.”
Tressa took Gemma’s hand between her own. “This is the most wonderful news. Vasil asked me to convey his congratulations and has decreed we shall have a celebratory dinner this evening. Everyone will be here, please?”
The three younger women nodded. Tressa gave Gemma a hug and excused herself. “I will start making preparations now.”
“Hey, do you still want to get out of here and take some pictures?” Kassi asked Aimee.
“That sounds great. Let me gather up my stuff and we can go.”
“I’ll go see who’s available to drive us there and back. In light of recent events, I was thinking we could go down to the docks instead of the market?” Kassi asked.
“That works for me. I just need some generic photos to put up on the freelance board.” She’d already explained to Kassi and Gemma how she’d signed up as a photographer with a local freelance agency.
“Have you had any interest so far?” Kassi asked.
“I had a couple of emails but I haven’t heard back from them since I replied to their initial inquiries.”
“You will when the time is right,” Gemma told her with a smile that never quite reached her eyes. She hid a yawn. Catching sight of her reflection, she grimaced. No wonder every one thought she was sick! Her skin was pale, with faint shadows showing beneath her eyes.
Aimee’s expression showed concern. “We’re going to get out of here and let you rest. See you in a few hours.”
Gemma nodded, gathering Damien into her arms. “Be careful you two.” They didn’t seem to hear her. She bit her lip. She had the strangest feeling something was very wrong... Probably just the hormones. Pregnancy does that to you. She turned her attention back to Damien.
*****
Aimee pulled the door to Gemma’s room closed behind her and jogged after Kassi. “Let me grab my camera and we can go.”
“Parking can be a bear so we’ll just get someone to drop us off close and we can walk. Wear comfortable shoes,” Kassi said.
“I will. I’m excited to see the docks.”
Kassi smiled. “I guarantee these won’t be like anything you’ve ever seen before. We’ll have to head back in plenty of time to get ready for dinner, or we’ll both be in trouble with Tressa. She’s a sweetheart most of the time, but I wouldn’t want to get her angry.”
“I’ll meet you downstairs in a few minutes.” Aimee planned to take as many pictures as possible and spend the rest of the evening editing them and putting them on her portfolio page. The more she thought about working as a photographer, the more excited she became. The only shadow over her plans was the money she didn’t have to pay for the schooling she truly thought she needed. That, and a whole list of new equipment.
As she headed downstairs to meet Kassi, she pushed those negative thoughts aside. Alexi, Gemma and Leo thought they could just step in and take over her life, using their money to help her out, but Aimee was determined to do this on her own or not at all.