A Perfect Love: International Billionaires VI: The Greeks (17 page)

“
H
ere
.” Tamsin shoved the velvet bag across the wine-stained table. She ignored the lurch in her heart as her fingers slid along the plush fabric for the last time.

Haimon eyed the bag with disdain. “What is it?”

“It’s the last thing I have to give you.”

He glanced at her, his wily grey eyes narrowing. She’d worried he might reject her offering outright, but to her surprise, he gingerly opened it and shook the jewelry into his hand. The silver caught the light of the bulb hanging above their table, making it sparkle.

“Hmm.” He lifted the bracelet closer. “A nice piece.”

A nice piece
? The only piece she had of her real father was merely nice? A scream of anger and pain nearly escaped her, yet she had other goals.

More important goals.

If she had to give the last piece of her father away in order to drive this one-time father figure away, then she would. Gladly. “Take it and leave me alone.”

Haimon jiggled the bracelet in his hand, as if weighing its worth. “I could get a few euros selling this.”

“Go ahead and—”

“A few.”

The two words spiked into her heart like two jagged cuts. “I’ve given you all the money I have and this is the only thing left to give you.”

“Like I’ve mentioned before, you live with a billionaire.”

“His money is not my money.”

“In a way, though—” He eased back in his chair, rubbing his hand over his bald head. “—it is. Isn’t it, Tamsin?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“What I mean is I don’t forget where any of my money goes. Ever.”

She met his challenging look with a blank stare. What was the man talking about?

“Ten years ago, you forced me to give you quite a large sum of money.”

His meaning became clear and with it, came a great gush of fury. “We made a deal.”

“Deals. Blackmail. However it happened, it was my seed money Vounó used to start his precious company.”

His contorted logic was so ridiculous, she should walk away. But she needed his assurance he’d leave them alone forever and until she got it, she had to stick with this absurd conversation. “What happened years ago has no relevance now.”

“Really?” His mouth tightened. “I think it does.”

“I’ve just given you a piece of valuable jewelry. That should be enough to sustain you for several months.”

“I appreciate the gift.” He slipped the bag, and her bracelet, into the pocket of the drab cotton shirt he wore.

Tamsin stood. “Now what I want from you is your promise—”

“Gifts. Promises.” The old man chuckled. “We are a happy family, aren’t we?”

Her hands tightened on the handle of her leather purse. “No. We aren’t.”

“No?” He gestured at her, a sharp slash. “Sit down, Tammy.”

“I’ve got to go—”

“We’re not done.” His tone went flat.

Every atom of her demanded she leave except one, her instinct. Because the look in Haimon’s eyes told her the truth.

They weren’t done. Not at all.

“What?” She eased down on the hard wooden chair.

“I’ve decided I’m no longer interested in the paltry amount of money you’ve given me.”

“I don’t have access to any more.”

“I’ve also decided it’s time I get a dividend from the investment I put into Viper Enterprises so long ago.”

She leaned across the table, anger surging in her blood, swamping her fear of this man. “You had nothing to do with it. Rafe did it on his own.”

Haimon snorted. “Without the money he was given when we left for London, he would never have got his company off the ground.”

Even though she believed Rafe shouldn’t be running his company, Tam was still so proud of what he’d accomplished. The gall of this man sitting in front of her, to claim any part of Rafe’s success, made the anger inside swell until it burst. “He wouldn’t have had to launch the company at all if you hadn’t stolen from his father and driven him to his death.”

The accusation shot through the air. The old man lurched back, his eyes going blank, his mouth slackening.

That hadn’t been smart, but Tam didn’t care. The words had spilled out of her like a poison she needed to expunge before it destroyed her.

“So.” Her stepfather recovered quickly. “He’s been spewing lies and you believe him.”

“Rafe doesn’t lie.”

You do.

The unsaid accusation lay between them.

He finally chuckled, a soft, chilling sound. “I guess what you said is true. We aren’t a family anymore.”

“After what you’ve threatened to do to the boys—”

“This makes it easier in many ways.” His grey eyes grew cold and hard. “I no longer have to worry about your too-tender heart.”

Long ago, she had thought he cared; had hoped. But the ugliness she saw in front of her drove the last of her hope into death’s maw. “I have no heart for you, Haimon. I have nothing.”

“Except access to my money.”

It was her turn to snort. “None of Rafe’s money is yours. Or mine.”

“I provided the seed money.” His gnarled hand rose to brush across his mouth.

“No, it was mine. Bought and paid for when I made the deal with you.”

“The deal that, in a way, Tam, you’ve broken.”

The fading blare of a car horn echoed in the silence that fell.

“What are you talking about?” She’d begun to think this man might be deranged. Which only heightened her fear of him. Mixed with her growing anger, the combination made her feel like her insides were going to break apart.

“Our deal was you were to split with Vounó for good. Then you got the money.”

“I did exactly that.”

“Yet, here we are, many years later, true. But still, you are back in his arms, in his life.” He tutted under his breath as if she were still a child needing to be chastised.

The fear and anger broke free once more and flooded her caution, drowning it in a sea of frustration and wrath. “What do you want?”

“A portion.” He slid his hand over his head again. “A minor portion of what your lover has.”

“How am I supposed to get this for you? I don’t have access to his bank account.”

“Yet you do have access, don’t you?” The old man hummed under his breath. “Don’t you, Tammy?”

An aching dread threatened to leave her limp. “Spit it out.”

“So impatient.” Waving at the waiter, he ordered more coffee for both of them. After the waiter had finished filling their cups and shuffled away, he turned his focus on her again. “I have had a conversation or two with Tobba Laboratories.”

“Who?”

“Vounó’s biggest competitor.”

“So?”

“They are extremely interested in the neuron-electronic device your lover is testing at this moment.”

A flash of memory swept through her. The visit to Rafe’s work. The cancer shot that her brothers had been so interested in.

It’s used with a neuron-electronic device that we’re also testing
.

She sucked in a breath.

“Ah,” Haimon murmured. “You know of it.”

“I know nothing.” She kept her composure. “Nothing that would help your friends at Tobba Laboratories.”

He ignored her claim. “Vounó is about to bid on the device. Tobba wants to know what that bid is going to be.”

A sick brew of fear and dread swirled in her stomach. “I have no idea what that bid would be.”

“Once I deliver this information to them, they’ll pay me a substantial fee.”

“I can’t help you.”

“Then, Tammy, then you’ll have what you want.”

Another silence fell. She felt the threat, the demand running through her, a wash of ugliness she couldn’t escape.

“I’ll be gone for good.” He smiled, a sinister, slick move of his lips. “That’s what you want, don’t you?”

“Yes,” she said. “That’s what I want.”

“I suppose I should be hurt.” He mournfully shook his head. “After all the years we were a family.”

Should she shriek at him? Should she strangle him?

“However, business is business and I understand why you want to latch onto your rich lover while you can.”

To say her relationship with Rafe was business made her want to retch. “I won’t do it. I can’t find out what you want.”

“But you do have a way to find out, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Then you’ll find one.” His gaze grew hard, like steel planks pinning her down. “Or there are going to be problems.”

Problems for the boys
.

The threat wasn’t stated, but it hovered between them as clear as if the words had actually been spoken.

“How could you?” Leaning forward to stare into his eyes, she tried to find a piece of decency in this man she’d lived with almost her entire life. “Even if you aren’t their father, they were still once a part of your family, a part of your life.”

“All of us do what we have to, to survive.” He met her ferocious gaze with a mild one, like he were discussing the weather. “I get what I want, you get what you want.”

Desperate, she used her last card. “I’ll tell Rafe. He’ll keep the boys safe. He’ll come after you.”

“Will he?” A chuckle. “Will he believe you?”

Her greatest fear swung into the forefront. “He’ll believe me.”

He took a sip of his coffee, the chipped side glinting in the dull light. “Will he believe in your word when I show him how you signed over the money from our hotel account so I could escape?”

“You’ll be in jail before you can show him anything.”

The old man seemed unfazed by the challenge. “Will he believe you when he sees the photos of us meeting many times without his knowledge?”

Horror clutched at her throat. “What do you mean?”

He waved a hand to the one other patron in the taverna. The man smiled and waved back, a fancy mobile phone in hand. A phone that took photos, surely.

Horror turned to frozen panic.

“He won’t, will he, Tammy?”

No. He wouldn’t. Their relationship was too fragile, too precarious and he was too wounded. If she had a few more weeks or months, maybe she could overcome this, but now?

“Get me the bid amount.” Haimon rose and shrugged into his coat. “Send it to me by text within twenty-four hours.”

She stared at him, too afraid to say anything.

“I’ll want proof, also.” He hiked up his trousers, his expression turning to calculation. “Best to take a mobile phone photo of the bid letter so I know it’s real.”

“How am I going to get that?” A sick brew of hopelessness swirled in her stomach. “Maybe I just get the number.”

“Ah.” He smiled again. “So you will get this for me. Good.”

“I haven’t agreed.”

“You are negotiating terms.” His grim smile never wavered. “That means you’ve agreed.”

“I might be able to get you the number—”

“I want proof. Something on Viper’s letterhead. Something I can depend on.”

“You don’t trust me?” The question was childish, a stupid thing to say, yet some remnant of her childhood with this man reared its head.

“That was always your problem, Tammy.” Haimon shook his head in disgust. “You always believed in trust.”

A well of tears threatened to burst. “There has to be—”

“Don’t trust anyone. Ever.” He brushed his hand over his head, his gaze never leaving hers. “How many times have I told you that?”

“Then why should I trust your word that once I do this, you’ll leave us alone?”

“A very good question. Perhaps you are learning at last.” Putting his hands on the back of the chair, he leaned in. “The boys aren’t mine. We aren’t a family.”

She kept her gaze pinned to his narrowed eyes.

“I have no ties to any of you.” His stare was hard as stone. “Once you get me this money, I’m leaving Greece.”

“Where will you go?” Some last, lingering tug of emotion slipped from her heart.

“Don’t pretend to care.” He gave her an indifferent shrug. “Only know I’ll be gone for good.”

“There’s got to be another way.”

“No. There isn’t.” He didn’t even glance behind him as he walked away. “Do it. Or you’ll lose everything you love.”

F
inally
. Rafe was asleep.

Tamsin edged her way out of his warm embrace and stepped onto the cool stone floor. Grabbing her nightgown from the end of the bed, she slipped it over her head before turning around to look at him.

His face, shadowed by night, still held an aura of power and strength. The tough edge of his jaw, the strong arch of his brows, the black hair contrasting with the white silk sheets—all of it, him, warned her who she was dealing with.

A powerful man.

A man she had to betray.

Her gut lurched and writhed.

If only she had a bit more time. Just a few more precious weeks, even days, to nurture what she was sure was blooming between them.

She knew he cared. She knew it.

Rafe had watched her all through the evening meal with the boys. He’d known something was troubling her. But his eyes didn’t hold anger or distrust. No, they’d been filled with puzzlement, worry, concern. Yet she knew in her heart if she blurted out that Haimon was around, that she’d met him many times, that she’d given him money…

She knew those dark, black eyes would fill with rage.

Not only rage at an old man.

Rage at her.

Trying to punch her anguish away, she swung away from him. Tam tiptoed through the door and closed it behind her with a soft thump. The shadows followed and swallowed her as she crept down the hallway and into the kitchen. Needing some consolation, she opened the refrigerator and poured herself a small glass of
vinsanto
.

She couldn’t avoid it any longer.

She had to make a choice. Her boys. Or her love.

The irony slammed into her. Ten years ago, almost to the day, she’d had to make the same choice. And exactly as before, she had to make the only one she could.

Forcing herself to focus, she plodded into Rafe’s office.

Titus rolled from his bed and padded across to where she stood. When he rubbed his big head on her leg, she absently smoothed her hand through his rough hair. A small fizz of comfort shot through her for a moment.

Only a moment.

The laptop sat on the desk. Closed. Yet open to her. No locks anymore. No password needed. No lack of trust. So easy to betray someone who trusted you.