The Billion-Dollar Marriage Contract (23 page)

Daylight streamed through the windows making Cassia groan.

She didn’t want to get up yet as every part of her ached. Her shoulder felt as though it had been hit by a sledgehammer. Her legs felt like dead weight from walking around all day and her other arm ached from hauling water from the well.

But she really had to get her day started if she wanted to survive on this island and not get caught by their kidnappers.

With another groan, she opened her eyes and got up from bed.

“Good. You’re already awake. Breakfast is ready,” Nikos told her.

He gestured to the table which was already set with two plates filled with pork and beans. Cassia winced and Nikos laughed.

“Beggars can’t be choosers, remember?”

She laughed when he threw her own words back at her.

She was also glad that he could already stand, even though he was still limping. The swelling in his eye had already lessened
and his bruises were turning a darker shade of purple. Overall, he looked better today.

Suddenly, the events in the early parts of daybreak came crashing back to her and she averted her gaze. She just spent the night cuddling with none other than her
estranged husband! Well, maybe that could be excused because she was really, really cold and they could not start a fire for fear of their kidnappers finding them.

Besides, there was no other way to keep warm so it’s fine. Right?

No, traitor.

Her conscience chose that moment to intrude on her thoughts and she groaned.

You liked it even when you weren’t cold anymore. You liked feeling his arms around you. You liked his smell and the feel of his hard chest against your palms. You liked feeling his soft breaths against your cheek. His closeness reminded you of that one night you spent together.

She cringed at her thoughts. This was
wrong
. Being near him evoked a lot of memories and emotions in her. Those were things that she buried a long, long time ago. She wasn’t the naive girl who fell in love with him anymore.

But everything now chipped at the ice that she surrounded her heart with. Her armor was weakening and he hadn’t even so much as kissed her! He just held her and she was nearly insane with desire for him!

Cassia mentally shook herself.

Stop it.

Her life was much better now and she couldn’t throw everything away just because of
lust
.

“Is something wrong?” Nikos asked her.

She glanced up from her plate of pork and beans and shook her head.

“Nothing’s wrong but you haven’t eaten anything. I’ve been watching you push your food around your plate.”

“Umm...guess I’m not that hungry.”

“You’ll need your strength, Cassia. Eat up.”

He was right. Danger still held them by their throats and she would need every ounce of strength she possessed. She also needed to eat to keep her brain shipshape.

Cassia sighed and started to eat without really tasting the food. Her thoughts were still on the complex man sitting before her.

“Do you think we should leave?” Cassia asked after a long period of silence.

“I think we’re safe here for now. First, they would comb the shore area. They think that’s where we’ll go and they’ll tighten the security on ferries and boats with access to this island. I think that will take them a day. While you were asleep, I tried to circle the area. If by any chance, the kidnappers can find this cabin, they would be coming from that direction.” Nikos pointed towards the trail they came from. “The other side only contains a denser portion of the woods. So I doubt they’d be coming there. If we hear them coming, we can go out the back door of this cabin and lose them in the forest.”

“Sounds like a great plan. What about the phone? Is it already charging?”

“I’m afraid the solar panels have been damaged. Only one is working and the wires have also been damaged. I can repair those wires but it may take some time. The soonest we can make that call may be by tomorrow.”

“Great,” she muttered.

Nikos ignored her. He cleared the table and began to lay out several tools and wires. He placed the solar panel on one side and inspected every inch of it.

“I’m going to refill our water supply and then maybe go around for a walk.”

Nikos looked up and she was pierced by his green eyes.

“Be careful,” he warned.

“Always.”

Cassia returned a little past noon. She was breathless from the long hike she took.  She wanted to get a lay of the land. Unfortunately, she was not able to do that but she found something else.

“Good news or bad news?” she asked Nikos.

His brows were furrowed as he concentrated on repairing the solar panels. Also, there were several dirt streaks on his cheeks but he couldn’t look any more handsome if he tried.

Cassia cringed at her thoughts.
Don’t go there, Cassia.

“Bad news.”

“Okay then. We only have two cans of pork and beans left. I guess that’s for lunch. Then no more.”

Nikos raised an eyebrow.

“Good news?”

“I found a stream nearby and we can bathe there and also get fish. Assuming one of us knows how to fish.”

Nikos’ green eyes glittered with amusement. “Well, we’ll have to learn if we want to eat tonight, right?”

“But how’re we going to cook it?”

“Ever eaten sushi?” Nikos asked with a huge smile.

“Yes. I
hate
sushi,” Cassia answered. She wrinkled her nose.

Nikos’ smile turned into a bark of laughter.

“Maybe we can cook the fish when it’s already dark so that the smoke won’t be that visible. We’d have to do it quickly, though.”

“Can we risk it?” she asked.

“This is a dense forest. I doubt they’d see a little bit of smoke at night. Hmm. Better yet, let’s cook it from afar where there’s a thick canopy of trees. Let’s cook near this stream you found.”

“Great idea,” she replied and they grinned at each other.

Cassia sighed.

Why was it so easy to be with him like this when ten years ago he was always stiff and formal beside her? She’d never seen this side of him and it made it all the more difficult to guard her heart
against him.

But she had to.

This was all a trick. He was just nice to her because they were thrown together in this disaster. They needed each other to survive and he’d gain nothing by alienating her. But when they were rescued and when they went back to their lives, they’d be like they were before –
strangers
.

She repeated those thoughts to herself over and over as she tried to refreeze her heart and rebuild her armor.

She
mustn’t
repeat her mistakes from ten years ago.

A few hours later, Nikos was waist-deep in the water trying to catch fish with his bucket while she was perched on top of a rock, laughing at him.

“Stop! You’re scaring the fish away!”

“Stop laughing at me! Do you know how hard this is?” Nikos hissed.

Cassia already caught two large fish while Nikos still had nothing. He was wet from head to toe and failing miserably.

“Damn it!” he cursed as he slipped and fell in the water.

He rose from it, cursing and sputtering. Cassia continued laughing as he turned to her.

“You think this is funny?” he asked through clenched teeth.

“It really is,” and she
howled
with laughter once more.

Cassia clutched her stomach and laughed as Nikos tried over and over again. After an hour and he still had nothing, he finally conceded.

“You didn’t catch anything. But look on the bright side: you are clean now since you’ve had a bath,” she teased.

Her laughter was cut short when she was suddenly doused with cold water. When she opened her eyes, Nikos held his bucket over her head with a smirk on his arrogant face.

“Why you—you—“ she never got to finish the sentence as she decided to pounce.

She fell from the rock and into the water taking Nikos with her. When they resurfaced, they began splashing each other like two rowdy children.

Cassia gave it all she had and didn’t relent. Nikos did the same and soon enough, both of them were tired and dripping wet. And they were both laughing.

“Okay. Stop. I call truce,” Cassia surrendered. Her arm throbbed from her exertions and she knew Nikos’ aches and pains were punishing him as well.

“Truce,” he agreed as he breathlessly waded towards her rock and sat beside her. He looked around and listened carefully for the kidnappers might have been alerted by the noise of their childishness.

“If catching fish was a competition, I won today,” Cassia gloated.

Nikos scoffed. Then he leaned back and lay down across the rock.

“I haven’t had that much fun for as long as I can remember,” he sighed.

Cassia’s heart immediately went out to him. She remembered his nightmares, the night he was tortured and the scars she saw when she cleaned his wounds.

She also lay down on the rock and looked at the sky.

“What happened two years ago, Nikos?”

He stilled and the mask he always wore slid back into place.

He never spoke to anyone about his kidnapping, except for the doctors he consulted to help him. Even they had difficulty in having him open up about what he experienced. But right now, only one question from her and he ached to spill everything. Something in her called out to the pain he carried inside him. He turned to his side and looked into her hazel eyes.

He saw concern there. No judgment. No pity. No curiosity. Only
concern
.

He started recounting his tale.

“Antonio and I were on our way to a business conference. Suddenly, there was an explosion and the car I was in swerved to the side. Then, they fired on us. I felt a pain in my side and realized I was shot.”

Her eyes widened. Now she knew where the scar on his side came from. But why did it look like the skin was burnt?

“From there on, I drifted in and out of consciousness. Maybe it was from blood loss. I would have died if they didn’t do anything about it.”

Nikos gritted his teeth as he flashed back to the scene. He recalled how they dug out the bullet and then seared his skin to close the wound. Shame washed over him as he heard his own voice
crying and begging for them to end his torture.

He looked at Cassia to gauge her reaction. She reached for his hand and squeezed.

“They will pay, Nikos. We will make them pay for all they did to you two years ago. And for what they did now,” she vowed.

Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. They were not of pity or judgment. She cried for him because she shared his pain. His heart ached at those word
s.

“How did you manage to get off the island?”

“First I’ll tell you about Elise.”

She nodded.

“She was the daughter of one of the leaders of those who kidnapped us. But she was not like them. At first, Antonio and I thought she was sent in to torture us. She came to our cell carrying her knives and a whip.”

He breathed in deep and summoned the courage to continue.

“She asked for a bucket of water and threw it over me. She laughed and so did all the guards. She asked them to leave and then told us she was not the enemy. She’d help us but we had to scream as loud as we could.”

Nikos gave a bark of laughter. He remembered the look of confusion on Antonio’s face when she told them she’d help but they had to shout as though they were being beaten within an inch of their lives.

“She laid down those knives and retrieved medical supplies from under her dress. The water she threw over me was so she could clean my wounds and avoid an infection. She really did help me while Antonio and I screamed. We didn’t trust her at first but she came back night after night.”

“I guess that’s when Antonio fell in love with her?” Cassia said with a small smile.

“Yes. I was still too weak then but when I wake up during the night, I saw her sitting outside our cell and the two of them were talking. Before the sun rose, she was gone.”

“She helped you leave the island?”

“Yes and no. She wasn’t allowed to leave the island either so she couldn’t smuggle us out, if that’s what you’re asking. But she found a way to help. We were about to be transferred to another place where they would keep us. Elise overheard them and she told us. Antonio asked her to contact Alex and she did. When we were transferred to the place, Alex and his team were there waiting.”

“What about Elise?”

“Antonio grabbed her and carried her to the helicopter himself. He refused to let her go. He didn’t want her to go back to what she did in the island. He told her she deserved a better life and that he would give it to her.” Nikos smiled. “They were married a few months later.”