The Corner Booth (27 page)

CHAPTER 55

Stephan tapped lightly on the office door. Waiting for the obligatory command to enter, he sat heavily in the chair in front of Sakis’s desk. Sakis was surprised to see him up so early.

“What’s going on?”

“Maria called me this morning on the way to the market. It seems that she and Olivia, one of the maids who just happens to speak Greek”—Stephan clarified at seeing the questioning look thrown his way—“had overheard a conversation between Alejandra and her cousin and was concerned enough that she felt the need to call me.”

“I am listening.”

“Alejandra was telling the cousin that everything was going as planned and she couldn’t wait to leave Boston. She apparently said that she hated the way ‘that girl’ played her and tried to get her to believe that she was the bodyguard’s girlfriend. There was more, but they had walked into another room. Olivia is too scared of Alejandra to follow.”

“So you are thinking that all of these temper tantrums are to get me to cancel the wedding?” Sakis was confused. “Why wouldn’t she just tell me that she doesn’t want to get married?”

Shaking his head, Stephan lit a cigarette. “For the same reason that you won’t tell her that you don’t want to marry her. Look, Sakis, I am not convinced that is all there is to this. How did she know that Cassie wasn’t my girlfriend but yours? I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there seems to be more that is going on here. I just wanted to give you a heads-up, before I started looking into the situation.”

“I don’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill either. We have kept track of Alejandra all of these years, Stephan. She should be an open book right now. I really don’t want you wasting your time.”

Shrugging, Stephan rose as he put out his cigarette in the ashtray on Sakis’s desk. He knew that he had to follow his gut. Whatever was going on, he did not believe for a minute it had to do with the marriage between the two families. Something else was going on, and he was going to get to the bottom of it. Glancing at his phone as he walked out of the office, several text messages popped up. Surprised, Stephan saw one from Derek asking him to meet. In another world and another time, Stephan believed that Derek would be a friend of his and they had in fact kept in touch via the phone after Cassie’s abduction. The conversations had initially been awkward on one level, yet both men had a genuine admiration for each other and eventually they seemed to find a common ground. It had been over a week since they spoke.

At the Black Rose on State Street, Derek rose immediately when Stephan approached the table. They shook hands in greeting.

“This is a surprise. Had to pick an Irish bar?”

Derek laughed. “Figured you would like to see how the better half of the world lives.”

Grinning, Stephan made himself comfortable.

“Somehow I sincerely doubt that. Any leads?”

“Yeah, we have a couple, but that isn’t why I asked you here. I figured I owed you one or two favors.”

“Derek, you owe me nothing!”

“Yeah, okay, let’s see if you sing another tune in a minute when you hear what I learned today. And I promise you, this is good.”

Stephan’s eyebrows rose. He knew Derek was taking a huge risk; not just meeting with him but divulging any information would definitely cost him his job.

“I am not even going to pretend that you didn’t know we have been staking out Sakis for a long time now.” Stephan grinned. The tails had been obvious to his staff and to himself. It was a constant joke in their organization. “What we couldn’t understand was what George Havarti’s girlfriend was doing at your boss’s home, this past week…and then it dawned on me this morning that you didn’t realize who Miss Demopoulos has been keeping company with over the past year.”

Derek gave Stephan a moment to let what he had just shared sink in. It was a full minute before the Greek even moved. Grabbing his phone, he dialed Phil and spoke in their native tongue. “Go to Sakis. Take him to the apartment in Boston. He is not to leave until I come personally to get him. Do not stop for anyone, do you understand? No one in or out.” Stephan waited for Phil’s response before he hung up and turned back to Derek. The air around them seemed to have gone down several degrees.

He was glad that he was on their side this time. “I am curious: Sakis will go just like that without questioning anything?”

Again, Stephan was stunned. “You speak Greek?!”

“Yai-yai would have my parents’ heads if they did not teach her grandchildren her language. I am not that proficient, but I understood what you were saying.”

“There is only one purpose for that apartment, and the moment that Phil tells him where he is being taken, he will understand. He respects my judgment. We have trained for this since Sakis went into business and there is no one except Phil, Sakis, and myself who even know where that apartment is—even the ATF. That being said, Sakis will be expecting me to return soon. Patience is not his virtue.”

“What about Cassie?” Derek asked.

Stephan looked strained at the mention of Cassie’s name. “I need to track her down.” Stephan quickly told Derek of Alejandra cutting all of Cassie’s clothes.

“I am going with you.” Before Stephan could protest, Derek used logic. “My car is right outside.”

Derek sped through Boston, as Stephan tracked Cassie’s phone GPS on his phone. Glancing over several times as Stephan gave him directions, Derek couldn’t help but ask. “Does she have any idea that you track her every move?”

“What I think is that you and I have the same relationship with Cassie. Look but not touch.”

“Touché,” was Derek’s only comment.

Several minutes later, as they turned on Newbury Street, Stephan spotted the three friends as they exited one of the restaurants. “There they are!”

Tires squealing, Derek cut through the traffic amid honking horns. Stephan was out of the vehicle even before it came to a full stop. Racing towards Cassie, Stephan watched as she looked up at Sean, laughing. Moments later, her expression changed as a large man came up behind her, seeming to bump her in the crowd before he turned and walked away hurriedly in the opposite direction. Cassie’s body seemed to crumble as she dropped to the ground. Shouting to Derek to take after the suspect, Stephan knelt next to Cassie, watching as blood seeped out from under her. Sean and Emily stood stunned, staring down at their friend, unsure of what had just happened as Stephan tried to stop the bleeding.

“Stephan?” Cassie stared at her friend in disbelief, while tears slid down her face. “It hurts.”

“I know, baby. The ambulance is on its way. You have to hang in there, Cassie.”

Cassie couldn’t respond. Her whole body shook and she felt so cold as the voices around her seemed to move farther and farther away.

“Stay with us, Cassie. Please, don’t leave us.” That was the last thing she heard before her world went dark.

CHAPTER 56

The monitor beeped constantly, but Sakis no longer even heard the sound as he held Cassie’s hand. From behind the glass partition, Derek and Stephan stared at the two figures.

“How is she doing?” Derek asked.

“The doctor said the surgery went well and that she is very lucky. She was stabbed three times yet the knife hadn’t penetrated any major organs. She still has a tough road ahead, but she is going to live.”

“Three times? God, he was quick.”

“Yeah. That was a professional hit.”

Derek stared at Sakis’s back. “How is he doing?”

Stephan stared at his friend. Sakis had barely spoken a full sentence since he went to pick him up, only to have to tell him that Cassie was near death. It had all happened so fast and was so unexpected. “Not so good. This shook him up even more than her abduction. This was personal.” Turning away from the room, he took a seat in the hall to wait for Cassie to wake up. “Did you have a hard time getting the guy?”

Shaking his head, Derek sat down next to Stephan and wished he had a stiff drink in his hand. “No, actually it was pretty easy, and once we were able to track down Miss Demopoulos and her entourage as they made their way to the airport, it wasn’t hard to get her to admit to hiring someone to kill Cassie.”

Stephan shoved his hands in his jacket pocket. He felt so old. “For what purpose?”

“They found George Havarti’s body, Stephan. He was shot in the head, execution style. He had been missing a couple of weeks after Andre’s death.”

“So, Alejandra wanted to hurt Sakis because she figured that he had killed her boyfriend.”

“We believe it was Andre’s family who made the hit, but we are not one hundred percent sure.”

Stephan’s laugh sounded harsh. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”

Rising to his feet, he held out his hand to his friend. “Thanks for your assistance today, Stephan. Let me know when she comes to and they will allow non-family members to visit.”

Squeezing Derek’s hand tightly, he nodded. “I will, but you are considered family now, Derek. Let me know if you ever need anything.”

In the other room, Cassie struggled to wake up. She could feel someone holding her hand. Her eyelids fluttered as she tried to force them open. Turning her head on the pillow, she moaned. Her body hurt, but she couldn’t remember what had happened. Finally getting her eyes open, she stared at Sakis as the memory of getting stabbed rushed through her mind. She never saw it coming and the last thing she did remember was Stephan kneeling over her, begging her not to die.

“Sakis?” Cassie couldn’t believe that was her voice she was hearing.

Sakis bolted up straight when he heard his name. He looked tired to her.

“Cassandra! Hello, my love.” His relief was palpable. He wondered whether he should get the nurse.

“Is it bad?”

Shaking his head, he grinned down at her. As he looked into her ice-blue eyes, he thought he would never see anything ever again as beautiful as her eyes.

“No, you are going to be just fine.”

“Sakis—” Cassie struggled to talk, but Sakis placed his finger gently on her lips.

“No talking, Cassie, only healing. There will be plenty of time when you are recuperating that you can say what is on your mind, but right now, I have to speak.” Sakis gripped her hand again in his. The past twenty-four hours had been life-changing for him. There was a point that no one could tell him whether she was alive or dead, and the mere thought of her possibly being gone from his life forever tore him up. What a waste his life had been up to now. Tony was right: nothing mattered—not money, fame, fortune—nothing but the head that lay on the pillow next to you at night. He had been given a second chance with Cassie, and he wasn’t going to lose that chance. And he certainly was not going to spend the rest of his miserable life with regrets.

“I love you, Cassandra Oliver. I love you more than life itself and I cannot imagine spending another minute doubting who you are or what our relationship is.” Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out the tiny box. “I know this is not the most romantic time or spot to be asking you this, but…Cassandra, will you marry me?”

Cassie stared down at the massive diamond that lay nestled in the purple box. She wanted so much to say yes, but they had so much to work through.

He slid the ring on her finger before she could answer. “I know that I have done so much in my life that I have not been proud of, but I will make you this promise. If you say that you will marry me, I will turn my business around, make it legitimate, and work on cleaning up the trail of havoc I have left in my wake.”

Sakis paused, feeling as if he was starting to ramble, and he really needed to hear her answer.

Entwining her fingers with his, she smiled weakly. “It seems that I may have a chance to beat Sean to the altar after all.”

EPILOGUE

Cassie let out a low moan as sweat beaded on her forehead. She felt as if her whole body was being ripped apart at the seams and she wasn’t sure whether or not she was going to be able to hold it together enough to make it through this. The pain was excruciating and she had the overwhelming urge to throw up. Sakis’s eyes filled with tears at her pain; there was nothing he could do. Rushing to the door, he left the room only to be stopped by Stephan, who waited right outside. “Sakis, she needs you now more than ever before…you cannot walk out on her!”

Wide-eyed, he stared at his friend. “I don’t think I can do this. There is something terribly wrong…” He had spent the past two years keeping his wedding promise to Cassie by slowly turning his business into the legal empire it was today. Through all of the hard work and long days, the transition was not as difficult as he thought it would be. In fact, it was a hell of a lot easier than standing in the hospital room and watching as she gave birth to their first child.

Stephan shoved Sakis back in the room just as Cassie let out another long wail. “Your wife is in good hands. You have the best doctor working on her.” Shutting the door firmly behind Sakis, Stephan sat back down in the chair in the hallway and stared at Sean and Emily. Moments later, all three burst out laughing.

Sakis reluctantly walked over to the bed where his wife continued to writhe in pain, only to wince himself as Cassie gripped his fingers tightly in her own. Her moans turned to panting. “Don’t you ever leave this room again, Sakis, or I will divorce you! Oh God! I really need to push again.”

The doctor calmly returned to the bed and peered down. “This could be the one, Cassie—give it all you got.” Turning his eyes to Sakis, he gestured. “Get behind her, son, and help her to sit up a bit. It will help with the pushing.”

Dubious, Sakis helped Cassie to sit up and supported her back with his chest as she started to push.

“There we go. That is excellent, Cassie. You are almost there. I can see the top of your baby’s head, just waiting to come out to meet you both. I need one really strong push.”

Knowing she was almost to the end, Cassie nodded as she started to push again. She could feel the burning sensation as the baby slowly made its way out.

“Okay, I need you to stop for a moment. No more pushing, Cassie, just keep panting. You’re on the home stretch. Great—ready when you are.”

Reaching deep inside for more strength, Cassie pushed hard. Seconds later, the baby was lifted up and placed on her stomach. For a moment, Sakis stood frozen in place and stared at the child who had not been there a moment before. The nurse quickly suctioned the mucus from the tiny form’s nose and mouth. A loud cry rang through the room. He was in awe.

“Dad, do you want to cut the cord?”

Sakis could feel everyone’s eyes on him as he reached for the scissors with shaking fingers. The doctor pointed to where the cut should be made and seconds later, the baby was free from its mother.

Turning to Cassie, Sakis bent down and stroked her hair as she held their daughter tightly to her chest. Cassie was completely exhausted but exuberant.

“You are the strongest, most amazing person, Cassandra. I love you!”

“I love you, too, Sakis.” Both watched as the nurse wiped the baby down, before wrapping it tightly in the blanket. She started to hand the baby to Cassie, who shook her head. “No, please let her father hold her so he can meet his daughter.”

The nurse smiled as she placed the tiny bundle in his arms. Sakis could only stare down at the little face as Stephan, Emily, and Sean entered the room.

“Have you picked a name yet?” the nurse asked from the corner of the room.

Sakis looked towards Cassie, who nodded for him to tell. Beaming, he turned for everyone to see his daughter for the first time. “Her name is Rose Victoria Carras, and I am in love for the second time in my life.”