The Greek Tycoon Box Set: The Complete Serial: Books 1-10 (23 page)

She could tell by Atreus’ darting eyes and overenthusiastic tone that he was as worried as she was, but she was glad for his strength in trying to make the day seem normal. If it had not been for their afternoon dip in the crystal waters, with the reggae music pumping out of the beach bar before lilting and rocking across the gentle waves, she felt she would have crumbled.
 

Dios shuffled around them as the sun began to set, his sailor outfit covered in sand. He was as at home with Peterson, as he was with Carla and Atreus, and was awake and animated despite the long day.

“Hey!” Peterson said in mock protest as Dios snatched a packet of butter out of his hand and sped off crawling in the other direction, giggling madly.
 

Peterson leaned back on the log he was perched upon and twisted his dreadlocks down his back. He smiled widely and wagged his finger.

“Bring it back here, little man.”

They all laughed a little, but both Carla’s and Atreus’ laughs ended with a long protracted breath.

“So, have you decided what you will do?” Atreus asked Peterson.

Peterson breathed through his teeth.

“Not yet,” he said. “I figure I still have a few hours.”

“I’m sorry I had to spring it all on you so fast,” said Atreus. “The situation is not exactly within my control.”

“Don’t worry yourself,” Peterson said, reaching over and patting Atreus on the arm. “Things will get better, my brother.”

“Yes,” said Atreus. “They will. As long as I have my family beside me I’m all right.”
 

He squeezed Carla’s hand and watched Dios return to Peterson with the packet of butter.

“That’s right,” said Peterson. “That’s my problem. I want to come to Dubai, you know, but my family is here. I have a wife and four daughters who need me.”

“You can remain home,” Atreus said immediately. “I’ll keep you on the payroll until I sort this out. Besides, I doubt there’s any pressing agricultural work for you to do in Dubai anyhow.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Peterson said. “That’s too much.”

“It’s the least I can do,” said Atreus. “Just don’t come over to Little Ekali or Redemption Island until I say it’s alright. I don’t know what Serene’s legal moves are so it’s best we all just keep away for now. I don’t want anyone to get into trouble.”

Peterson breathed through his teeth again.

“Well, all right,” he said. “But Africa’s gonna be torture when we come back. And it will be difficult for me to stay away!”

He nodded back toward the botanical garden, bursting with exotic life and vibrancy. Carla had admired it so when she’d first arrived.
 

“Is that what you call it?” Carla asked. “Africa?”

Peterson smiled.

“Yeah.”

“You planted it?”

“I guess you could say that,” he said. “But I see it more like I’m just guiding nature. Just a custodian, you know?”

He picked up a stick and pushed the breadfruit off the fire. It rolled like a scorched football.

Carla nodded and held onto Atreus’ hand. In the peace that spread over them Carla began to feel the beginnings of confidence spring up in her. A moment of near silence followed, only the crickets gearing up for dusk and the crackle of the gentle fire audible.

“I hope Angelique comes with us,” Carla said.

Peterson grinned.

“You think Angelique would miss Dubai? Last I saw her she was jumping around like a maniac and screaming, ‘
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!
’”
 

He did such a realistic impression of her, flapping his hands in front of his face and tightening his voice into her feminine tones that Atreus and Carla descended into laughter.

Dios looked up at them, shocked at first, then let out a joyous, high-pitched squeal and bobbed up and down. That set them off laughing all the more which, in turn, increased the baby’s excitement and enthusiasm. Soon they were all belly-laughing, barely able to catch their breath.

*****

A lump rose in Carla’s throat as Atreus pulled the door shut behind them. In her short time at Little Ekali she had been captured by the power of its peace, the lap of each gentle wave upon the shore touching her very soul. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what Atreus was going through; to rediscover his love for this island paradise, only to have it immediately ripped away from him. Dios grizzled on Carla’s hip, quite unaware of the details but seemingly picking up on the somber spirit that had slipped back in and permeated the air.

Angelique was the only one undaunted by the move.

“We’re going to Dubai!” she kept repeating over and over, wheeling her carry-case behind her as the household headed for the airstrip.
 

It was the first time Carla had seen Angelique out of her masseuse uniform and her loveliness was even more striking. Her braids ran in intricate twisting patterns across her scalp to meet in a top knot pinned precisely to look like the petals of a flower. The skirt of her red chiffon maxi dress flashed out around her muscular ebony calves.
 
And her exposed arms and shoulders were strong and defined with skin as smooth as velvet.

“I love your dress, by the way,” Angelique said to Carla. “You’re getting some nice color to contrast with its white. And I’ve always loved the look of blonde hair with a tan.”

“Thanks,” Carla said. Angelique felt like the best friend she’d never had. “You look great, too.”

“You crazy! I must look like a big old warning sign walking across the runway,” she said. “Danger! Danger!”

Atreus signaled for the plane doors to be opened.

“Everyone can board now.”

Some of the staff who were staying lingered around the plane, misty eyed. Everyone seemed to have the sense it was the end of an era, though no words were spoken to that effect.

Carla hung back and bounced Dios on her hip. Atreus put his arm around them both and watched everyone board the plane: his secretary Lilia, the plump housekeeper Hanna and Linus the bodyguard as well as numerous other security guards, cleaning staff and, of course, Angelique.
 

Andria, the last in line, turned at the doorway and stared at Atreus. She wore a wide hat and her tan was the deep shade of molasses.

“You had better get this place back,” she said. “We’re not giving up this paradise for that silly ex-wife of yours.”

Atreus managed a laugh.

“You got it, Mommy,” he quipped.

Carla looked back over the rambling beach house, the rich foliage of Africa, the white sand beach and the rippling turquoise of the sea as it twinkled with reflections of the morning light.
 

“I really hope we can come back,” she thought. “I was meant to be here.”

“I hope so too,” Atreus said, trying to remain strong for everyone. “I was hoping to share it with you forever.”

Peterson approached with a compassionate expression.

“Hey.”

He stuck his hand out for Atreus’ to shake, then patted Carla on the shoulder and Dios on the head.

“You’ll all get through this, man,” he said. “You are good people. As long as you stay that way, everything will work out for you in the end. Bad people might prosper for a while but they
never
win in the end. Soon you’ll be back.”

“I sure hope so, Peterson,” Atreus said. Then with a wink he added, “I know I told you not to come back here but I won’t tell you not to take your boat by now and again to make sure no one is here.”

Peterson laughed.

“Done and done, my brother.”

He saluted then turned, his dreads swinging behind him as he ran to catch up with the rest of the employees who were not coming to Dubai. When they reached the shore he fired up his boat and waved at Carla and Atreus.

They waved back, almost weakly. Atreus took a deep breath.

“To Dubai?”

She slipped her free hand into his.

“To Dubai.”

*****

Chapter 2

“Oh my gosh,” Angelique said, looking back at Carla, her eyes wide with amazement. “Can you believe it?!”

Since Carla had met Atreus, it seemed life had morphed into an endless stream of exotic and luxurious locations. He always strolled inside with such a nonchalant air, as if he owned the place, while Carla did everything she could not to gasp and gawk, trying to look as casual as he did. But as they stepped into the lobby of the Burj Karimi Hotel she could not manage it. It was like nothing she had ever seen before.

“Wow!” she said.

“You can say that again,” said Andria.

The entrance hall was the vastest Carla had ever laid eyes on, stretching on mammoth golden pillars as far upward as the eye could see. It was flanked by two gold-plated escalators, between which hundreds of fountains of water sprang from up lit cut stone arranged in a pyramid formation to the summit.
 

A suited man approached them and bowed his head.

“Good afternoon. Is this the Kostas party, sir?”

“Yes,” Atreus replied.

“My name is Omar, a pleasure to meet you all,” the man said. “I trust you are all well?”

“Yes, thank you,” Atreus agreed.
 

“Three gentlemen from your legal team are seated in the Skyview Bar,” said Omar. “If you would like to entertain them in your suite, I could arrange for a meal or beverages.”

“Please,” said Atreus. “A meal for us all. The family will take it in the dining room. I’ll entertain my legal team in the study.”
 

He leaned in to Carla.
 

“We’ll keep the lounge clear for you and Dios, should either of you require some breathing room.”

Carla smiled.

“Perfect.”

*****

Angelique knelt down at the keyhole, her pink silk pajamas matching the door’s pink and gold trim. She and Carla were relaxing in the lounge while Atreus remained holed up in his study with his legal team.

“Oh, he’s gorgeous, one of those lawyers,” she said. “You know his name?”

Carla bit into a slice of her leftover pineapple pizza. She had been prepared for a fiddly gourmet affair but when she had hesitated over the menu one of the butlers had told her to think of any food she wanted in the world and they would make it.
 
Pineapple pizza was the first thing that popped into her head and it had been delicious; too delicious to let the staff whisk away the uneaten slices when she’d grown too full to finish them.

“I have no idea,” Carla replied. “I don’t know any of them.”

“I’m going to have to get Atreus to introduce me,” Angelique said.

She stalked across the room to join Carla in a slice of pizza, then looked around at the vast, bright space with its fuchsia, gold and mirrored finishes.
 

“I could live like this,” she smiled.

“Me too,” said Carla before realizing that she already did.

Dios was already tucked up in bed. Carla looked forward to sinking into a bubble bath in the gigantic marble tub. She’d soak away the stress of Serene and Nikolas and then watch it swirl down into the drain.

*****

Atreus’ driver swung the Rolls Royce up to the hotel’s front door and Linus squeezed himself in after his boss. They headed toward Kostas Shipping’s Dubai branch.

“I don’t even know if Nikolas will be there,” said Atreus. “All I have to go on is Serene’s texts.”

Linus shook his head.

“These people.”

Atreus stared grimly out of the window at the neat lines of polished skyscrapers. As much as the luxury appealed to his senses, he missed the near silence of Little Ekali. The aesthetic in Dubai was manmade, carved out of the desert, while nature ran riot in his private corner of the Bahamas and created its own beauty.

By the time he got to the office he was thoroughly miserable. The security officers in the lobby needed persuading to let him in, when normally they’d have tripped over their feet to make him feel welcome and guide him to the elevator. They watched him with suspicious eyes as he hammered on the button. Something was very wrong. Atreus loosened his tie and told himself he was only being paranoid.

“Wait here,” he said to Linus, then stepped into the elevator.
 

He didn’t want Nikolas to think he was not man enough to come alone.

When he reached his office, he found Nikolas sitting in his executive leather chair, attending to papers.

“You’re in my seat.”

“Mr. Kostas,” Nikolas said in a mocking tone.

“Get up,” Atreus said coldly.

Nikolas swung his feet up onto the desk and rocked back in the chair.

“Or what?”

Atreus slammed his palms down on the desk.

“We built this together from the ground up. Why the hell are you trying to tear it all apart?”

“Serene should have never married you,” Nikolas said. “You’re a cruel man, trying to separate a mother from her own child.”