The Greek Tycoon Box Set: The Complete Serial: Books 1-10 (30 page)

“I’ll say.”

“Anyway, I think we should kidnap one of them. Well, not
kidnap
, because it could be an adult, but you know what I mean. I don’t know who it should be…yet. But we’ll find out who’s the richest or whatever and get ‘em. I’ll get some of my boys to come and do it.”

“
Kidnapping
?” Brian asked, shocked. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Tom clicked his tongue in disapproval.

“Are you serious about making money, man, or should I just turn around and go back to London?” he asked. “I’m not doing all this for nothing, am I?”

“What? No…no,” Brian said, clearly anxious.

But, as Tom’s idea sunk in, he started to love it. He could picture all of those posh assholes rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off when one of their own went missing.
 
That would throw a monkey wrench into their perfect fucking evening.
 
And, for that matter, their perfect fucking
life
.

“I definitely want to do this,” Brian declared. “I’m serious.”

Tom paused for a second before smiling, his gold tooth shimmering in the artificial light. He stuck out his hand and Brian shook it. They were going all in.

Now it was time to celebrate.

Brian’s eyes flickered back over to the blonde and he leaned in across the table.

“Can I use your hotel room for a bit tonight, mate?”

Tom turned to look over his shoulder and sighed deeply as he faced Brian again.

“Go ahead, whatever. I thought you’d be more interested in the money we’ll be get instead of humping everything that moves.”

“We’ll talk about the money after I clear my head.”

Once the desire got into him, he couldn’t rest. If he saw a girl he wanted, he had to get her. Had to use her. Had to
fuck
her. He couldn’t concentrate on anything else until then.

“Yeah,” Tom chuckled dismissively, “clear your
head
. Right.”

“Thanks, mate,” Brian said, taking Tom’s key from him. “And, like I promised, once we’re through with this, you can have your shot with Olivia. I’ll be done with her by then, anyhow.”

Tom raised his eyebrows.

“Cheers on that. Well, then, while you’re getting your fix tonight, I’ll be making a plan.”

*****

“Olivia says she’s running late,” Cressida said, her mouth twisting into a tight knot. “Not a good start at all. While we’re on that subject, I’d like to impress the importance of
absolute
punctuality. When you work in the luxury sector, or any service sector, really, you do not show up
on time
. You must,
absolutely
must
, be early. You must be waiting, clear-headed and settled, by the time the guest arrives, as if you’ve always been there. This business requires complete and total reliability.”

Tom nodded, gazing into her eyes.

“I absolutely agree,” Hugo said. “When I managed my previous hotel anyone who was late had their pay docked. The third time they were let go.”

“Maybe we’d be best implementing that approach here,” said Cressida. “I can’t abide lateness. Anyhow, I’ve arranged for us to take breakfast together in the orangery before we get started so we can head there now. Olivia will have to join us later.”

“Oh, I wish I’d known,” Hugo said, “I’ve already taken an early breakfast at the Wellington.”

“Did the Wellington not give you the message?”

“No, no message at all.”

Cressida sighed deeply.

“It looks like the whole day is to be riddled with incompetence.”

She turned to Tom.
 

“Did you receive the message, Thomas?”

“Yes,” he lied.
 

It didn’t matter since he hadn’t eaten anything, anyway, having stuffed himself with fries and cheap kebab meat the night before. He’d had a coffee and smoked a cigarette out the window, even though a sticker on the door showed that smoking in the room was prohibited.
 

He carefully arranged his upper class voice.

“I’d love to come along to the orangery for breakfast.”

Cressida smiled a beautiful smile.

“Wonderful. Would you care to join us even though you’ve already eaten, Hugo?”

“Thank you, but I think I shall take a quick walk outside, if it’s all the same to you,” Hugo said, then chuckled. “I’ve seen enough haggis and porridge this morning to last me a lifetime.”

Cressida’s tinkling laugh echoed around the lobby.

“All right, then. We will see you back here at half past eight?”

Hugo glanced at his gold watch.

“Perfect.”

*****

Soon Tom and Cressida were sitting opposite each other, Tom taking covert, yet quite daring, glances into Cressida’s cleavage. Although she was certainly an attractive woman, he was being careful not to be put under her spell. He wasn’t like Brian, who allowed himself to be so captured by a woman’s allure that he couldn’t function until he’d had his taste of it. A man like that is a slave unto himself. Or unto his loins, anyway.

No, Tom was dedicated to his cause. Cressida would help him get there.

“So where did you go to school before Oxford?” Cressida asked as the waiter shook the napkin over her lap.

Tom’s mind raced, trying to think of a school were upper class toffs went. Oxford University had been easy enough to think up, despite his never having even visited its campus, but now she was asking too much of him. Who the hell cares where someone went for secondary school? What a waste of a discussion. His mind raced, trying to find the name that was dancing on the tip of his tongue.

“Heaton,” he said, relieved it had come to him.

She giggled uncertainly, then as he joined in she threw her head back and laughed. He had no idea why she was laughing.

“Heaton? Oh, Thomas, you are a hoot.”

“It’s
you
who is the hoot,” he said, trying to make his voice sound extra plummy. “I’ve never met such a funny, interesting woman.”

“Well, thank you,” she said hurriedly, rearranging her cutlery. “How did you become interested in hotel management?”

He knew she was trying to change the subject and was amused by seeing her in discomfort for the first time. Her cheeks had turned a gentle shade of rose and he knew he was onto a winner, if only he could keep his act up for long enough. Enough manipulation and she’d compromise hotel security; he was sure of it. There at the table in the orangery, a charming smile plastered across his face, he made up his mind that he’d do whatever it took to bring all her walls of professionalism and feistiness crumbling down. And all that she’d be left with would be vulnerability.
 

He was going to get her right where he wanted her.

*****

“You don’t have to do any of that,” Brian said to Olivia as she folded up his trousers to tuck them neatly away in the drawer. It was quickly becoming apparent that she was an absolute clean freak and it was getting on his nerves. “You’re late as it is.”

“I know, I know,” Olivia said, patting down the pocket.
 

She frowned and reached into its pocket.
 

“Oh my goodness,” she whispered. “Wow.”

She turned to Brian, tears in her eyes.

“Brian? Is this really happening?”

“What?” he asked, turning to look at her. “Is what really happening?”

He stopped stirring the coffee he was fixing, his jaw practically hitting the ground.

SHIT!

She had slipped the diamond studded ring onto her ring finger and was beaming at it, a tear slipping down into the corner of her smile. Then she turned and launched herself at him.
 

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” she cried. “I do! I do! I do!”

Brian’s heart thudded in his chest. What the hell was he going to do? He couldn’t say it was all a big mistake. It would break her heart and ruin the fragile benefit he’d gleaned so far. She was integral to his plan. But could he really pretend he was going to marry her? His stomach lurched at the thought of it. Or perhaps it was the kebab from the night before. Either way, he felt awful.

It took a great deal of effort to hug her and force his lips into a smile.
 

“Yes, babe. This is really happening.”

“I love you!” she sobbed into his shoulder. “You’re the most supportive, gentle and kind man I’ve ever met.”

And you must be a fucking idiot to think that,
he thought.

But then he actually felt bad for thinking it.

“I love you too,” he mumbled.
 

Twinge after painful twinge twisted in his chest. All he wanted to do was drop her and run. He desperately wanted that blank, thoughtless space, that space where only thrill existed and the brain and all its crap seemed to disappear. He’d gotten into that space the previous night with the blonde girl from the kebab shop. Lucy, was it, or Lily? What did it matter anyways? He could get that blank space with any girl that was new enough to excite him. It was wearing off already with Olivia. He found himself thinking and feeling stuff when they had sex and he hated it. And now
this
.

“I wish I could stay here with you all day,” Olivia said, pulling away, “but I’m late as it is. I can’t wait to show everyone this beautiful ring. Brian, it must have cost thousands of pounds.”

It felt like the world was closing in on him.
 

If Carla saw the ring, if Atreus saw the ring, it would all be over. They’d recognize it immediately and call the police. Olivia would tell them that he’d given it to her and then it would all be finished. He was having to skulk around the Wellington as it was, looking over his shoulder every minute just in case Atreus or Carla happened to stop by. There was no way he could allow this to enter into the equation.

He ran to block the door.
 

“Babe. I can’t have you wearing that just yet.”
 

He reached out for her hand but she snatched it away.

“Why not?”

“Because…because I haven’t proposed yet, not proper-like. You know, down on one knee and whatnot,” he said. “You weren’t supposed to find it yet.”

She laughed a little and reached out to touch his face.

“But now I
have
found it and there’s no point taking it off, is there?”

He brushed her off and reached for it again.

“No, seriously.”

“What’s gotten into you?” she asked, batting him away.

“Give me the ring,” he said, unable to disguise his frustration.

“Why?” Olivia asked, raising her voice above his. “Are you ashamed of me? That’s it, isn’t it? You’re ashamed of me, aren’t you?”

“What the hell? Why would you say that?”

He didn’t take his eyes off the ring.

She stuck her hands on her hips and her voice quivered with emotion.

“Because as soon as I said I was going to show everyone you got weird. That means you’re so ashamed of loving me that you don’t even want people to know about our engagement. You don’t want them to know we’re together.”

Brian tried to find his usual act somewhere underneath his blind panic.
 

“No, babe,” he managed to say. “It’s not that at all. I’m very proud of you. You know that!”

“Yeah? Then let me wear this to work.”

“I can’t, babe, I’m sorry.”

“Right,” she said, her eyes filling up with tears. “You’re all the same, aren’t you? Well, guess what, I’m not going through this again. You were going to give me the ring and so now you’ll just have to man up. I’m going there with the ring on whether you like it or not. You need to stand by your commitment and prove your love. I’m not just some whore you can love in the bedroom and ignore on the street, you know. I’m a woman and I deserve respect.”

Brian felt his chest tighten as he realized the situation was coming to a head.
 

“I
do
respect you. I respect you very much.”

“You
will
,” she said, reaching for the door. “That’s for sure.”

Brian darted forward, seized her arm and pulled her back into the room, trying with all his might to remain cool. Olivia shrieked.
 

“Brian, what the hell? Stop! Brian!”

He let her go and she landed on the bed. A second later she sat up, disbelief in her eyes.
 

“Brian?” she asked as if she were actually dealing with someone who was simply
pretending
to be the man with whom she’d fallen in love. Her voice was soft, full of vulnerability. Something moved in Brian’s chest, a place he hadn’t felt anything in a long time. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m okay!” he snapped. “Now take the ring off.”

Tears fell down her cheeks as she spoke calmly.

“No.”

“Oh, come
on
…”

“No, Brian, I won’t. I’m not going to let you run away because you’re scared of love. You love me. I know you do. We’ll get through your fear together. We will. I promise you.”