Spellbound in His Arms (13 page)

And of course, Eric was going to kill
Philip as well. He had enough of that old fool who had made his life miserable.

***

Tony kept his eyes on the road and a
safe distance from the Mercedes that was now leaving Varkiza following the
beach boulevard to Vouliagmeni, the next little town towards Athens.

There was a little more traffic on
the road now, so the Mercedes had to slow down and so did Tony.

“He’s probably going to his office,”
Anna said, but there was a note of doubt in her voice.

“I doubt it,” Tony replied. “He’s
probably heading for the small helicopter field in Hellenic.”

“Which means that his father is
already gone,” Anna concluded his thought.

“Yes, it seems that we were too late,
after all.”

“Now, what?”

“We keep an eye on him,” Tony
replied. “And we notify Michael that Manos is on his way, if not already
there,” he concluded and picked up his phone to call Michael.

***

Eric pulled inside the helicopter
field. He drove to the small office and parked his car around the corner of the
building. His helicopter was all set and ready to go.

He smiled satisfied with the
efficiency of his colleagues. He was going to make it better than his father.
He had the power, the brains and a clear head. Eric was ruthless and didn’t
care about old grudges like his father did. Philip had spent his entire life,
seeking revenge on Demiris for taking his father’s land. Not that Eric didn’t
care about the Demiris property…of course, he did. It was a very valuable piece
of land and would fit perfectly in his plans to monopolize the tourism of the
island. But with Philip, it was different. He was driven by the vendetta
against Demiris. He was determined to get that piece of land, no matter if it
cost him his entire fortune. And Eric wasn’t about to let that happen.

He checked his watch and rushed to
the helicopter. The pilot had already turned the engine on, getting it warm.
Alex, one of Eric’s most trusted colleagues, was sitting right next to him.

“Everything ready?” Eric asked Alex,
as soon as he boarded the helicopter.

“Yep,” Alex replied, keeping his eyes
on the entrance to the helicopter field. Even from this distance, he could
still see the car parked right outside the entrance.

Eric followed his gaze and confirmed
his thoughts. “Yep, I was followed.”

Alex turned and looked at him,
worried.

“It’s okay,” Eric said confidently.
“There’s nothing they can do. They don’t have any proof whatsoever and wouldn’t
dare to come anywhere close to me or my father without solid evidence. So,
let’s go,” Eric concluded impatiently.

He was in a big hurry to get to Corfu. He had plans of his own and those plans included Jackie. If only he made it there in
time. He knew what his father and Roussos were capable of, but he had dedicated
people of his own everywhere inside his father’s organization, and Christina’s
help had proven to be invaluable.

If only, I make it in time
, he thought again and shifted uneasily in his seat. He had been
planning this coup for a long time, but now that the time had come for him to
openly turn against his father, he felt kind of edgy.

Everything will turn out just the
way I want it to,
he tried to reassure himself, as
the helicopter launched into the air.

***

“We have a problem,” Roussos told his
boss, upon entering the study of the old house, which was going to be converted
to the main building of the Evergreens Resort with the addition of a few wings,
of course.

“You mean another one,” Manos
corrected him sarcastically, keeping his eyes on the paperwork on his desk.

“It’s Christina,” Roussos continued,
unaffected by the foul mood of his boss.

Manos raised his head suddenly from
the papers and shot Roussos a murderous look.

“She’s been talking to Eric,” Roussos
said and watched Manos’ face turning red with fury.

“That bastard!” he cursed. “I should
have put a stop to him a long time ago.”

“I hate to say I told you so,”
Roussos added, but after seeing the look on Manos face, decided to keep silent
for a while.

Manos jumped up from his chair and started
pacing back and forth in the study. “Get in touch with Vagelis in Athens and tell him to go to the house and make sure Eric remains there until I get back.
I want to deal with him in person.”

“Too late,” Roussos interrupted his
boss. “He’s on his way here.”

“That’s just great!” Manos clenched
his fists. “Eric is on his way here. Michael is on his way here. We’re going to
have a happy family reunion after all.” He let out a deep breath that sounded
like the hissing of a snake.

Roussos turned on his heel and left
the study. He knew exactly what to do.

***

Michael drove around a corner and
came to a dead stop. A huge tree was blocking the trail and there was no way
around it.

What now
? he thought and got out of the Jeep to take a look around. The
trail was completely blocked and the trees surrounding the area made it
impossible for the Jeep to continue by detouring around the roadblock.

I’ll continue on foot
, Michael decided, checking his gun and grabbing his cell phone from
the Jeep. He skirted the tree trunk and decided to follow the trail. This was
his first time on this side of the island and he wasn’t sure which way to go.
He decided his best bet would be to follow the trail and pray it was the right
one to take him to the old house, the one bought by the corporation that was
going to build the Evergreens Resort.

I should have finished this with
Manos a long time ago
, he thought and started
walking faster to release his anger and frustration. He should have realized
long ago what the old bastard was up to. But he was too involved in his own vengeance
and misery. All he could think about was how much he hated this man for getting
his mother pregnant and thrown out of her family home and fortune by her
father, Andreas Demiris and her brother, Constantinos.

Emilia Demiris, Michael’s mother, was
the little sister of Constantinos and Alexandros Demiris. She fell in love with
Philip Manos, an enemy of the Demiris family ever since his father, Isaac
Manos, sold his property to Andreas Demiris. Isaac Manos was a gambler and a
drunk, and he owed Andreas Demiris a lot of money. So eventually, there was no
way out, but to sell the property to Andreas for a fraction of its real value
to repay his debt.

Michael was sure Manos never cared
for his mother. He just used her to get back at Andreas. He probably thought if
he got her pregnant, Andreas would give in and allow her to marry Manos, giving
him access to the property. But things didn’t work out according to his plans.
Andreas turned out to be a stubborn old fool, who threw his own daughter out of
the house and cut her off from the Demiris fortune. And her brother stood by
his father’s decision and isolated his sister from everything which was
rightfully hers.

Michael cursed, thinking of the hell
his mother must have gone through, trying to survive on her own with a baby on
the way. She was raised as a princess and had never worked a day in her life.
And then she was thrown out in the streets with no place to go and no money to
make a fresh start. And Manos turned his back on her too. He had no use for
her, if she had no access to the Demiris fortune.

Emilia was lucky to find shelter in Loula’s—Alexandra’s
mother, who was a niece of Emilia, but only five years younger than her—house
in Athens. She defied Andreas and Constantinos by opening her house and her
heart to her aunt.
And her good deed was paid back by the death of her only
child
, Michael thought and swallowed hard, feeling the blood pumping hard
in his veins.

If it weren’t for Loula and his
father, Dimitris Apostolou, who met his mother when Michael was only fourteen
months old and fell in love with her right from the start, nobody knew where
Emilia and Michael would be now. He whispered a thank you for his father, for
being such a good and honest man. He took care of his mother and her little
son, as if he were his own.

It was later that Constantinos tried
to make up for his actions by becoming Michael’s godfather and best friend to
Dimitris. Maybe it was the fact that Emilia married Dimitris Apostolou and
Constantinos was relieved the old story with Philip Manos was over. Or maybe it
was regret for the way he had treated his own sister. Michael wasn’t sure what
it was, but the fact was Constantinos eventually became part of their lives.

The truth was that Michael liked
Constantinos. He spent a lot of time with him at the old mansion, and he was
too old when he found out about this family secret to change his feelings for
Constantinos.

Of course, he was angry and had a big
fight with his godfather, but afterwards things kind of smoothed out. His
mother and father helped a lot with that. Emilia was the most wonderful person
Michael ever knew. She was loving and kind and had forgiven her brother for
being so mean to her. His father was also a kind man. Even though he was a very
dynamic police detective, he was soft and kind with his family and very
supportive to Michael’s mother. He knew his wife never stopped loving her
brother, and he tried his best to patch up the relationship between them, and
even encouraged Michael to get close to the Demiris family and get attached to
Constantinos.

On the other hand, Michael never
became close with his grandfather, Andreas. Even though his mother had forgiven
him for what he did to her, the stubborn old man never came around. And when
Constantinos started spending time with Michael and bringing him to the
mansion, Andreas retreated to the other house the family owned, closer to the
town of Corfu. Andreas kept his distance and his grudge until the end of his
life.

Life plays strange games sometimes
.

Michael heard a soft noise somewhere
on his left and reached for his gun. He squatted behind the bushes, holding his
breath and carefully scanning the surroundings. He didn’t want to get caught,
before he reached the house. He knew he had no chance of reasoning with Manos;
his only chance would be to try to get Jackie out of there and away from Manos,
before Michael went back for him.

By the time Eric’s helicopter
landed on the property, Eric’s men, seven out of the ten that were there with
Manos, had taken care of Roussos and then went to the house and took care of
Philip as well.
These
people were sick and tired of Philip Manos and his foul temper. They would
rather work for Eric, who might be more ruthless, but paid better and didn’t
release his temper on his employees.

Eric walked to the house with Alex
and entered the study to find his father and Roussos tied up. Without a second
thought, he pulled a knife out of his pocket and walking behind Roussos, he cut
his throat.

He felt utter satisfaction to watch
the shocked look on his father’s face. He was sure his father didn’t expect
anything like this from him. He always considered him stupid and weak. But now,
Eric was the one in control. And that was exactly what he wanted to prove by
killing Roussos right in front of his father and the others.

Furthermore, Roussos was too
dangerous to keep around. Christine had informed him of Philip’s plan to have
Roussos pretend he was working for Eric. Roussos was merely following Philip’s
instructions and he was spying on Eric to report his every move back to Philip.

After killing Roussos, Eric asked
everybody to leave the room, except Alex and had a nice little
chat
with
his father.

Eric smiled with satisfaction,
thinking of the bad shape his father was in when he finally left the room. He
had let out all his fury and had taken revenge for all the years his father had
scorned and bullied him. But he didn’t want to kill him yet. He wanted his
father to witness his triumph.

Now, it was Jackie’s turn. He had
found out from his father that Jackie was held in the basement. He knew she had
come to the island, snooping around. He needed to find out what she knew about
this case.

He had some information from
Catherine about the Corfu deal, but he was sure there was more to it. Maybe
Jackie could shed some light on this arrangement, since his father hadn’t been
so cooperative. He wanted to make sure he knew all the aspects of the
situation, before he got his father out of the way. He hated surprises and with
Philip Manos and the men he was dealing with, Eric had to be very careful.

And what about Michael Apostolou?
What was really going on with him?

***

Jackie’s heart rate accelerated, as
she heard the click of the door lock turning. It had been so long since Manos
left that she had lost track of time. She felt exhausted and dizzy and her
entire body hurt. Desperately, she tried the ropes one more time, all the time
keeping her eyes on the door.

The door opened and a tall, young man
appeared at the entrance. Even though he was kind of attractive, there was
something eerie about him and the way he was looking at her.

Jackie looked at him suspiciously.
“Who are you?” she demanded, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

Is he the one
? she wondered. Was he the man who was going to torture her to get
Manos the information that he wanted?
What am I going to do? I don’t want to
tell them about Michael being the heir of the Demiris fortune. I don’t want
them to go after him.

“My name is Eric,” the man replied in
a polite tone, but his voice sounded cold and Jackie felt a shiver racing up
her spine. “Eric Manos,” the man added and watched her face turning even more
pale than before.

***

She’s scared
, Eric thought.
Of course, she’s scared. Who wouldn’t be in her position?
But this was all right with him. It fit his plans perfectly.

“And what do you want from me, Eric
Manos?” Jackie asked, raising her chin stubbornly.

Eric took a better look at the girl.
Even though she looked exhausted, her clothes were a mess, and she had a deep
cut on her forehead, she was a pretty thing all right. He gazed at the beautiful
eyes and the sensuous lips and then his eyes rested on her breasts, which were
partly exposed by the torn blouse. He immediately felt himself harden and gave
an appreciating look at the long legs, left bared by her skirt ripped on one
side, compliments of the rough behavior of his father’s men, no doubt.

“A lot of things,” he replied to her
question, after a long moment of silence. “But first I’m here to help you,” he
added after posing for a moment. He watched her shift uncomfortably. He could
tell she had seen his hungry look and was sure she doubted his intentions.

“Where is the other guy?” Jackie
asked.

Eric smiled broadly. “You mean my
father?” he asked. “He’s kind of tied up at the moment,” he added, thinking of
the look on Philip’s face, when Eric walked into the study to find that his men
had taken care of him and Roussos. They were both beaten pretty badly and
strapped to chairs with their hands tied behind their backs.

“Philip Manos is your father?” Jackie
asked.

Eric smiled, realizing that she was
probably just trying to buy some time and maybe explore his intentions. She
already knew who Philip Manos was and who he was. She had to know. She was just
as involved as anyone of them. Otherwise, why come to Corfu and snoop around at
the mansion.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Eric admitted
and the irony in his voice was more than obvious.

“Why are you keeping me here?”

“I’m not keeping you,” he corrected
her. “My father was. I’m here to help you,” he repeated and tried to sound
reassuring.

Eric moved closer to let Jackie see
what he was holding. As his right hand with the knife dripping blood from the
blade appeared from behind his back, he saw the shocked look on her face. He
smiled satisfied. Watching her intently, he came and stood unbearably close.
This feeling of being in control was intoxicating. He enjoyed every minute of
this cat and mouse game—especially, since this
mouse
had such a
beautiful face and such a hard-to-resist, sexy body.

***

Jackie took a deep breath, as she saw
the dangerous look in his eyes. Wild waves of fear jolted throughout her body
and she felt herself stiffen, as he swiftly moved behind her.
He’s going to
kill me!
Her heartbeat accelerated and the blood in her veins turned to
ice.
Feeling the coldness of the knife on her wrists,
she held her breath.

Suddenly, she felt her hands freed.
Not being able to comprehend what had just happened, she brought her palms in
front of her. She rubbed them together trying to relieve the tingling and pain,
while she was terrifyingly aware of him standing right behind her.

Turning her head, she kept a close
eye on Eric, as he came around and knelt in front of her.

He fumbled with the ropes, which tied
her ankles to the chair’s legs. Feeling his hands cold and damp on her skin,
Jackie took a deep breath, realizing he was taking his time with the ropes,
caressing her legs and looking up her skirt.

She instinctively tried to close her
legs that were tied apart, but the ropes prevented her from moving too much.
She felt violated and exposed and desperately tried again to shift her
position. With hands still numb from the pain, she awkwardly tried to pull the
material left from her skirt to cover her thighs. The hungry look in his eyes
made her skin crawl and her mouth go dry.

Smiling ironically and still holding
the knife, Eric placed his cold hands on her knees and pressed her legs even
further apart. Immobilized by fear, Jackie watched him as he took his time,
devouring the exposed parts of her body with his hungry look. She watched him
looking up her thighs and then saw his gaze resting on her breasts. She felt
his hands moving from her knees up inside her thighs and without a second
thought she furiously shoved them away, giving him an angry look, “Stop!”

She never saw his hand raising and
was taken aback by the fury of the blow, as he slapped her hard across the
face.

Jackie was shocked and stood still
holding her breath, as she felt the excruciating burning on her cheek.
Swallowing hard, she shrunk in her chair, seeing the murderous look in his
eyes. It was obvious he was trying hard to control his temper, while his
knuckles on the hand squeezing the knife turned white. Jackie felt dizzy by the
intensity of the moment.

This is it!
She closed her eyes, breathlessly waiting.

She could hear him breathing heavily.
This could be the very last moments of her life. The fury and madness she had
seen in his eyes didn’t leave any room for doubts.

It was an eternity—or at least if
felt that long—before she felt him cutting the ropes tied around her ankles.
She opened her eyes and was bewildered to see him standing up and taking a step
back.

Jackie was relieved to be finally
free. She had been tied up for so long that her legs were numb and she could hardly
move. Trying to stand up, she almost fell and grabbed hold of the back of the chair,
while instinctively rejecting his hand trying to support her.

As he moved even closer, she
stubbornly raised her chin to face him. He was absolutely obnoxious, she
realized, staring down her torn blouse.

Jackie took a shaky step back and
tried to put some distance between them.

“This is no way to show your
gratitude, Jackie Alexander,” he said in a low, threatening voice. “I saved
your life and you look at me as if I were your worst enemy.” He took a step
closer.

“I’m sorry,” Jackie whispered, trying
to keep her voice from shaking. “It’s just that I’ve been through so much,” she
added, trying to buy some time and not get him mad again. She needed to play it
smart, if she wanted to get out of there. And so far, he was her only way out.

She even tried to smile at him and he
seemed satisfied by her reaction.

“Now, that’s better,” he said and
grabbed her by the arm. He led her out of the basement and up the stairs to a
sunny hallway.

The bright sunlight streaming through
the windows blinded Jackie, who had spent so much time down in the dark
basement. She raised her hands to protect her eyes and let him lead her to a
living room with a huge marble fireplace.

Jackie looked around her and realized
this place was just as magnificent as the Demiris mansion. The house was big
and the furniture beautifully kept antiques.

Jackie collapsed on a sofa and turned
to look at Eric.

“I have a few things to attend to,”
he said, “but my assistant will come and take care of you.” He left the room.

A few minutes later, another man came
in and introduced himself as Alex. He took Jackie upstairs to one of the
bedrooms to freshen up, as he said, since she was Eric’s guest. But he locked
the door behind him, which left Jackie no room for misunderstandings. She was
still a prisoner and she had to find a way out before it was too late.

But how?
She walked over to the huge windows overlooking the gardens, which
stretched all the way to a magnificent beach. The woods started on the other
side and there was no sight of any other house or any living soul in the
surroundings. Even if she managed to escape, she had no idea where she was,
Jackie realized. She had no choice but to play along for a while.

She used the bathroom adjoining the
bedroom and splashed some water on her face. Oh, how she wished she could take
a shower and get out of these smelly, ripped clothes. But then what? She had
nothing to wear.

She walked back in the bedroom and
looked around. She noticed a third door besides the one that led to the hallway
and the bathroom door and walked over there to try it. Maybe this was another
way out of the bedroom.

She opened the door and was surprised
to find a huge walk-in closet full of clothes and rows of shoes. Women’s clothes,
she realized, and suddenly a thought crossed her mind. She looked through the
clothes and found a dress that looked about her size and without a second
thought she walked back to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She
took off her clothes and got in the shower, letting the hot water run over her
for a long time, soothing her aching muscles. She felt the tension leaving her body
and closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling of the water all over her.

Jackie had no idea of how long she
stayed in the bathroom, when she realized that someone might come looking for
her. She got out, wrapped her body in a towel that she found in the cabinet
next to the shower, and wrapped another one around her hair.

She walked over to the mirror and
looked at her face. The tension seemed a little less, and the gash on her
forehead, which had been exposed after the bandages were ripped away, didn’t
look that bad. She was astonished, though, to see a nasty bruise spread all
over her cheek. She touched it lightly to find that it was still very sore.

A few minutes later, she walked back
into the bedroom, got dressed in a hurry and combed her hair. She felt kind of
uncomfortable, wearing no underwear, but at least the material of the dress was
heavy, and it hid a lot more than her ruined clothes.