A Perfect Love: International Billionaires VI: The Greeks (19 page)

You were going to be a doctor from the moment I met you
.

He’d left this old dream behind along with memories of his father and his brother and Tamsin. He’d forged a new life, one filled with tough decisions and heady heights. He’d constantly killed any need to go back and rethink the choices he’d made years ago.

Until now.

Now, here, he felt lost.

Maybe he
was
having a heart attack. His skin was clammy, his breath erratic, his heart racing. If his father had stood before him right now, Loukas Vounó would have promptly taken him to the hospital.

Avoiding the thought of his father, and of doctors and heart attacks and old dreams and frustration, Rafe swung his gaze around until it landed on something sparkly in one of the pawn shops.

The bracelet was pretty. Nothing very special, yet pretty. He’d given his mother and sisters far prettier and more expensive trinkets over the years. He stepped closer. The silver caught the eye, but it was the luster of the pearls and the glow of the blue stones that drew a person in.

Drew him in.

Exactly as it had that long ago summer.

When this bracelet had been worn by his young sixteen-year-old love.

Rafe sucked in a breath and came closer. It couldn’t be. His fear and frustration—and hell, maybe his undiagnosed heart attack—must be fogging his mind.

The silver twinkled.

His memories were sharp and clear. And accurate.

“You like it, sir?” The curl of satisfaction laced the voice coming from the shop’s open doorway. “It’s a pretty piece.”

“
Nai
, it is.” Rafe straightened. “And I’m willing to pay a pretty penny.”

The owner’s smile grew.

He was a fool for admitting this. The man who’d negotiated million-euro deals knew that. But that man no longer existed. That man was lost in a fog of indecision and lust and fear and anger.

“How much?” He didn’t care whether he was a fool or not. All he cared about was getting this bracelet and finding out one thing.

The owner named a number and Rafe obediently stepped into the smoke-filled store, his brain spinning.

What the hell was Tamsin’s bracelet doing in this pawn shop?

“
T
his is
the longest he’s been gone and I want to know why.” Isaák’s voice was determined, as well as grumpy.

“It’s only been two weeks, idiot.” Aarōn scowled at his twin in disgust, yet Tam knew her brother. The way he’d eyed the silent home office every day during the last week. The way he’d stared at Rafe’s empty chair at the dinner table every night. Aarōn was worried, too.

“I’m sure he’s busy with business.” Dishing out the white bean soup, she kept her focus on the serving spoon. The boys might be worried, but she was panicked.

She knew why Rafe wasn’t here.

Because of the phone call. The phone call that had surprised her into lying.

And he’d known it.

“I think you should call him.” Isaák stared at her with an earnest gaze. “I honestly think you should.”

“Me too.” His twin reluctantly agreed.

She wasn’t going to call him. Not after she’d botched the one and only call two weeks ago. He probably wouldn’t even answer.

Yet what was she going to do? Time was ticking away. The bomb named Haimon would explode in the near future and she hadn’t even begun to smooth the way into her confession.

In fact, she’d made it worse.

“Come on.” Isaák swirled his spoon in the soup, a frown on his face. “He’ll listen to you.”

Rafe had intently listened to her that last time and read between the lines. The silence during the last two weeks had told her everything she needed to know.

She’d screwed up.

Swinging away from the table, she slammed the pot back onto the stove. She leaned over the sink and tried to think. What could she say to bring him back? And when he did come back, how could she ever find a way to explain what she’d done? He had withdrawn about something so trivial in the face of what else she had to confess, it was almost comical.

She didn’t feel like laughing.

“Uh-oh.” Isaák’s voice came from behind her, hushed. “You guys had a fight, didn’t you?”

No, there’d been no fight. There’d been frozen rejection instead.

The morning after she’d sent the photo to Haimon, she’d awakened to find Rafe gone. Gone to work when she so desperately needed him here. Here where she could begin to build a bridge across the abyss separating her truth from her actions.

But he’d been gone.

A small emergency
, he’d texted.
I’ll be back tomorrow
.

Instead, there’d been a call.

The call.

“Tamsin.” His voice had been tight.

“Yes?” Dread had dripped its icy tentacles into her heart. Because she’d known immediately, instinctively; something was wrong. Could he have found out about her text to her stepfather? Was his security team more thorough than she’d imagined?

“I took a walk today.”

Her mind whirred to a halt. A walk had nothing to do with her text. “You did?”

“And found something interesting.”

What could he possibly be talking about? Her mind raced around. Had he run into Haimon? Had he found out something about the bid? Whatever he’d found, she knew it wasn’t good. Her mouth went dry. “Yes?”

“
Nai
.” She heard a rustle in the background. Then a
clink, clink
as if something was hitting glass. “I found something from our past.”

Her mind spun into a frenzy. Their past was fraught with pitfalls. Apparently, he’d fallen into one. It wounded her to think they’d both forgotten how many moments in their past had been good and strong and beautiful. “What did you find?”

“Your bracelet.”

She’d sucked in a breath, but still felt dizzy with disbelief. “My—”

“I’m sure of it.” His voice went rough. “The pearl one. The one from your real father.”

Had Haimon dared to visit Rafe? Surely, not. He would have landed in jail or been hustled off by security. “Where did you find it?” she managed to choke out.

“A pawn shop.” The
clink, clink
became louder. Angrier. “Near my work.”

What horrible, awful luck did she have following behind her? Her stepfather hadn’t wasted any time, had he? The thought of him slinking around near Rafe’s work, selling her precious bracelet, made her sick. “Um.”

“Um?” Outrage filled the word. “Is that all you can say?”

Her mind scrambled for some rationale. “I sold it.”

“You sold your last link to your real father.”

“Yes.”

“You sold the bracelet you told me long ago was your most precious possession.”

A gurgle of pain slid into her throat. “Yes.”

“When?”

The blunt question burned. Her mind scrambled again. “When we visited your office.”

“When did you do that?” The disbelief in his voice was rampant now. “I don’t remember you ever leaving the tour.”

She was digging herself deeper and deeper. Yet she couldn’t confess everything. Not on the phone. She hadn’t had time to put her thoughts together, to consider how to build this bridge to where he’d understand her actions. “I stepped away for a minute.”

Silence fell over their conversation, a heavy blanket of distrust. The gurgle in her throat expanded until she felt as if she were being strangled.

“Really?” Rafe’s cold voice at last cut through the dead air like a Spartan sword.

How could she backtrack now? Her jumbled thoughts froze. She couldn’t get one word out.

“You know what, Tamsin?” he finally said. “I don’t believe you.”

There was more to the last statement than mere words. There was more than simple disbelief. The chasm that had existed between them for ten long years had yawned open once again, sucking everything that had been built between them during the last two months down into the abyss.

He’d hung up.

She hadn’t heard from him since.

How could she build a wide enough and strong enough bridge to find a way across this divide? And the bomb named Haimon still ticked, promising even further erosion, an even deeper hole swallowing their disappearing relationship.

Tamsin closed her eyes on the last rays of the sun, trying to push down the rabid panic clawing up from her heart.

“What did you fight about?” Isaák piped in from behind her. “We can help fix it.”

“We didn’t fight.”

Somehow, she had to figure out how to get Rafe back here. She couldn’t confess everything by phone. She needed to see his eyes as she talked. She needed to watch his body when he responded. She needed to be able to reach over and touch him, hold him while she made him understand.

“Tammy?” Aarōn said, soft and insistent. “Is everything okay?”

How many times had one of the boys asked this of her in one form or another? A thousand? A million? Certainly when they’d been little and just arriving in London, their small hands wrapped around her neck, their fluff-covered heads tucked under her chin.

Tammy, are we going to be okay?

Or the time they came back from the first day of school, Aarōn’s nose bloodied in a fight, Isaák’s eyes wide with fear.

Tammy, are we going to be okay?

Or the dozens of times where the money had been so short she’d struggled to make sure their teenage bellies were full.

Tammy, are we going to be okay?

“Yes.” She pinned a smile on her face and turned to gaze at both of them. “Everything is going to be okay.”

“So, you’re going to call him, right?” Isaák gave her a broad smile.

“Maybe tomorrow.” She walked to the table and scooped up her uneaten bowl of soup.

Her brother’s smile fell off his face. “I think you should call him right now.”

“Tomorrow.”

Aarōn said nothing. Merely watched her as she stood, staring blindly across the table at both her brothers. “I’ll call him.”

“No.” The word was sharp, far sharper than she meant it to be. Still, the instinct to protect, to take care of everything was so strong, it felt like a knife in her hand. “I’ll do it. Tomorrow.”

Was she stabbing her boys or herself?

The boys went still and silent.

“Are you done?” She shot into the gulf opening between them.

“
Nai
.” Aarōn pushed back from the table, his face stony. “Come on, idiot. Titus needs a walk.”

Tamsin busied herself cleaning the kitchen as the boys shuffled down the hall, calling Titus on their way.

The slam of the back door echoed in the empty house.

She had to do something. She’d spent two weeks hoping Rafe would make a move, yet clearly, he wasn’t going to. Her boys were right.

She had to do something.

But what?

Forcing herself to move, she grabbed her phone, clicked on Rafe’s name and before she could stop herself, she begged.

Please. Please come home.

P
lease
. Please come home.

The text cut through his anger like a fiery knife. Rafe pushed himself out of his office chair and paced to the window. Staring down into the atrium, he leaned his forehead on the cool glass.

The anger still simmered deep inside, yet it wasn’t what had kept him from Sparti and Tamsin.

No, it had been the fear.

The thought whipped him around and he found himself pacing a well-worn path on the gold-and-cream carpet once more. How many laps had he taken during the last two weeks while he wrestled with the demons of the past? The demon of fear. The demon of hurt. The demon of mistrust.

She’d lied to him. He knew it. His mind, his gut, his heart all told him.

She’d lied.

Again.

Rafe stopped and pulled out the bracelet from his suit pocket. The piece of jewelry he’d kept close to him for two weeks. He even slept with the damn thing under his pillow. Tossing it into the air, he caught it, then tossed it again, caught it again. He stared at the delicate ornament lying in his palm for the thousandth time, like it held the key to what was going on with Tamsin.

The tiny blue stones were cool on his skin, just as her touch was when they lay together in bed. The pearls glowed in the sunlight, just as her skin did as they lay together by the pool. The silver glittered in a brilliant flash, just as her green eyes did when she gazed at him.

Please. Please come home.

He needed to stop avoiding everything. He’d hid away at work for the last two weeks, nursing his grievances, stoking his anger. He hadn’t even notified his family he was in town, choosing instead to stay in the small bedroom he’d had built beside his office. Usually, he only used the cramped quarters when there’d been a late meeting or a long, overnight research push before a hard deadline. Now, it had served as his bolthole, allowing him to avoid…his life.

Time for that to stop.

Time to confront the fear inside him.

Time to go to Tamsin and find out why—

She’d lied.

Resolved, he strode to his desk and grabbed his phone.

I’m on my way.

As soon as the text was sent to her, he felt a swell of certainty.
Nai
, he’d been angry and hurt she’d lied, but he was willing to sit down and figure out whatever was wrong with her. Because she was worth it. What they’d had during the last two months was worth it. Unlike ten years ago, he wasn’t going to slink away, letting go of the good they had.

A knock on his office door interrupted his thoughts.

“
Eláte.
” Whoever it was and whatever work issue it involved would have to wait. His personal life and Tamsin were more important. He’d spent two weeks here working at a punishing pace, making his CFO and everyone else happy and satisfied. However, they’d have to understand he had changed.

He was willing to say it now.

He had changed.

Savas threw open the door and walked in, the head of Viper security not far behind. “Good. You’re still here.”

“Past eight o’clock, which should make you happy. But not for any longer.” Rafe stuck his phone into his suit pocket. “I’m on the way to Sparti.”

“Are you?” His friend closed the door behind him with a decisive click. “Not until we go over some information.”

“I’ve been here day and night for two weeks.” He forced his impatience down and gave his friend a fixed smile. “That will have to suffice for now.”

“You’ll want to know this information, Rafe.”

“You will, sir.” The head of security, Ammon Manikas, concurred.

“All right.” Tapping his fingers on the edge of the desk, he stopped himself from walking out the door. “You have five minutes.”

“I think you might want to sit down.”

A shot of anxiety went through him. His CFO appeared troubled, worried. “Is there something wrong with the new project?”

“No.”

Manikas shook his head also.

The head of Viper security.

He frowned and forced his mind to work. “There’s been a breach in security.”

“Maybe.” Savas strode to one of the black leather chairs facing the desk and sat. “You need to take a seat. Really.”

Anxiety tangled around the deep, dark fear he’d stuffed into the pit of his soul. Why the two would meet inside him, he had no idea. A breach of security in his business was a problem, but he’d dealt with this before. Many times. It came with the territory of being in the forefront of new medical innovation.

“I don’t have to sit down.” He straightened instead. “Spit it out.”

Savas glanced across the width of the desk, a look of resignation on his face. “All right.”

“What is it?”

His friend leaned back in the chair, his arms folded in front of him. “Do you know an individual named Haimon Drakos?”

The name shot through Rafe like a bullet. It blasted the deep fear lurking inside right to the center of his mind. “
Nai
.”

Savas stared at him, his eyes dark with worry.

Manikas stepped forward. “My team was able to track down a connection between this individual and Tobba.”

“What is it?” Every muscle in his body went rigid. A trembling lined his gut, making him want to turn away. Turn away from what his gut was telling him.

“We have a contact within Tobba who has fingered Drakos as the one who provided insider information on our bid on the neuro-electronic scan.”