One Hour to Midnight (32 page)

Leon just shook his head. Yannis had treated Veronica badly.

And, like Sonia, found it ironic that now his own happiness, his whole future hung in the balance, over his brother's actions.
 

Veronica didn't know the worst about Yannis, the man she still harboured feelings for, a man who thought nothing of using a love-starved teenage girl as a cash cow. Leon found no comfort that he should have heeded Flynn's warning and levelled with Veronica before he asked her to marry him.

Andreas's diabolical prank could be the detonator that would end his marriage.

When Veronica knows the depth of Yannis treachery how can she possibly want to stay married to me?

Leon couldn't find it in his heart to blame Veronica if she walked out him and on their marriage.
 

~***~

"You have two visitors coming." Flynn materialised an hour before dusk on her sixth night at the chalet. "They'll be here in ten."

"Thanks." Nervous, Veronica sat in one of the old rockers on the veranda and waited. Who was with Leon? When they arrived, a shocked breath escaped.

Leon she expected. Sonia was a total surprise.
 

"Veronica." Leon indicated Sonia sit in the other rocker while he perched on the rail facing both women.
 

He held the thick folder so tightly his knuckles gleamed white.
 

Veronica glanced from him to the folder and then looked away. Her heart thrummed in her ears, the heavy beat drowning out the country sounds.

Leon's expression was as forbidding as she'd ever seen it. Her eyes strayed to the folder and her apprehension grew.

What had he discovered?

He handed her the folder.

"What's this?" She indicated the folder.
 

"Evidence of my brother's treachery."

Veronica's hand shook as she laid the folder on the cane table, unable to bear touching it.

"We've discovered who was behind the vandalism to your car."
 

"Vandalism?" Veronica's voice was husky with nerves. This wasn't what she was expecting. "Who?"

"Andreas." Leon's eyes were bleak, his expression grim.
 

"I should have known!" A shiver shimmied down her spine as Leon fixed her with a cold, grey glare. She'd never seen him look so grim.
 

"How could you have known?" he asked in a silky voice. "What makes you say that?"

Wary of his forbidding expression, Veronica described the confrontation with Andreas at the street front cafe. She heard Sonia suck in a harsh breath and shake her head.

With every word, Leon's frown grew blacker. "And you thought I didn't need to know this? Why didn't you tell me?"
 

"I was going to tell you." She shrugged and spread her hands.
 
"But thought he was just an angry boy and would get over it."
 

"Had you told me, perhaps we could have averted the unnerving events of this past week."

Veronica glanced from Leon to Sonia. Something in their grim expressions set her heart thudding at a frantic rate. "Why, what's happened?"

"We've had the Federal police crawling all over Claremont, and through the offices of Karvasis Inc and all over Sonia's home."

"The Federal police were involved." Veronica looked from Leon to Sonia her panicked heartbeats so loud she was sure they could hear them.
 

Sonia gripped Veronica's hand tightly, her blue eyes sparkling with tears. "Andreas only meant to frighten you into leaving Claremont and Australia."
 

"That may have been his intention, but it backfired big time," Leon said, his voice clipped and terse. "When security saw your car, they called the police. The local police thought they were dealing with another Melbourne underworld gangland killing spree and called in the Feds. They're real twitchy about Melbourne's underworld."

That made sense.
 

The last gangland war, a feud between two rival families for control, had made international headlines.
   

 
"Andreas?" Veronica looked from one, aghast. "He's been charged? But he's only fourteen."

"His stunt has some pretty serious consequences." Leon's smile turned feral. "Young Andreas has found himself in court on a raft of Federal charges."

"I know he doesn't like me, but why would he do something so awful? And how did he get past security to vandalise my car?"

Leon gave Sonia a fulminating look Veronica couldn't understand. Sonia flushed and looked away obviously uncomfortable.

"Andreas takes after his father. He cozied up to one of the young maids and bribed her to do the deed for him. The maid no longer works at Claremont." Leon's voice made her shiver. Veronica hazarded a guess the woman would find it difficult obtaining employment anywhere. "As to why? Sonia can explain."

"You probably didn't know it, but I was in the process of divorcing Yannis when he killed himself." Sonia kept her eyes trained on the hands clenched in her lap before giving Veronica another of those fleeting, embarrassed glances. "His gambling was out of control. I was tired of his affairs and he'd been fingered for embezzling huge sums of money from Karvasis Incorporated."

Veronica swallowed. Bile rose in her throat threatening to choke her. How many times did she have to protest her innocence?

"I didn't know about his gambling. Nor did I know he was married."

"I never for a moment thought you did." Sonia gave her another of those under-her-lashes glances that left Veronica very uncomfortable. "And you're wondering what past history has to do with us now?"

Veronica nodded wordlessly, dread creeping up her spine.
 

"Before Yannis died, I hired a private detective. He was under surveillance, twenty-four seven. Once I began divorce proceedings, I was afraid he'd resort to violence and was afraid of the repercussions."

Veronica stared at the other woman, heat searing her face and neck. "You knew?"

"I knew." Sonia gave her a shame faced glance. "What I didn't know was that Andreas somehow unearthed that investigator's file, and hid it away."

"And he blames me for his father's death?"

"He does. And he decided to take matters into his own hands and frighten you into leaving and returning to New Zealand," Leon said tersely.
 

Veronica swallowed hard. Andreas was only fourteen, a boy. "So what happens now?"

"His fate rests in your hands, Veronica," Sonia said looking as if she was on the verge of tears.

"What do I have to say about it?" She looked from one to the other, perplexed.
 

"Because Andreas has no previous criminal history, taking his age into account and that it's basically a family matter, we've been able to cut a deal with the Federal prosecutor." Leon's cold lethal voice gave her the chills.
 

"What sort of deal?"

"That depends on you."

"Me?"

"You are the person most affected. The Federal Prosecutor wants to see him charged. If he is, he'll most likely end up being sent to a youth detention centre."

"And that is?"

"A jail for juveniles."

Veronica sucked in a horrified breath. Fourteen and in jail?
 

"Sending him to St Augustins is out of the question," Leon said in that same cold voice. "He's done his chips there. That school has its reputation to maintain. Sonia and I have put forward the proposition that because of his age, Andreas be sent to Craven, a military style boarding school with a fearsome reputation. If you agree to him attending Craven, the Federal Prosecutor will drop the charges. At Craven, Andreas won't have time to worry about you, his father, or his perceived injustices."

"Will you give your consent, Veronica?" Sonia looked at her, her blue eyes pleading. "He's only a boy."

 
Veronica chewed on her fingernail. "He won't threaten me again?"

Leon gave a grim smile. "I'd hate to be in his shoes if he tries it."

Veronica swallowed hard as she recalled that horrid scene. "Will he spend holidays at Claremont?"

"No," Sonia said in a halting voice. "Andreas will spend his holidays with José and me in Argentina."

"And Katya?" Veronica was no longer prepared to meekly sit back and let things happen to her. She didn't want anything to do with Yannis's other children, nor did she want Jordan to be too closely associated with them.

"Katya's going to Argentina with her mother for the rest of the school year. She'll fly back next year to attend Royden."
     

"And if Andreas pulls any more stunts?"

"He'll be hauled back into court pronto," Leon said grimly.

Veronica nodded, she wasn't vengeful. "I'll do that. I'd hate to see any kid sent to juvenile detention."

"Thank you." Sonia dashed tears from her eyes. "You're much kinder than any of us deserve."

Veronica saw the swift glance that Leon and Sonia exchanged and knew there was more. Her anxiety level escalated.

"What else is there," she asked giving her companions a nervous glance.

"Did you ever wonder how I found you before anyone else even caught wind that you existed, Veronica?" The turbulent expression in his grey eyes made her nervous.
 

For years, she'd wondered. Unable to find words, she nodded.

Leon looked past her at the chalet walls. "You knew we'd both refused to meet any more of Yannis's gambling debts?"

Veronica nodded. Julia had made certain she knew.

"The night he died, Yannis rang me to say he had a sure fire investment due to mature in four months. He owed a lot of money to the wrong people. He pleaded with me to get you away from Jacobs Well as enforcers were on his tail."

Leon's clipped words sent chills down her spine. Veronica glanced at Sonia who looked sick. Her innards churned as she struggled to grasp the implications of Leon's words.
 

"Investment?" She croaked, looking from one grim face to the other, hand over her heart. "My baby?"

"No you." Sonia caught Veronica's hand and held it tightly. "Yannis had pledged you as co-lateral for his debt with the gambling syndicate."

"Me?" Veronica looked from Leon to Sonia fighting down the nausea churning in her belly.
 

"The police euphemism for what Yannis was dealing in is human trafficking. You were not the only vulnerable teenage girl involved, either."

"Prostitution?" Bile stung the back of her throat.

"Ultimately, yes." Leon's tone was dispassionate. "But your pregnancy with a Karvasis baby made you a much more valuable commodity. Had the enforcers reached you first, they would have ransomed Jordan knowing the Karvasis family would pay dearly to keep one of their own safe. They always recoup their money, one way or the other."
 

"And had I gone to term with Jordan?"

"Yannis planned to steal your baby after it was born, sell you to the traffickers, and trade Jordan to Julia and me to cover his debt to the family firm."

Veronica held both hands over her mouth as she forced down sickness. A commodity? Yannis regarded her and her baby as saleable commodities?

And Leon knew?
 

"I tried to tell you this, years ago, Veronica," Sonia said quietly
 

She had, Veronica realised with the twenty-twenty vision of hindsight.
 
Only she had misunderstood. No, she realised, a vicious hand twisting her heart. Julia ensured she misunderstood.
 

Had Julia been in on Yannis's unconscionable scheme?
 

Of course she was. Or why would Yannis bother with the inconvenience of getting me pregnant.
 

Veronica almost doubled over with pain, hands clutched at her middle. Leon was off the rail and crouched by her side.

"Don't touch me," she cried her voice thick and slurred. "Don't you dare touch me."

Leon jerked backwards and walked away, his back unyielding. At last he turned to face her. "I vowed you'd never have to know this. Andreas's mischief makes that impossible. Some of it has already reached the press."

The press?
Veronica fought down as shudder as she asked the question that begged an answer. "Was Julia in on this plan with Yannis?"
 

Sonia touched Veronica's shoulder. "I'm sure she wasn't. Julia was obsessed with having a baby and took advantage of you and your situation, but I'm certain she never conspired with Yannis."

Veronica shrugged off Sonia's touch as she stood and faced Leon. Her heart raced. Fury, anguish and a searing sense of betrayal churned in her belly.
 

From Yannis, such betrayal was expected and came as no real surprise. During the past ten years, she'd reached much the same conclusions.