The Sheikh's Secret

by Knight, Kylie

  But now it turned out to be worse than what she’d thought. It wasn’t the women, it wasn’t the wild parties that often brought police out. It wasn’t the conspicuous consumption and waste of money that could help others. It was that her husband was a criminal.

  And the worst thing was that in her heart, she still loved him, deeply and passionately. She still longed for his touch, and wanted so badly to hold him and tell him that everything would be all right so long as they were together. That was her heart speaking.

  Her head said that what he’d done was reprehensible. To loot other cultures of their treasures was not just a crime in the most objective sense, but it betrayed everything she believed in and respected. And he’d made excuses, had made it sound as if he’d been doing the world a favor.

  Eirene lay down on the bed and wept. She cried herself to sleep, and the last thing she thought as she felt her consciousness ebb was that she couldn’t tell Simon that she was pregnant now. Until she knew what he planned to do to make things right, she had to keep her secret instead of offering it to him as his Christmas gift.

  She had never felt more miserable in her life.

  But the next morning, when she work, she felt as if she had somehow resolved her problem. Whatever else she felt about the things Simon had done, the bottom line was that he was her husband and she owed him her allegiance even if she couldn’t support his actions.

  She got up and walked down to their bedroom, hoping to discuss the matter without a lot of drama. She’d make it clear that she still loved him, and that she believed the rest could be worked out. But the bed had not been slept in and there was no sign of Simon.

  She went downstairs, but the house seemed empty. Maria was in the kitchen, making coffee.

  “Maria, is Mr. Katsaros in the house?”

  “I don’t believe so, ma’am,” she replied. I haven’t seen him at all today.”

  “Thank you,” she said, even while thinking how odd it was to find him missing. “He probably went for a drive,” she said aloud. Sometimes she talked to herself, mostly when she was upset. It was a way to calm her fears. “He’ll be fine.”

  But the day wore on and there was no sign of him. She’d tried his cell phone several times, but it went straight to voice mail. By lunchtime she was convinced he’d left the island, and she called the airstrip to find out if he’d flown out. It was that, or he’d taken one of the yachts.

  “He flew out of here early this morning. About…” The manager checked the flight logs. “About seven-thirty. Bound for Athens.”

  “Thank you.” She hung up and felt her stomach clench. Was he going to have it out with Kosta and Athena? She prayed that wasn’t it. Athena wouldn’t respond well to Simon’s anger, and Kosta? Now that she knew he was a criminal, she had begun to fear he might do Simon or Athena some harm.

  As the hours slipped past, Eirene became more and more uneasy, and she tried phoning Athena, but like Simon’s phone, Athena’s went straight to voice mail.

  Finally the house phone rang. Eirene raced to pick it up.

  “Eirene, it’s me.” The sound of Simon’s voice made her weak with relief.

  “Where have you been?”

  “It’s a long story. I’ll be home in the morning and I’ll tell you all about it then, all right?”

  “Simon are you safe?”

  “I’m fine. I promise you.”

  “I was so worried,” she breathed.

  “I know, and I’m genuinely sorry. Things happened. I’ll tell you about it when I get there. I love you,” he said, and hung up.

  Simon felt like a heel phoning Eirene like that and telling her almost nothing of what had happened since he left Halithos. But he was sitting in an interview room at a police station, waiting to confess what he’d done, and he knew she wouldn’t want to hear that. Angry as she’d been, Eirene wouldn’t have dealt well with the real world consequences of Simon’s actions. And his confession.

  He was giving them Kosta. He hadn’t planned to. When he’d left Halithos that morning his plan was to go to the hotel where Athena and Kosta were staying, and get his sister to leave with him. He’d tell her the truth if he had to, but he was going to get her away from Kosta.

  Only they weren’t there. They’d had a reservation, but a few hours after they’d checked into their suite, Mr. Petrakos had phoned down to the desk and asked for a rental car.

  “What time was that?” Simon asked.

  “Close to midnight, I believe,” the clerk had told him. “I didn’t take the call, I wasn’t on duty. But when I relieved the night clerk we laughed about how odd it was for newlyweds to check in and then go off in a rental car.”

  “They both left?”

  “I assumed so. I didn’t ask.”

  Simon bribed the man to let him into their suite, hoping that perhaps Athena was still there, and sleeping. But there was no sign of her. Her bags were still in the suite though. One was lying open on the bed, clothing spilling out.

  Worst of all there were several broken objects, a vase, a glass, and the phone had been torn free of its line and flung against the wall. When Simon saw the wreckage, it made him go cold inside. Kosta and Athena had had a fight. She threw things when she got mad. A fight, and then a midnight flight from the hotel. That was very, very bad, and it was what inspired Simon’s next stop. He went to the police.

  He hadn’t wanted to confess his crimes, but now with Athena’s life at stake, he didn’t hesitate. He walked into the police station and announced his intentions. He’d thought it would be simple. He’d thought he’d tell them what he knew and they’d go out and find Kosta, and rescue Athena. But it was hours before anything much happened. His lawyer had told Simon not to say a word until he got there. The police didn’t seem to know who would be in charge of that sort of crime, and no one was doing anything about Kosta even though he could be murdering Athena for all anyone knew.

  Finally Simon said, “He’s kidnapped my sister,” and had the satisfaction of watching the police force mobilize.

  He knew Kosta had a place in Thessaloniki, and suggested that they look there. He’d rented a car, so he’d probably intended to drive some distance. Of course he could just as easily have driven south, intending to catch a boat that would take them across to Egypt, or headed west to catch passage to Turkey. Kosta had mentioned living in Istanbul and it was possible he still had ties there. He told all this to the police and begged them to get his sister back. “I’ll tell you everything,” he promised.

  Finally, after hours of waiting, he was able to give a statement to the police. He fully expected to be locked up, but given his name and position, and the fact that nobody was quite certain what jurisdiction would be involved in prosecuting the crimes, the authorities let Simon’s lawyer talk them into letting him go.

  “He couldn’t disappear if he wanted to. He’s too well known,” the man insisted.

  They still wanted to do some paperwork, so they asked Simon to stay for a while longer and he’d agreed. When they left him alone in the interview room, he phoned Eirene, but didn’t have the heart to tell her the whole story. He knew she was angry with him, but he couldn’t pretend he’d had some kind of change of heart. He’d confessed because he saw no other way to ensure that Kosta would be brought to justice and separated from Athena.

  He waited and waited, then pushed two chairs together, stretched out on them, and slept.

  A little before six, they told him he could go. He thanked his lawyer who had stayed with him through the night and the on-again, off-again questioning, and was about to leave when one of the officers stopped him. “They’ve found her!” the young woman said.

  “Is she all right?”

  “She’s fine, apparently. They’re bringing her back now.”

  He phoned Eirene again and explained that he had to stay until Athena arrived, only remembering after he told her that she didn’t know what had been happening. “I really will tell you everything when I get home,” he
promised. “I’m sorry, I’m just very tired right now.”

  Eirene arrived at the police station five minutes before Athena did. “I was tired of sitting at home waiting to hear what was happening,” she told Simon. “Worrying about you.” She reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair off his forehead. “Simon, I’m sorry I acted the way I did.”

  “You were right,” he told her. The time he’d spent there had given him ample time to consider what he’d done. The sense of wrongdoing was still half-formed and he didn’t feel guilty, but he knew he’d made a mistake in willfully ignoring what Kosta was doing, in supporting it. He’d been wrong, he’d contributed to a crime, and he was willing to pay the price if it would make things right in his life, save his sister, and win back the love of his wife. “I shouldn’t have chosen that path. I didn’t need the money. I did it because it was easy to do.”

  “Is that why you’re here?”

  “Partly. Mostly it was to find Athena. I don’t know what happened to her, but they tell me she’s safe—”

  Just then the door opened and Athena entered. She was dirty and bruised-looking but seemingly unharmed.

  “Simon… Eirene… I’m sorry.”

  Simon hugged her. “You’re safe. That’s all that matters.” He felt her stiffen, then relax in his embrace.

  Eirene asked, “What happened?”

  “We argued. We got to the hotel and I asked him what was going on. We argued and he told me that if he was a criminal, you were too. That’s when it got ugly.”

  Simon bit his lip. “It’s the truth, Athena. He was my business partner.”

  Athena nodded. “I know.”

  “So… what happened? Where did the police find you?”

  “Korinos. I’d hitch-hiked down the E75. That bastard had tossed me in the trunk of his car, but he forgot there was a crowbar in there. I popped the lock, and managed to escape. He was headed toward Thessaloniki, and from there he said we were going to Turkey.”

  Just as Simon had thought. With any luck the police would pick Kosta up before he left the country.

  Once reunited with Athena, Simon was ready to take her and Eirene home. He was so tired. He’d been awake for two days, and that, and the stress of not knowing what had happened to his sister had finally caught up to him. On the way back to Halithos, he fell asleep, leaning against Eirene’s shoulder.

  The police picked Kosta up just outside of Komotini, less than a hundred miles from the Turkish border. It didn’t surprise him. He knew that Simon would turn him in.

  That had been a misstep. The old Simon would never have done it, he’d have covered his own ass and Kosta’s with it. But ever since Simon had fallen in love with the Dimitrios girl, he’d changed, had become a better man, to Kosta’s eventual loss.

  Athena had been a misstep too, a monumental one. If Kosta had stayed away from her, he’d be a free man now. And yet he couldn’t say he regretted marrying her. Athena was the brightest, funniest woman he’d ever known. She had a delicious temper, a wicked sense of mischief, and the sex? Astoundingly hot.

  The crazy thing was that Kosta could have made her his mistress, could have carried on an affair with her for months, maybe for years without Simon ever knowing, but he got greedy and sloppy, and wanted to press his advantage.

  No. That wasn’t true, or at least not wholly true. He liked the idea of marrying Athena. Though he resisted the idea, there was a part of him that knew he’d married her because he’d fallen in love with her. Not that he’d ever have admitted it to anyone, even Athena. And maybe that was one of his great regrets in all this, that he’d never said “I love you,” to her, no matter how many times she’d said it to him.

  The trunk thing… that was an easy out for both of them. He’d provoked the argument, said things that weren’t very nice, and when she reacted as he knew she would, he’d dragged her out to the rental car and tossed her in the trunk. He knew there was a crowbar in there because he’d put it in there before they left the hotel. He also knew how to fix the latch so it wouldn’t catch properly. It would keep the trunk closed, but not locked securely. If Athena had half a brain, she’d get out easily. In fact it surprised him that it took as long as it did. He finally had to stop and walk away from the car in hope that she’d take the opportunity to escape.

  So she probably hated him now, and that was just as well since he was going to spend some time in prison. Well it couldn’t be helped. He’d fucked up. What surprised him was that Athena came to visit him while he was in jail.

  “Hello you jerk.”

  “Nice way to talk to your husband.”

  “I’m going to fix that.”

  “Good. It was a stupid thing to do. I hope you’ve learned your lesson,” he told her. God but he wanted her.

  “Why did you marry me, Kosta? Was it the money?”

  “Of course!”

  She stared at him. “You broke my heart.”

  “Oh come on, Athena, it wasn’t love for either of us, not really,” he lied. If she believed that, severing all ties would be simpler for her.

  “It was. For me.”

  “No, it was an adventure, and you wanted to stick it to your brother.”

  Athena’s jaw set in that lovely, stubborn way Kosta had come to cherish. She was annoyed with him, but he was willing to bet that any moment she’d see the humor in what he’d said and… yes, there it was, the ghost of a smile. “You’re a shit.”

  “Count on it. We had a good time though, yes?”

  “Yes, she replied grudgingly.”

  “Good sex,” he said, voice pitched low.

  The smile betrayed her. “Yes,” she admitted. “Very good.”

  “Well then.”

  “You shouldn’t have put me in that trunk.”

  “I made sure you could get out. Do you think rental cars come with crowbars?”

  She stared at him in surprise then laughed out loud. “You absolute shit.”

  “I would never have hurt you, Athena. I just wanted to get out of the country before you raised the alarm. I never expected your brother to do it for you.”

  Athena shook her head. “I don’t know why, but you still get to me.”

  “Same here,” he told her just before the guard hustled him back to his cell.

  He was going to miss that woman.

  Christmas was a bit late that year. Between the legal issues and the upheaval in the family and business, holiday spirit got put on hold. Not long after Simon made his confession and turned Kosta in, he was asked to resign as CEO of Katsaros Corp.

  “The thing is,” the Chairman of the Board said as he spoke to Simon on the phone, “We can’t be seen to have a felon in charge of the company.”

  “I’ve been working on a formal resignation,” Simon assured him. “It will be in your hands by the end of the week.”

  “You’ll retain your seat on the Board, of course. That’s a given.”

  “We’ll see.” Simon wasn’t at all sure he wanted to deal with corporate issues. Athena, on the other hand… She’d be good as a board member and even, eventually, CEO. She had that kind of brain.

  As for himself, Simon had begun to think longingly of Eirene’s plan to travel the world. It would be a good thing to travel with a purpose, to see what was what, instead of the aimless movement he’d been guilty of for much of his life. Maybe it was time to connect with life. Since he already knew that his confession and the information he’d given the authorities would keep him from doing prison time — though he was going to be paying some stiff fines — he could make some plans for the future.

  When he told Eirene that he was resigning, he expected her to be disappointed, and tried to cushion the news by saying, “I thought you and I might spend some time traveling. I’m hoping you’ll show me the world through your eyes. I need to see it clearly.”

  Oddly, she smiled at him. “That would be lovely. But we’re going to have to do some planning.”

  “Why not just go?” he asked. H
e caught hold of her and danced her around the room. “Let’s be footloose! Let’s travel the Silk Road, trek in the Himalayas, do photo safaris in Africa!”

  Eirene squeaked with laughter. “I want all those things too, but we have to be realistic.”

  “Why?”

  “Because parents need to be responsible.”

  It took him a moment to understand what she was saying to him. “Parents? We’re going to be parents?”

  She nodded. He squeezed her tight and she squeaked again.

  “How? When? I—”

  “Darling I think you know the how part,” she told him as she disengaged from his grip. “The when is in about six-and-a-half months.”

  Simon was overwhelmed by emotions that he could barely put names to. There was joy, of course, but a terrible fear that he wasn’t worthy and that he wouldn’t do a good job of being a father. There was a sense of having a job to do, a job so important that it made being a CEO look like nothing. It was possibly the most important job in the world… next to Eirene’s, of course.

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “That you’re happy?”

  “I couldn’t be happier. Oh my darling Eirene, I couldn’t be happier if someone handed me the world tied up with a ribbon. It feels like that’s what you’ve just done. I hope I’m worthy.”