But was it so ridiculous? Married for a week, and separated for nights, she had missed him with an entirely appropriate intensity. They had parted with warmth; they had married out of love. So what had happened?
The more Sophie thought about it, the more she realised that she was missing something incredibly important. People didn’t just switch their emotions like that. It wasn’t possible.
She thought back to all the beautiful memories she had of their early acquaintance and a smile touched her lips. He did love her. Their marriage was founded on the kind of heart-scoring intensity that made it brightly real and overpowering.
The hateful flowers were mocking her. She moved further from the house, down the steep side garden that led to the ocean. A large rock was beneath a tree; she sat on it so that she could brood in comfort.
For Alex to have reverberated with such cold anger the night before must surely have meant that something had happened.
But what?
For the life of her, Sophie couldn’t imagine … until she could. Realisation dawned with the most sublimely perfect clarity that she startled.
He knew about Helena.
She dropped her head forward and gasped.
He knew about Helena, and what was more, she’d bet her last penny that he knew she and Eric had kept it from him.
Sophie stood abruptly and walked quickly back towards the house.
“Alex?” She almost ran down the hallway, and with each step she took, she became more and more convinced that she was right.
“Alex?” She stood very still and waited to hear noise. But the house was silent. Only Alena, out washing the walls near the pool, was moving in the midst of apparent calm. Sophie moved to her on autopilot. “Excuse me, Alena, have you seen Mr Petrides.”
“No, I’m sorry, ma’am,” she responded in broken English.
“Damn it.” She spun around and planted her hands on the hips. She surveyed the house from between shuttered eyes.
Had he already left? She moved back into the house and checked the bedroom they’d shared. The bed was made. Her eyes were drawn to his empty bedside table and she thought again of the beautiful arrangement she’d left there. The gift he’d discarded.
Because he had been upset! Angry! Hurt!
Yes!
He had discovered something whilst interviewing the nanny. Perhaps he’d spoken to Helena, or Eric. Something had happened; it was as clear to her as the diamond she wore on her ring finger.
She ran upstairs again, into the room she’d used the night before and lifted her phone. A little red number called her attention to her messages and she opened them, her heart in her throat with the hope that she’d find Alex had already messaged to explain.
But it wasn’t Alex. It was a number she didn’t recognise.
“I’m here! Only I don’t know where in Corfu you are. Send me the address.”
She frowned, and was about to delete it without replying when the same number began to show on her screen as a call. Impatient, she answered with a gruff, “Yes?”
“Well, that’s no way to greet your sister.”
Sophie felt tears spring to her eyes at the welcome sound of Olivia’s voice.
“You’re here? In Greece?”
“I’m in Kerkyra. I found a bar not too far from the airport. This place is amazing. I could get lost in ancient laneways very happily.”
Sophie thought despondently of the exploration she hadn’t done. The island had been beckoning, and she’d been too wrapped up first in Alex, and then in desolation, to do any of it justice.
“I’ll come to you,” she decided instantly. “Only I’ve got no idea how the hell to get to the town, so you’d better make yourself comfortable.”
“Can’t my new brother-in-law drive you?”
“Alex?” Sophie’s heartbeat accelerated. “He could, but he’s … away working.”
“Already? Some honeymoon.”
Sophie’s cheeks flushed. “He’s busy, Liv.”
“I know, I know. The price you pay for marrying a tycoon, ha?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” She dug her toe into the carpet.
“Well? Hurry up. I’ll order you a champagne.”
“Oh… I’ll be driving …”
“Pish. Hurry up. I miss you!”
Sophie laughed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I would have arranged everything.”
She could practically hear Liv’s careless shrug. “I got a deal on a last minute flight. I hope it’s okay?”
“Okay. It’s bloody fantastic. I’ll see you soon.”
She moved quickly back to the bedroom and pulled a colourful dress off a hanger. It was a gorgeous shade of peach and turquoise and flattered her skin tones and eyes. The dress was simple cotton, strapless so that it ran straight across the top of her cleavage, hugged her to the waist and then flared in a short skirt to inches above her knees. It was perfect for the warm weather they’d been enjoying. Sophie slipped a pair of wedge-heeled sandals onto her feet and tidied her hair, then moved through the house.
The problem, of course, was that she had no idea where the cars were, and nor did she know who kept the keys. “Alena?” She emerged almost apologetically back to the pool.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Please, call me Sophie.” She said with a smile. “My sister has come to the island, and I’d like to go and collect her. Only I’ve no clue where the garage is.”
“Ah!” Alena’s face broke out into the most genuine smile Sophie had seen her employ since coming to the island. “That eez wonderful. But ‘Arry will drive you.”
“No, no, I don’t want to disturb him.”
“Mr Petrides ‘as asked ‘im to ‘elp you.”
“Oh.” She nodded awkwardly. “If it’s no trouble then.”
Sophie hadn’t yet met Alena’s husband but she knew he busied himself in the gardens and with the fleet of vehicles Alex kept on Corfu. When Alena appeared with him a few moments later, Sophie saw he was a short, round man with a twinkling gaze and kindly expression.
“It’s an honour,” he said, in native English.
“Likewise.”
“Alena says you would like to go to town?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “To Kerkyra. My sister’s there,” she finished lamely.
“My wife said. Are you ready?”
“Now? Yes. Yes I am.” She was suddenly desperate to see Olivia. Her sister could surely make everything seem better.
“Then let’s go.”
Sophie fell into step beside him as he made his way along the courtyard towards a long, low barn. He pressed a button in his pocket and the gate slid open to reveal seven sports cars. Sophie counted them to be certain. They were each immaculate and prestigious. There were several with unpronounceable names she’d never even heard of.
He caught her looking at the row of cars and grinned. “Do you have a preference?”
She shook her head quickly.
“We’ll take the Alfa. You’ll like it. Fast and elegant.” He opened the front passenger door for her. “It is one of Mr Petrides’s favourites.”
“Great.” She swallowed back the painful discomfort at the reference to her husband. “You’re from England?”
“Sure am, ma’am. Up north way.”
“Please, please, I beg you, stop calling me ma’am.” She already felt like a weird imposter. The confidence that she belonged in Alex’s life and home had rapidly evaporated.
“Mr Petrides prefers a degree of formality …”
“Perhaps he does, but I can assure you, I don’t.” The engine purred to life and Harry steered it down the narrow drive with admirable expertise. “I’m Sophie. I’m Australian. We’re not at all formal, really.”
“Very well, ma’am.”
She burst out laughing. It was hopeless. Better to accept her lot in life now that she was married to the all-powerful Alessandros Petrides.
“How far is town?”
“Und
er an hour.”
“So far. I hadn’t realised.” She pulled her phone out and texted her sister. “I’m an hour away. Sit tight.”
“Can’t wait to see you!!”
Sophie shook her head with a fond smile.
The road from Alex’s villa was so narrow that even the Alfa brushed the verge at times. It was right on the edge of a cliff, too, and beneath them, the ocean sparkled like diamonds dancing on liquid. Sophie was not nervous. Harry drove the car beautifully; he was confident and yet cautious, allowing her the freedom to simply enjoy the scenery. Much of the drive was through the less built up parts of the island. However, as they travelled further, eventually valleys and coves gave way to houses and shops. Before Sophie knew it, they were in downtown traffic, with the stunning laneways Olivia had referred to branching out in every direction.
“Oh!” She caught her breath as Harry turned a corner and the whole city opened up beneath them, like a blanket of terracotta rooves and sand-coloured walls. The buildings were straight-walled and flat-rooves, and they were built so close together that the car had to slow down to turn some corners. Shops with dark green awnings and gorgeous topiaried trees lined the sides of the road, and fountains cropped up as if from nowhere.
“This is stunning.”
“Yes. We think so. Alena and I live in the old-town.”
“Does it get older than this?” She queried with a tilt of her head.
He nodded. “The locals would call this the new part of town.” She sent him a disbelieving look and he laughed. “It’s only middle-aged. Where we live dates back to around twelve hundred BC. Not many of those buildings survive, of course, but the streets take a similar layout.”
“That’s absolutely mind-blowing.”
“Where is your sister?”
“Ummm…” She checked her phone and then placed it in the console. “The Farfalla bar?”
He lifted his brows. “She has expensive taste.”
Sophie laughed. “She has impeccable taste. More often than not, it tends to be expensive too, yes. Why? Is it a good place to go?”
“It is one of the premiere establishments on the island. Another favourite of your husband’s.”
Sophie nodded, but the little shards of jealousy were impossible to ignore. One didn’t go to bars solo, after all. No doubt Alex had frequented this ‘impeccable’ establishment with his past lovers.
She swallowed the unpalatable thought. She was about to see Liv for the first time in almost a year. That, and only that, required her attention.
“Oh.” She looked down at her dress with a grimace. “Will I be dressed … I mean …” her cheeks took on a becoming shade of pink and Harry found himself warming to his boss’s wife. “Is there a dress-code?” She finished her question, smiling apologetically at the man.
“Believe me, ma’am, no one will turn away Mrs Petrides. You could go in there wearing little more than a rag and you’d still get the best table in the place.”
Though he’d answered her question, his words were far from reassuring. Sophie caught her reflection in a tinted window as she moved towards the bar. Patrons were sitting at tables on the footpath in the very European al fresco style and there were little vases of bright purple flowers in the centre of each. Sophie moved past the other diners and towards the large glass and timber doors. They were opened inwards as she approached.
“Good afternoon,” the man greeted in Greek.
Sophie checked her wrist watch and was surprised to see it was almost one o’clock. She scanned the restaurant and almost immediately saw her. Olivia Henderson, with her shimmering white-blonde hair, dark golden tan and sparkling green eyes, stood out anywhere. Here, in the midst of this glamorous bar, she looked like she’d walked off a catwalk, rather than a long-haul flight. And, unsurprisingly, she’d gathered a small crowd of admirers in the short time she’d been left waiting.
Sophie shook her head with a sense of amusement, and cut through the crowds.
“Hey!” Liv cried, cutting off one of the young men who was mid-sentence. “There you are!” She was taller than Sophie, and curvier too – with the kind of cleavage that was so generous it was almost an impediment. Or so Liv had complained on numerous occasions, when she’d found her dates so transfixed by her breasts that they were incapable of looking anywhere else for the duration of the meal. “Oh, my, God. I have missed you!” She wrapped her arms around Sophie’s neck and held her tight.
Sophie sobbed into her sister’s shoulder and nodded. The words she wanted to say were heavy in her mouth.
Liv pulled away, tears sparkling in her own eyes, as she lifted a hand to Sophie’s cheek. “God, you look great. You look so polished!” She lifted Sophie’s hand and made a low-whistle as she inspected the engagement ring Alex had surprised her with.
“That’s got to be six or seven carats, right?”
Sophie nodded vaguely. Actually, it was nine carats, something which had seemed ludicrous and excessive but on which Alex had been insistent. The solitaire was so large that the platinum and diamond band that encircled it had needed to be weighted at the base, to stop it from constantly swirling around her slim finger.
“Wow. Okay. Drinks are on you,” Liv teased, ignoring the group who’d been chatting to her and shepherding Sophie to a more private table by the window.
“Aren’t you going to say goodbye to your new friends?”
She waved a hand impatiently through the air. “They were just fillers until you got here.”
Sophie laughed affectionately. Olivia had always been the social butterfly of every room she entered. She’d made friends effortlessly and won hearts with almost as little trouble. She was charming and interesting, and generally, people forgave her everything.
A waiter appeared the moment they sat down. “Good afternoon,” he greeted in slightly accented English. “Welcome to Farfalla. Have you been here before?”
No, but my husband has, Sophie swallowed the pithy remark and shook her head instead.
Olivia eyed her sister, and the worry that something was wrong was like a bullet in her chest. “We’d like to start a tab. And to be interrupted as little as possible.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a card but Sophie shook her head.
“You’ve come all this way. Allow me.” She hadn’t yet used one of the credit cards Alex had given her. She slipped one from her wallet and handed it over, a little self-conscious when she realised it was one of those ridiculous Centurion Amex cards.
The waiter took it, examined it, and handed it back. “That will not be necessary, Mrs Petrides. Mr Petrides maintains an account here. Are you celebrating? Would you like some champagne?”
Sophie’s cheeks were pink. She nodded helplessly and the waiter disappeared without pausing to confirm which label they’d prefer. When he returned, it was with the aid of another waiter, who ostentatiously held two champagne saucers while the first waiter peeled the top off the bottle. He popped it into a white-gloved hand and then handed the cork to Sophie. “It is to be kept. For luck and good memories.”
“Oh.” She slipped it into her bag with, perhaps, far less ceremony than was due, and then watched as the original waiter poured the champagne into first one glass and then the next.
“I shall keep the bottle in the fridge.”
“Leave the bottle,” Liv corrected. “We don’t want to be interrupted unless our bottle is empty. Thank you.”
Sophie shot her sister a warning glance, but the twitching of her lips spoiled the effect somewhat.
“What is this champagne?” Sophie whispered, once they’d left.
“Expensive, is what it is. At least two thousand dollars, I’d say.”
Sophie spat out the bubbles she’d been sipping and clasped a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God! Livvie! You’re not serious?”
Olivia shrugged. “A man bought one for me once, and that’s what he said. It was the same label. I remember, because I’d never heard of it before that.”
“Oh, Liv. We can’t drink this.”
Olivia’s smile was deliciously cheeky. “Nonsense. It’s been opened. Besides, they brought it over so naturally that one can only presume it’s what your husbands makes a habit of drinking.”
Sophie nodded. Olivia had a point. And again, she contemplated the unlikeliness of Alex drinking a bottle such as this on his own. No. It was what he shared with dates. Before he shared anything else with them. Like his home. And his body.
She flickered her gaze down to the table in a gesture designed to shield her thoughts from her sister, but Olivia knew Sophie far too well for that.
“How’s married life?” She queried with an intentionally bland tone to her voice.
Sophie nodded. “It’s good.” She smiled anxiously. “It’s just … an adjustment.”
Olivia nodded. That could be it. “In what way?” She prompted, sipping her champagne and eyeing her sister over the rim of the glass.
“You saw what just happened right?” She shook her head slowly. “I’ve gone from barely making ends meet on a dreadful salary in London to being brought two thousand dollar bottles of champagne and being told my Goddamned Amex card isn’t required here, at what my driver tells me is the most expensive bar in town.” She rolled her eyes. “You know how weird this is.”
Liv grinned. “I think I could get used to it pretty quickly.”
Sophie burst out laughing. “Yeah, you probably could.” She sobered. “You wait until you see his house. It’s like this stunning, architectural, perfect palace. And when I say perfect, I mean … magazine perfect. Like Vogue Living ready all the time. It’s … just … so much.”
“But honey, you knew when you married him that he had this kind of money. What’s the problem?”
“It’s not a problem,” she demurred quickly. “I love Alex.” And she really, really did. No matter what was going on between them, she had every faith it would be a temporary concern. “It’s just … I fell in love with him when I didn’t really have any concept of just how …”
Billionaires: They're powerful, hot, charming and richer than sin... Page 56
