Chapter 10
There were a dozen threats he could make to ensure her agreement. He bit them all back. He felt bad
enough as it was without adding more ill deeds to the te against him. There was one more thing he
could add, though...
‘I won’t change my mind but you can go ahead and sleep on it,’ he said. ‘While you’re lying in your bed
thinking, consider the ramifications if you decide not to take me up on my proposal. If you marry me,
scandal averted. If you don’t, the press will crucify you and drag your brother and the entire House of
Mondelli through the mud with you. Do you really want to go through all that again? Do you want Ro
to go through all that again?’
She stilled, stormy eyes locked on his.
‘Do you want all the spection over who the father is? The old scandal being raked up as the world
wonders if you’ve been ying around with another married man?’
‘But I never...’
He hated to see the hurt and bewilderment that shed across her features but he had no choice. For
their child’s sake he would deploy every weapon in his arsenal to get her agreement. ‘You know that
and I know that. The rest of the world will believe what it wants to believe and, as it’s doing so, the
world’s eyes will be on you.’
‘You know how to y dirty,’ she said hoarsely, her chest heaving.
‘I could never have left Greece without learning how. If you refuse, you will have to deal with the press
and the world’s attention on your own. I will make no acknowledgement until our baby is born.’
Her throat moved as she swallowed, her eyes zing their loathing at him. ‘Do not think you can
ckmail me, Markos.’
‘I don’t want to ckmail you,’ he said, wondering why the sound of his surname being spat from her
delicious, plump lipsnded like a barb in his chest. ‘But you leave me no choice.’
She backed to the door and gripped the handle. ‘I’m going to my room now. I’ll give you my answer in
the morning.’
‘There is only one answer.’
‘You can still wait on it.’
CHAPTER THREE
HIS HEAD THUMPING, Christian entered the magnificent dining room where breakfast was being
served. Alessandra was already there. So too were Stefan, Zayed and a handful of other guests who’d
stayed the night rather than retire to their yachts or have their helicopters collect them.
It was littlefort that every person in the room looked exactly how he felt. Skata. Like crap.
He might not have been able to get himself as drunk as he’d wanted but his body was punishing him
regardless for the quantity of alcohol he’d consumed.
Alessandra’s gaze darted to him. Anyone looking at her could be forgiven for thinking she had a
hangover too. Only he knew the dark rings under her bloodshot eyes were caused by a different
reason.
He doubted she’d had any more sleep than the snatches he’d managed.
Even so, she still had that certain charisma that she carried like a second skin; her hair, left loose to
tumble halfway down her back, as glossy as ever.N?velDrama.Org: owner of this content.
He took the seat next to Zayed, who was clutching a ck coffee as if his life depended on it, and
poured himself a cup of his own. He shook his head as a member of staff asked what he’d like to eat.
All he wanted at that moment was hot, sweet caffeine. And a dozen painkillers.
No sooner had he taken his first sip than Alessandra rose, murmuring something to Stefan, who gave a
painedugh and immediately rubbed at his temples.
He waited long enough not to rouse any suspicion, making innocuous hangover talk with his buddies,
before saying he was going for a lie down.
Alessandra’s room was in a different wing from where he and his uni friends always slept when they
stayed at the vi. He hadn’t realised he knew exactly which room was hers until he knocked on the
door. After a minute of no response, he nudged it open. It was empty.
Moving stealthily so as not to attract attention, he slipped out of the vi and into the gardens.