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For a long moment, he was quiet, but then he shifted his gaze back to me. He didn’t look like he underestimated me anymore. In fact, he was eyeing me with the same sort of respect he would a man.
“Do you have any other advice for me?” he asked, and I cleared my throat.
“Yeah. Get a girl like me,” I whispered with a wink, and he threw his head back with a laugh.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he chuckled.
CHAPTER 27
Maci
I’d done it.
I’d executed every facet of our plan perfectly and now it was time to go home to Nikolaos.
Standing at the edge of the crowd, I felt a strange cocktail of relief and something else as the charity ball drew to a close. I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t shake off a sense of something unfinished, like a sentence left hanging in the air or like a fall that never quite made it to the ground.
I shook my head. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I should be happy. I’d done it. I’d brokered a deal and settled the dispute between Nikolaos and the Secretary-General.
I should be celebrating.
Instead, I watched the room slowly empty, the once lively space quieting down. The staff moved silently, clearing tables draped in snow-white linen, their efficiency a stark contrast to the night’s earlier chaos. With my clutch in hand, I set my empty champagne glass on a passing tray.
I took a deep breath and walked through the room, nodding in greeting to the staff as I passed them by. Their faces were friendly, but they all looked relieved that the night was over and that they could go home soon too.
I felt the same.
The soft silk of my dress brushed against my skin as I adjusted the skirt a bit higher so that I could walk more freely. My feet ached from hours of standing and dancing, and I couldn’t wait to sit down and tell Nikolaos all about the night.
He was going to be so proud of me.
Stepping towards the grand entrance, the click of my heels on the marble floor seemed to echo in the emptying space. I walked outside, the crisp night air hitting me and the doors closing behind me with a soft, final sound.
As I stepped out into the cool night, a shiver ran through me, but it wasn’t just from the cool breeze. The moon bathed the deserted red carpet in its pale light, creating long, eerie shadows that seemed to circle around me like a wolf on the prowl. The paparazzi and the reporters had long since left, as had the security staff manning the doors.
It was eerily quiet.
I swallowed hard, the sound of my heart pounding loud in my ears.
Something still felt off, and as I hesitated, scanning the area for any sign of life, I realized how alone I was.
Suddenly, I felt a firm grip on my shoulder, pulling me back, and then there was a hand roughly clamping over my mouth from behind. A wave of panic washed over me as my heart pounded in my ears. I struggled, but the grip only tightened, an iron band of restraint that refused to let me go no matter how hard I fought.
Fuck. What was happening?
Then, a familiar voice hissed in my ear, a voice that haunted my nightmares, “Hello again, Maci.”
I knew that voice.
It was Alexander Pappas.
My body went rigid with fear, memories of the kidnapping flooding back in a terrifying rush. His presence, so close and menacing, sent a chill down my spine. I remembered this feeling of helplessness, the dread that filled me when he had taken me before.
I’d vowed that I’d never be so helpless again.
“Shh,” he whispered menacingly, as if reading my panic. “No one can hear you. No one will come.”
I tried to speak, to scream, but his hand muffled any sound I could make. My mind raced, searching for a way out, but I was trapped in his grasp. I struggled hard for a minute, but he was so much bigger and stronger than me.
