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‘Don’t bother. I’ll grab a water taxi from the harbour. The walk down will do me good.’
Disapproval filmed her eyes. ‘Kyria, I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
One of the few facts I’d learned about my absent husband was that he was far wealthier than I’d imagined. The members of the Xenakis dynasty basked in the sort of wealth that required bodyguards and well-orchestrated security for them to travel. Exactly the sort of attention I didn’t need.
‘I appreciate your concern, but it’s not necessary, Agatha. Thank you.’
I walked away before she could respond. And, since I wasn’t entirely sure she wouldn’t alert Axios at the very first opportunity, I rushed up to my suite, grabbed my bag and hurried back down.
Two hours later I stepped up to the sales counter at the airport on the mainland. ‘One-way ticket to Switzerland, please.’
The attendant eyed me for what seemed like for ever before issuing my ticket. But if I thought that was nerve-racking, discovering what my grandmother had left for me once I arrived at the Swiss bank left me shamelessly sobbing in a cold and grey bank vault.
And then everything that had gone before paled in comparison to the fear that gripped my heart when I sat before a Swiss doctor three days later.
Dr Trudeau, a short, grey-haired physician with kind eyes, peered at me over his rimless glasses, gentle fingers tapping the file in front of him before he sighed.
‘Miss Petras, I have good news and bad news. Although I’m not entirely sure how welcome the good news will be once I explain what I believe is happening with you. I’m so sorry.’
CHAPTER FOUR
One year later
THE TURQUOISE WATERS of the Pacific were so blindingly beautiful they brought tears to my eyes. Or perhaps it was the stinging salt from the spray.
It definitely wasn’t because today was my first wedding anniversary.
No. Most certainly not that.
On the list of the most forgettable things to happen to me in the last year, my hastily arranged wedding and the shockingly cold ceremony was right at the top. Not to mention the trapped groom who couldn’t wait to walk away from me. The man I now had the dubious pleasure of calling my husband.
My heart leapt into my throat even as I pushed Axios’s image away. He would need to be dealt with soon.
But not just yet.
I lifted my face to the blazing sun, willed it to pierce through my desolation and touch my wounded soul. I needed brightness and mirth, sunshine and positivity. If only for a little while longer... It might all be gone soon, slipping through my fingers like mercury.
Gripping the railing of the sleek sailboat transporting me from an exclusive Bora Bora resort to the adjoining uninhabited island where I’d ordered my picnic, I mentally went through my list from bottom to top.
Number five: Take control of my life. Check.
Contrary to my fears, walking away hadn’t doomed me or my mother. My monthly phone calls reassured me that she was fine. My father, now a hundred million euros richer, was engrossed in yet another business venture. Better still, he hadn’t challenged any of the terms of the contract he’d made with Axios.
Number four: Do something worthwhile with my painting. Check.
The past year had been frightening in some ways but immensely fulfilling in the exploration of my talent. I was still basking in the knowledge that I could have had a career if fate hadn’t pushed me down a different path.
Number three: Accept that my condition might not have a happy ending and that my prognosis might follow my grandmother’s. Check.
It had been a difficult acceptance, often pitted with tears and heartache and grief for all the things I might never have. For what this would do to those I love.
Number two: Cherish my precious gift for as long as I can. Check. Check. Check.
The last item on my list filled me with equal parts desolation and trepidation. But it needed to be done.
Number one: Hand over my precious gift to Axios Xenakis.
As if that gift knew he was in my thoughts, a soft cry rippled through the sun-drenched breeze, followed by a sharper one, demanding attention.
