AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He struggled to elaborate, for the waiter was hovering, and even if this was his chosen secluded spot for business, it felt too exposed for this conversation.
Yet there were things they had to get through, so he nodded for another drink and she declined one.
‘You blocked my number,’ he accused. ‘I bought you a phone and the first thing you learnt was how to block me.’
‘I was about to unblock it,’ she admitted. ‘And if you didn’t answer I was going to call your mother, or even Roula, and ask to speak with you...’
‘About that...’
He’d closed his eyes again, and Mary had the awful feeling she was about to be told that he had given in to the pressure from his family and his community.
‘Here...’ He put his hand into his pocket and handed her something precious. ‘You forgot your magnet. It didn’t exactly suit my fridge...’
She held it as he shredded her heart.
‘Roula asked what the hell it was when I invited her over...’
‘Spare me the details, Costa.’
‘You always said you wanted details, though.’
Yes, she had. And, in truth, she did want the details and so she nodded.
‘Do you know why I let you go?’ he asked.
‘You didn’t have any choice,’ Mary pointed out.
‘Do you know why I wasn’t waiting for you in Athens?’
‘I never expected you to be...’
‘Mary, for a while there I told myself you were a little magpie.’
How did he get away with smiling as he said that?
Except she smiled too. ‘I have many issues, Costa, but stealing isn’t one of them.’
‘Well, whatever your issues, we will get to them later, but I wanted you to leave because I felt you were in danger.’
‘Danger?’
‘You never liked Nemo.’
‘No,’ Mary said, ‘probably because he didn’t like me...’ She took a breath. ‘I know he’s your head of security, and so you must trust him, but I think he set me up.’
‘Absolutely he did,’ Costa agreed, and then accepted his drink from the waiter. ‘Mary, I am going to tell you something that no one knows. Not even my mother—not a soul. It is incredibly important that you don’t breathe a word of this.’
‘Whom would I tell?’ she asked. ‘I’m not exactly connected.’
‘I know,’ he said, ‘but this is very delicate. After you left, I took my mother to her new home...’
‘Did she love it?’
Costa glanced sharply up.
‘Yolanda was a little upset,’ he said, and she was sure he was trying to be tactful. ‘About the events earlier...’
‘I ruined her birthday, then.’ Mary sagged in her seat.
