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“Give me a denial to pass before legal. That’s your best bet.”
“She denies it.”
“No, you have to be the one. Your family. Your clout.”
Anastasios considered that. “And then they’d stop it?”
“Perhaps. Leave it with me?”
He squinted into the sunlight. “Do I have any other choice?”
Tommy was silent. “I’ll do my best, Tasso. You have my word.”
He hung up, but with a growing sense of impatience. He didn’t like things going against him. He sure as hell didn’t like losing his grip on control. This story didn’t belong in the tabloids. It was a private matter, nothing that warranted the gossip hungry papers latching onto.
His father was gone and his mother—she’d be devastated. But what about Phoebe? Photographers invading her life, sleazy journalists hounding her for grimy tell-all interviews. She’d hate that. Three days ago, he wouldn’t have cared, but now he’d gotten to know her better, and the idea of her life being upended because she’d chosen to get involved with someone high profile?
The story couldn’t be published.
He ground his teeth, the threat of new ‘evidence’ making it harder to control. But Anastasios thrived on a challenge.
He turned his mind to the situation at hand, even as there was a constant drag on his attention. Knowing Phoebe was out there, bobbing along on the yacht, split his focus, so he worked harder to concentrate, to ignore her, to resist her. Control was paramount.
“Hey, stranger.”
Cora smiled as she strolled into her office.
He blinked up at his cousin, a frown etched across his face as, two hours later, he was still torn between pondering the Phoebe conundrum and dealing with a mountain of work.
“What are you doing here?”
“A little birdie told me you’d flown into town. I wanted to see how you’re doing.”
He lifted a brow. It could only be his assistant—a friend Cora had recommended to the job.
“I was about to leave.”
“Oh,” she covered it quickly, but hurt briefly marred her features, and he felt like an absolute shit. Cora was more like a sister to him than a cousin, a good friend, too. She recovered quickly though, sympathy softening her eyes. “Does that mean you don’t have time for a drink with your favourite cousin?”
He considered that, but there was a pull to the yacht he couldn’t explain. “I’ve already been longer than I intended.”
He’d pushed himself to stay away, but now he was champing at the bit to get back.
“One drink,” she lifted a single finger in the air. “There’s something we need to discuss.”
Cora had always been persuasive—it was one of her many talents. As a girl, she’d been able to wear down her doting parents, so they’d grant her almost anything. She’d never taken ‘no’ for an answer, and they all admired that about her.
“Thanasi’s worried about you.”
Anastasios lifted his brows, surprised by the remark. “Worried about me?” It was absurd. Anastasios was more than capable of taking care of himself.
“After the funeral, you basically disappeared,” she pointed out. “And when you are around, he says you’re distant. Distracted.”
All these things were true, and yet Anastasios couldn’t see that they were any cause for concern.
“Dad left a lot of projects up in the air. I’ve been busy.”
“I know.” Cora’s voice was soft, her eyes running over his face. “You look exhausted.”
