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The silence hung between them, a dank and heavy curtain that smothered conversation for several seconds.
‘What are you saying? I thought that was why you married Stella—because she was having your baby.’
‘That’s what I thought too. And, even though her colouring was all wrong, I was too besotted with your stepmother back then to think anything of the baby’s blonde hair. All I cared about was that ten years after your mother had died I’d been lucky enough to find another beautiful wife and father another child. It never occurred to me then that Olympia might not be mine.’
‘So she’s not my sister—at all?’ No wonder they’d never connected—on any level. It wasn’t just half a generation and attitudes that separated them, it was their parentage as well.
‘Unless your father was a Scandinavian prince—no.’ He hesitated. ‘Which is why nobody wants this getting out to the press. Not a sniff. Everything has to stay locked down—until after the primaries at least.’
‘How long have you known?’ Loukas asked.
He could hear his father’s irritated exhalation all those miles away. The older man was still angry about it. ‘It started to bug me when she was growing up—let’s face it, she hardly looked like a Demakis! But it was only about eight months ago that Stella finally confirmed it—that I didn’t father Olympia.’
‘Eight months ago?’ echoed Loukas, nodding as another piece of the puzzle slotted into place. ‘Just before she suddenly took off with the brat-pack and married Kurt.’
‘Well, I sure as hell didn’t tell her!’ his father said. ‘It was Stella. She thought she had a right to know.’
It all made sense to Loukas. No wonder she’d gone so far off the rails. She’d always fought against all things Demakis—news like that would have been the last straw. And he could see why his father didn’t want the press involved. If the scandal sheets got hold of a story like this before the elections they’d have a field day.
‘Can’t Stella help you get through to her now?’
‘Pia won’t listen to her—not now she’s got that bum Kurt telling her what to do. She only calls her mother up now to irritate the hell out of her. She says her mother betrayed her, should never have married me. Now she feels vindicated for hating me all these years, and it’s payback time for Stella.’ He hauled in a long burst of air.
‘But Olympia has to be stopped, and you’re the only one who can reach her. Nobody knows better than you what this Della-Bosca woman is capable of. You have to get her out of there, Loukas, no matter what it takes!’
Tonight was the night. For three days now she’d lived a life of bliss, being whisked away by Loukas to the Malibu Beach house and made love to late into the night. Life had never been so good. Life had never been so happy.
Only guilt threatened to cloud her joy—the guilt that she hadn’t been honest with him.
Jade finished writing up the notes from her last patient for the day and closed down her computer. Loukas would be collecting her soon, and already her blood fizzed in anticipation. But this time more than ever it was anticipation tinged with foreboding.
She entered the en suite bathroom adjoining her office to freshen up. Every day she’d sworn that this night would be the one—that she’d reveal her secret tonight, that she would leave the light on and take off her clothes and let him discover the truth.
And every night her resolve to tell Loukas had been blown away by the sheer force of their lovemaking and the knowledge that things would have to change once he knew.
Her face stared back at her in the mirror. What would it be like for him to see her scars for the first time? Would he think them as bad as she anticipated or worse? How would he react? In horror? In revulsion? Or would it just turn him off completely? There weren’t a lot of options, and none of them were good. He could hardly react with joy.
On a sudden whim she lifted the hem of her knitted top and pulled it over her head before she could change her mind. Her satin and lace bra followed. She needed to prepare herself for what was to come. She needed to be able to face what she expected him to.
