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‘Kovac?’ The cogs in her mind freewheeled before crunching to a grinding halt before a petite blonde-haired girl with massive insecurities. Surely not. But the first name—she could have shortened it…
‘Are you telling me that Pia Kovac is your sister?’
‘Pia.’ He sniffed as his eyes lit up with a ferocious gleam. Of course. He should have known she’d erase anything from her life that reminded her of her Greek father. ‘So you do know her. You’ve known of her all along.’
‘I had no idea she was your sister. You two look nothing alike.’
That’s because she’s not my sister, he thought with a dose of bitterness, still getting used to the idea. Instead he said, ‘Olympia is the child of my father’s second wife.’
Who was obviously not of Greek descent, Jade thought, scratching to find any similarities between Loukas and Pia in either looks or personality that might have warned her the two were related. What had happened to his mother? She knew nothing about his family though she’d told him so much of her own. Why was that?
‘So when is she scheduled for surgery? I will come and collect her from the clinic before it.’
Loukas’s question broke into her thoughts, his assumption that he could just walk in and take control of his sister clashing violently with everything she knew about doctor-patient ethics.
‘Now, hang on! I can’t discuss that with you. Matters between a patient and her doctor are confidential.’
‘But you will talk to her about this surgery. Tell her not to go ahead!’
‘I’ve already spoken to her, and she wants to go ahead with the procedures.’ She didn’t have to tell him that she’d already tried to talk the girl out of the breast augmentation operation. Jade wasn’t comfortable with the extent of the surgery, or the way that Grace seemed almost too eager to accede to her requests. ‘And while I can advise her, ultimately it’s Pia’s choice—not mine, and most definitely not yours. Like it or not, you just have to respect that.’
‘You can’t let her do this. You have to stop her!’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t see how I can stop her. I don’t understand why I should even try.’
‘She will not be operated on by that woman! I won’t allow it.’
‘Then why don’t you tell her that? She’s your sister after all. Why don’t you just go and stop her yourself?’
He spun around and faced the window, looking out to sea. He was like a storm cloud in the otherwise clear night sky. He was crashing waves and dangerous reefs and she’d been well and truly shipwrecked. And she’d all but steered a course for those rocks herself, ensuring she’d be smashed to smithereens.
But maybe she wasn’t his only victim. Maybe she wasn’t all he’d wrecked.
‘I get it now,’ she said to the strong lines of his back. ‘You two don’t get along.’
‘She’s not talking to me at the moment. That’s all.’
‘So little sister doesn’t like being bossed around and bullied by big brother?’
‘It’s not like that,’ he said, facing her. ‘I was trying to stop her doing something stupid. I tried to stop her marrying that celebrity disaster, but she wouldn’t listen to me—and now she’s stuck with him.’
‘So it is like that! I can believe it. Well, I’ve got news for you. I don’t like being pushed around either! Whatever this communication problem you have with your sister, you work it out. Don’t expect me to do your dirty work.’
She turned and let her eyes scour the floor, looking to pick up her scattered clothes. His hand closed around her arm like an iron manacle.
‘I won’t have her so much as touched by that woman!’
She wrenched back on her arm, but it was stuck firm in his grip. ‘You’re mad,’ she sneered through bared teeth. ‘I don’t understand what your problem is with plastic surgery in general or with Grace in particular, but you’re wrong—you’re way off base.’
‘Am I? So the drug-taking, her operating stoned, the scarring she’s caused—the deaths!—all of that is off base too?’
