on someone’s foot. Or accidentally spill your coffee at an inopportune moment. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Phoenix Clinic has a stringent set of checks in place, does it not?’
I opened my mouth to answer, but he was shaking his head, already rejecting my confirmation.
‘Whatever you thought was going to happen with your coming here, I’m afraid it won’t be that easy, Miss Preston.’
‘What do you mean?’
God, did he want me to beg? Fall on my face and prostrate myself before him?
The weirdest thought entered my head. That however he intended me to pay, it would be welcome. Perhaps even a little...life-changing.
When his gaze dropped to my parted lips I entertained the notion, while staring at his mouth, that whatever those reparations were they would be carnal in nature. That I would perhaps even...enjoy it.
Sweet heaven, Sadie. What’s wrong with you?
Dragging my focus from the lush curve of his lips, I met his gaze—only to find the grey depths alight with the same blaze that singed my blood.
Abruptly he turned away, returned to his desk and picked up a sleek-looking tablet. ‘Willa, please come in.’
Confusion mingled with those peculiar feelings rioted through me, rendering me speechless as the door opened and a stylishly dressed blonde entered. The woman was more suited to traipse down a runway than give executive assistance. The dismissive glance she threw me before sashaying her way to her boss’s desk said she was well aware of her assets.
‘Yes, Mr Xenakis.’ Unsurprisingly, her voice dripped with sensual interest as she smiled at him.
Curbing my instant dislike for Willa, I listened to them exchange a low-voiced conversation about his upcoming meeting before he rounded his desk.
‘Escort Miss Preston to my penthouse. She’s to stay there until I’m done with my meeting. If she attempts to leave, inform Wendell.’
My irritation at being discussed as if I wasn’t there doubled at the edict he’d just delivered. ‘What? You can’t... I won’t just stay here at your whim!’
The fury he’d kept at bay finally flared into singeing life. ‘You’ve destroyed my property, Miss Preston, making your actions a crime. Attempt to leave and I’ll be forced to let the authorities handle it. You have two options. Stay and discuss this further, after my meeting. Or leave and face the consequences.’ He strode towards the door, throwing over his shoulder, ‘I’ll let you inform Willa of your decision.’
Then he was gone.
I veered towards the windows, hoping for a ray of enlightenment. But the typical English weather had greyed in complete alignment with my circumstances.
I couldn’t leave. Not unless I wanted to risk worsening my situation.
Neo Xenakis was in shock, still grappling with the news. Would he show mercy when he’d calmed down? Was I better off handing myself over to the authorities and pleading my case with a lawyer through the courts?
With what funds? Even before I lost my job we were barely scraping by. I didn’t have the resources to pay a lawyer for even ten minutes of his time!
I was better off waiting. Perhaps talking him round to getting him to return to the clinic to deposit another sample...
Willa’s pointed throat-clearing triggered a wince. Turning, I lifted my chin and met her contemptuous stare.
‘I’ll stay,’ I announced, with as much firmness as I could manage, considering my stomach had gone into a thousand-foot free fall.
RETREAT. REGROUP.
For the dozenth time in what felt like the longest afternoon of my life, I shook my head.
‘You don’t agree, Mr Xenakis?’
I refocused on the leader of the Brazilian marketing team gathered around the conference table and wondered what I’d missed while my brain was stuck in that endless cycle of life-altering words uttered by the most captivating creature I’d ever seen.
I’m sorry... I’ve destroyed...everything.
To think I’d been convinced she was pranking me. Or, even more amusing, that she had latched on to an inventive method of getting my attention, since most feminine ploys left me cold these days.
My steep drop in interest in the opposite sex hadn’t gone unnoticed in recent years. Socialites who’d smugly decided they were an integral part of my healing process were scratching their heads, wondering why I’d permanently lost their numbers. Heiresses who’d eagerly and blatantly sought an alliance with the newly unengaged Xenakis bachelor were left stunned as every avenue of contact was firmly rebuffed.
It hadn’t even been worth the time to inform them that the thrill of the chase had stopped being, well...thrilling. That the eighteen months I’d spent sowing every wild oat I could had left me ashen mouthed and even more jaded than I’d been when I woke up in that hospital to the cruellest betrayal.
To think I’d imagined that was the worst moment of my life.
The stark reality of Sadie Preston’s presence in my penthouse—as per Willa’s confirmation, minutes ago—attested to that moment having well and truly been usurped.
Was this how my brother Axios had felt when presented with the noose-like proposition he’d faced almost a year ago?
No, Ax’s sentence was finite. It would end...or rather should have been ending in a matter of weeks, had his bride of fewer than twenty-four hours not fled from him and vanished without a trace, leaving him bewildered and stuck in limbo.
Christos. If he’s feeling even a fraction of what I’m feeling now...
But then the bride he’d acquired hadn’t been wanted. Whereas what Sadie Preston had taken from me was...priceless.
The dreaded cancer diagnosis which had precipitated my sperm donation in anticipation of radiation might have turned out to be a false alarm when I was twenty-five, but the scars marring my skin beneath my clothes were a reminder of why that visit to the Phoenix Clinic had turned out to be a pivotal, life-affirming event for me. A light in the bleak darkness of the blissful ignorance I’d lived in for almost a year, before the blindfold had been ripped from my eyes almost as ruthlessly as the accident that had attempted to rob me of my life.
Anger and pure, unadulterated disbelief flashed like lightning through my system. I shook my head again, aware that I was attracting bewildered stares from the marketing gurus I’d hired to promote the interests of Xenakis Aeronautics in Brazil.
It had taken a draining amount of mental dexterity to get through my other two meetings, and now a quick glance at the presentation slide brought me up to speed with what I’d missed. Or rather, what they’d missed.
‘This isn’t going to work. Besides being unexceptional, you’ve aimed it at the wrong demographic.’
The team leader nodded enthusiastically. ‘Which demographic were you thinking of, Mr Xenakis?’
I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. Was I required to do all their work for them? ‘You have the data from the beta test. From what I’m seeing, you haven’t bothered to consult it. I’m not seeing any application of the feedback we received from millennials with children.’
My chest clenched as another percussive wave of shock pummelled me. Children. Families. Fatherhood.
A state I’d never experience now, thanks to the actions of a redhead whose lips had dripped words of remorse but whose attitude vaunted