Клэр Коннелли – Bride Behind The Billion-Dollar Veil (страница 3)
‘Mmm…’ He made a noise of agreement, shrugging out of his jacket and placing it carelessly across the back of his chair. The movement only served to highlight the breadth of his shoulders and arms that looked to have been sculpted by God’s own hand. Her lips parted and she stared—she knew she was staring but almost for the first time in Alice’s life her self-control was nowhere to be seen.
‘You know,’ he drawled with a sinful smile pulling at those impossibly strong lips. ‘That thing where people come to the same place at the same time to discuss a prearranged schedule of topics?’
She blinked, embarrassment shifting through her, and she was glad then that she didn’t blush easily. ‘I know what a meeting is,’ she said softly, the fact he was teasing her setting off a thousand fires in the depth of her soul. ‘I just meant it’s not in your diary.’
Something flashed in his expression—triumph? Wariness?—and then he nodded curtly. ‘It was arranged this morning. Kosta Carinedes happens to be in New York so I thought it was a good opportunity to…see him.’
Alice nodded. ‘Fine. How many people will be at the meeting?’ She was already slipping back into her professional groove, thinking of how quickly she could alert the catering team to send up refreshments, how many copies of documents she’d need to print.
‘Just him and me. And you,’ he added, as an afterthought. ‘In case I need anything throughout.’
She nodded. ‘I’ll have the kitchen send up some sandwiches—’
‘That won’t be necessary. Just coffee. Strong and black.’
Alice nodded again. She remembered the handover notes that had been left for her, which described in detail how Thanos Stathakis liked to take his coffee.
‘Fine.’
‘You’ll print the file?’
She nodded. ‘Yes, sir.’
She was almost at the door when his voice stilled her. ‘Alice?’
She spun around to face him once more, catching a slight frown on those sculpted lips. ‘I don’t like being called “sir”.’
‘I’m sorry, si—’
‘Thanos,’ he insisted.
‘Thanos.’ His name was bewitching on her lips. She said it and immediately wanted to say it again and again. She said it mentally as she printed the files he’d requested, and as she made a pot of Greek coffee, carrying it carefully into his office. He was on the phone when she entered. She busied herself arranging the documents in place, trying to ignore the sensation of heat that travelled the length of her spine as he hurled words in his native Greek, the words like a sunset after a storm, impossibly bright and intriguing.
She retreated from his office without noticing the way his eyes followed her, scooping up her laptop and a bottle of water, before making her way to the boardroom table.
When she entered this time, he was no longer on the phone. ‘My brother sometimes thinks I cannot tie my shoes without him,’ he said, but the words were tinged with amusement. He stood, stretching his arms over his head, yawning and smothering it with his hand.
This was a man who was supremely confident. How Alice envied him that! She had worked hard to appear strong and put-together, to look as though she’d outgrown the wounds of her past, but she knew she came across as cold and aloof most of the time, even when that strength came out of a need to protect a too vulnerable heart.
It seemed unlikely Thanos had ever felt a hint of self-doubt in his life.
Except it wasn’t just confidence that oozed out of him. It was determination. She felt it emanating from him in waves and it held her in her spot for a moment, even as she knew she should go back to her own desk, to be waiting for Kosta Carinedes when he arrived.
‘Is there anything I should know before this meeting?’ she heard herself asking instead, reluctant to take herself from his office.
‘No. It is a simple matter. He has something I want; I intend to buy it back today.’
The words were clipped, his expression business-like.
‘I anticipate the meeting will conclude quickly enough.’
‘Fine.’ Alice checked everything was in order and without looking in Thanos’s direction—perhaps out of fear that she might not easily be able to look away again—she returned to her own desk.
Not five minutes later, the lift doors pinged open and a man emerged. Older than Alice had expected, with a lined face and a kind smile, his hair was greying, his body a little stooped, dressed in a suit that looked bespoke with expensive leather shoes.
‘Stathakis?’ he said as he approached Alice’s desk.
‘This way, sir.’ She stood, gesturing towards Thanos’s office. At the door, she knocked twice and then pushed it inwards, stepping back to allow the older Greek man to precede her.
From her vantage point, she saw the way Thanos’s body momentarily tensed and the determination she’d observed moments earlier was back, a palpable force in the room.
Kosta spoke first, in Greek, and Thanos returned the greeting in their native tongue before switching to English.
‘Alice, my assistant, doesn’t speak Greek.’
Kosta threw a look over his shoulder and then shrugged. ‘Perhaps you can tell me why I have been summoned here?’
Even that was a telling statement. Thanos Stathakis had the power to summon just about anyone to his office, and it was a power he had flexed this morning.
‘You don’t know?’
Kosta shrugged his shoulders. ‘I presume it has something to do with P & A?’
Thanos’s stare was direct. ‘Yes.’ He gestured towards the table. ‘Please, take a seat.’
The old man hesitated for a moment and then did as he’d been bid, moving to a chair on one side of the table and settling himself into it. Alice watched as he lifted the coffee to his lips, sipping it, then returning the cup to the saucer at the same time Thanos took a seat at the head of the table.
‘You’ve received my offer?’ That confidence was back, brimming and blinding. Alice stared covertly at Thanos as she settled herself at the end of the boardroom table, flipping her laptop open and pulling up a blank Word document to take notes.
‘My lawyer advised me of it,’ the older man remarked with another shrug of his shoulders, in what Alice was recognising as a trademark gesture.
‘And?’
Kosta expelled a soft breath. ‘Did my silence not answer your question?’
Alice jerked her gaze to Thanos on autopilot. He didn’t visibly react to Kosta’s question. ‘Silence can mean many things.’
Kosta’s lips compressed. ‘Not in this instance.’
‘You want to sell.’ It was a question and yet Thanos delivered it more as a statement, one that was laced with iron.
‘To the right buyer, yes.’ Kosta took another sip of his coffee.
Alice hovered her hands over the keyboard.
‘You are aware that your business contains part of my business?’
Kosta’s eyes narrowed. ‘I bought Petó from you and your brother many years ago. Whatever claim you had to it transferred to me on that day.’
From where Alice was sitting, she had a full view of the table. She saw the way Thanos moved his hand to beneath the table, and the way he squeezed his fist so tight his knuckles glowed white.
‘But you must dispose of your business,’ Thanos said slowly, carefully, with no hint of emotion in the words.
‘Why must I?’
‘Because you are not married, you have no children, no grandchildren, and because P & A is a family company. You will not list it publicly, nor would you wish it to be broken up and sold off after your death.’
Alice bit down on her lip, sympathy for the older man rushing through her. How strange it must be to have someone refer to your mortality in such a cavalier fashion!
‘The fate of my company is not your concern.’
Thanos’s eyes narrowed and Alice’s heart gave a little lurch. As handsome as he was at any time, like this—formidable and businesslike—he was impossibly fascinating.
Thanos held Kosta’s gaze for a long moment, a muscle jerking in his jaw that only Alice was in a position to see. ‘Your profit has been down these past two years.’
‘It’s a tough economy.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ Thanos pushed ruthlessly. ‘You’re losing market share and you don’t know how to get it back.’
Kosta’s eyes glinted. ‘You think I came here to be lectured?’
Thanos didn’t apologise, nor did he back down. ‘I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. If you do not act now, your once great business will fade away into insignificance. Thousands of people will lose their jobs. All because you are too stubborn to see what you must do.’
Kosta’s rejection of that assertion was obvious. ‘
At this, Thanos straightened in his chair, his expression like flint. ‘I might have agreed to sell Petó to you, but I never stopped thinking of it as mine. You rolled it into your business, which means I care about your business too. Sell me P & A and I will ensure your legacy is safe.’
Kosta let out a laugh of disbelief that had Alice slipping her gaze to focus on the older man’s face. ‘You think I would trust you with my company?’