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CHAPTER 17
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2021-07-19 06:55:11His mother nodded slowly, then she took a deep breath.
“Niko, are you positive this child is yours?”
Nikolas’s mouth tightened.
“Yes,” he said tersely.
Calista’s eyebrows rose skeptically.
“The pregnancy is very recent, and Cheryl has been with me… for some time,” Nikolas replied.
His mother’s eyes shifted to the French windows. Far out on the water, the sail of Demetrios’s yacht was still visible. She gazed blindly a moment, then turned back to her son.
“Wow!” she said heavily. “Isn’t this ironic? The same fate that destroyed me is now destroying you. God, this is such a cruel destiny!”
Her eyes shut, then flashed open again.
“All your life,
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After trying to talk to her again and again, tired of being pushed away by Cheryl, Nikolas gave up, and, for the time being, he sounded retreat. Every time he asked her a question, her responses were always brief and quite unpleasant. He wasn’t feeling sorry about doing it. Cheryl was just lying there, the room still shaded, just as she had been lying there yesterday and the days before She might not even have moved for all Nikolas knew. There was just one thing he did know for sure: no more bleedings. She was still pregnant. The doctor was coming again in that very afternoon. He’d told Nikolas bluntly there was nothing he could do either way, but Nikolas had asked him to come anyway. He wanted to be sure that if anything happened, he would be able to tell himself afterward that he had done ever
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Those words hit him harder than he’d ever thought. For a moment, still under shock, Nikolas said nothing. Just tried to maintain his composure. Then he spoke, his tone measured.“The doctor said you need to continue with your bed rest,” Nikolas answered. His voice was inexpressive, with the neutrality of distance.“However, if you wish to leave so badly, as soon as… as it is possible, we can return to London. In the meantime…” He stopped, put the half-drunk coffee down on the table, and got to his feet. At this point, Cheryl knew his behavior quite well. That was a sign he was impatient to get away.“In the meantime, please follow the doctor’s advice and rest. There is nothing else to be done. For the moment, we can only continue a
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Rejection, instant and powerful, speared through Nikolas. Memory sifted in him from long, long ago. He could scarcely remember Demetrios’s mother from when she had been his babysitter, but he could remember a softness about her, a gentleness. When he had fallen, she’d picked him up and hugged him. She’d sat him on her lap and sung funny English nursery rhymes to him, songs that had clapping games in them, and she had laughed and smiled. He had missed her when she’d gone… Cheryl will be like her, warm and loving, gentle and caring. What else does a child need? And as for himself… Well, as a mother to his child, he would have no complaints about Cheryl. As a woman for his bed… again, he could hardly complain. And as a wife by his side, through the long years to com
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He gave Cheryl two days to herself, leaving her entirely to the nurse and to the doctor, requesting them to check her as often as possible, despite being told it wasn’t necessary. The doctor was blunt. “The trauma was hit her pretty hard, but she mustn’t be allowed to sink into depression. I can prescribe pills, but it best would be to give her a change of scene. Somewhere where she can recover fully. She may not want to, may want only to go on lying in that darkened room of hers, wishing for something that can never now be. But it’s not good for her. Though it will take time, she really must move on.” Nikolas nodded, glad to have the doctor back up his thoughts and plans. “When will she be up to traveling?” “Cheryl’s young and strong. If the journey is in Europe, I would say at any time.” &nbs
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He tried to say something, but Cheryl stopped him. “No… It’s my turn to talk now and you’re going to hear me out right until the end,” she added starting to feel a little tired, physically and mentally. “I know I’m not very good at talking about the stock market and brokers, and funds and charities, and whatever you, rich people, consider important subjects in a conversation. That I’m out of my league here. Still, I think, even for a reclusive, a bookworm like me, I never was so bad. I never embarrassed you. But I never actually thought… that you of all people, saw me in this light… as a brainless whore.” Another ragged intake of breath scissored through her lungs. “That a man like you, someone I thought so highly of, would be the one kicking me down to the ground again. Now I’m done.” Nik
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That voice came out of nowhere, from the pool of darkness at the far end of the terrace. A familiar voice, one he didn’t want to hear ever again. Demetrios strolled out of the darkness, like a snake slithering towards a possible prey. His voice was taunting, grating.“Are you already missing her, big brother?” Demetrios continued with a grin on his lips.“What the hell are you doing here?” Nikolas asked and his voice was terse, demanding. A new emotion was taking over, fueled by a rush of adrenaline that had come the moment he’d heard his brother’s taunting voice. An emotion that tensed and coiled in every muscle of his body.“Oh, come on, Niko! Don’t tell me I’m trespassing?” Demetrios responded drawlingly. “Are you going to call your security guys and ask them to throw me ou
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Cheryl stirred, content to leave behind another sleepless night. Lately, it was so hard to catch a few hours of good sleep. Usually, the street noises were easy to bear, but since Paxos, she wasn’t used to it anymore. Nor was she used to sleeping, living, and eating in a single room, where the ugly-patterned wallpaper was peeling off in the corners, the carpet needed to go on a rubbish tip, and the electricity ran on a meter.“I lived like a spoiled brat for too long. Luxury ruined me forever…” she whispered and left the bed. The thought shamed her. Added itself to the mountain of shame she already felt. To the shame of what she had done, what she had been, that had burst from her like an infected wound that last hideous morning. It felt as though it had been lanced from the
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His mother’s expression changed. He couldn’t tell what she thought, but he couldn’t care less.“Oh, Niko… I’m so very sorry,” she whispered. Mixed emotion speared in Nikolas. His mother would be happy now… Happy to think she’d saved herself five million euros! Happier to think her precious son had been saved from the hideous fate of having to marry a woman he’d got pregnant and who would be the worst wife for him.“Celebrate, mother,” Nikolas said. His tone was harsh and cruel. His eyes lasered into hers, and her face paled.“Celebrate?” Calista said the word as if it had no meaning. But of course, it had meaning for her! It meant her precious son was safe. Blin
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A self-condemning twist formed at Nikolas’s mouth.“That was for my future wife’s benefit, apparently, not mine. You see, my mother brought no money to her marriage, only her position in society, which my father did not have, being ‘new’ money. Once he’d married her, he acquired her status, and so, after I was born, since she could have no more children, she became… dead weight. She didn’t want that for my wife.” His mouth tightened, and Nikolas looked at her straightly.“We, Adamos, haven’t been a happy family. There has been misery and bitterness and anger and hatred and betrayal. But now it ends. I won’t bring that ugly heritage into our marriage.” His expression changed, lightened.“What I
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She wasn’t sure what she said to the sales assistant, didn’t register that the woman had nodded and gone through to the storeroom. Registered only that a hand like steel had gripped around her wrist.“What did that woman just call you?” Cheryl rested her eyes on Nikolas’s face, where all she could see was blank stupefaction and disbelief.“Um… She called me ‘Dr. Richards’,” she replied in an expressionless voice. “Because that’s who I am, Nikolas. I got my Ph.D. last year… the year my father died. He was a senior research fellow at the university, and I’ve just taken up a research post in his former department, guided now by my old colleague, Dr. Maria Shell.” His eyes were on her, quite blank.
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His voice was low, urgent. Insistent. Somehow, though her mouth was suddenly as dry as a bone, Cheryl forced herself to speak.“There is nothing more to be said. You should get into your fancy car and go as far away from me as possible.” Cheryl’s voice grated out through a throat that had closed completely. His hand slashed negation.“Absolutely not. Not even by a long shot. There is still so much more to be said between you and me! That’s the reason I’ve been searching for you. That’s why I’m here, in front of you. It wasn’t all said, Cheryl. The most important part got left out. I was so devastated with what you threw at me, I let you go. I let you leave me. I should never have done that. Never! I should have told you then! But I didn’t realize… I didn’t realize that…&rdquo
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His mother’s expression changed. He couldn’t tell what she thought, but he couldn’t care less.“Oh, Niko… I’m so very sorry,” she whispered. Mixed emotion speared in Nikolas. His mother would be happy now… Happy to think she’d saved herself five million euros! Happier to think her precious son had been saved from the hideous fate of having to marry a woman he’d got pregnant and who would be the worst wife for him.“Celebrate, mother,” Nikolas said. His tone was harsh and cruel. His eyes lasered into hers, and her face paled.“Celebrate?” Calista said the word as if it had no meaning. But of course, it had meaning for her! It meant her precious son was safe. Blin
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That voice came out of nowhere, from the pool of darkness at the far end of the terrace. A familiar voice, one he didn’t want to hear ever again. Demetrios strolled out of the darkness, like a snake slithering towards a possible prey. His voice was taunting, grating.“Are you already missing her, big brother?” Demetrios continued with a grin on his lips.“What the hell are you doing here?” Nikolas asked and his voice was terse, demanding. A new emotion was taking over, fueled by a rush of adrenaline that had come the moment he’d heard his brother’s taunting voice. An emotion that tensed and coiled in every muscle of his body.“Oh, come on, Niko! Don’t tell me I’m trespassing?” Demetrios responded drawlingly. “Are you going to call your security guys and ask them to throw me ou
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He tried to say something, but Cheryl stopped him. “No… It’s my turn to talk now and you’re going to hear me out right until the end,” she added starting to feel a little tired, physically and mentally. “I know I’m not very good at talking about the stock market and brokers, and funds and charities, and whatever you, rich people, consider important subjects in a conversation. That I’m out of my league here. Still, I think, even for a reclusive, a bookworm like me, I never was so bad. I never embarrassed you. But I never actually thought… that you of all people, saw me in this light… as a brainless whore.” Another ragged intake of breath scissored through her lungs. “That a man like you, someone I thought so highly of, would be the one kicking me down to the ground again. Now I’m done.” Nik
