Helena felt sick to her stomach. That’s why her precious fiancé left so abruptly. Agitated, she turned to look at Steve, who was also staring at them, as they were getting up to leave the café.
Helena froze. They both stood there watching the couple leave the café and get into a dark-blue BMW, which was parked across the street. As their car drove right past them, Helena jumped back and hid behind a tree.
A few minutes later, Steve was pulling Helena towards a taxi, and they headed back to the hotel.
Helena didn’t say a word all the way back. At the hotel, she hastily kissed Steve goodnight and went straight to her room.
Their flight was leaving early next morning, and Helena thought it was just as well they were leaving so soon.
Chapter Seventeen
HELENA DIDN’T SLEEP at all that night. When the first rays of the sun came through the window, she was tired and lost. Not even a hot shower made her feel any better.
She dressed in a hurry and fixed her suitcase. She might as well leave this place as soon as possible. She couldn’t believe his betrayal… she couldn’t believe he would go to Stella after the night they spent together.
Without knowing why, she picked up the phone and called Dimitris’ office in Piraeus. A polite young woman answered the phone and informed her that Mr. Nikolaou was in a meeting. She asked Helena if she would like to leave a message, but Helena refused and was about to hang up when she heard another voice talking to the girl. She would recognize that voice anywhere; it was Stella's.
Without realizing what she was doing, she asked the girl to put Stella on the phone. Stella sounded surprised for a minute to hear Helena’s voice. Helena told her she had just called to let Dimitris know she was leaving; she was going back to England with Steve.
“Dimitris is in a meeting,” Stella informed her coldly. “But I’ll let him know,” and after a moment of silence, she continued, “I’m glad you decided to see things as they really are. Dimitris has been miserable all this time, having to give up his real love just to keep a promise he made when he was just a kid. Now that you’re gone, we can finally get married and be happy.”
“I wish you the best,” Helena whispered and hung up the phone.
She cried all the way to the airport and even on the flight to England. Steve kept quiet and let her cry out her sorrow. He was just hoping she would be able to get over it soon. He couldn’t stand seeing her so miserable.
***
When they got back to England, Steve invited her to stay with him for a while until she got back on her feet, but Helena refused. She went back to her apartment, dropped her suitcase on the floor, and threw herself on the bed, crying her heart out.
For the next three days, Helena was like a ghost. She hardly ate anything or went anywhere. She just lay around the house, doing nothing.
Steve went by to see her a couple of times, but she wouldn’t answer the door. On the fourth day, she finally decided she needed to do something. After all, she had to work. So she decided to go to the law firm she used to work at and see if she could get her job back.
She was disappointed to find out they had hired another secretary to take her place.
“I really didn’t think you were coming back,” Mr. Jones, her old boss, told her. “You’ve been gone for so long without a word.”
“I know, Mr. Jones, and I’m really sorry,” Helena said, and moved to leave.
“Helena,” he said. “I feel really bad for this. You’ve always been a very good and dedicated employee… I waited to hear from you, but after so long without a word, I had to hire someone else.”
“I understand, Mr. Jones,” Helena said, feeling desperate. She really needed a job right now, not just for financial reasons—after all, she had no other income—but to keep her mind occupied, as well.
“Are you sure you’re feeling all right?” Mr. Jones asked concerned. “You look so thin and pale.”
“I’m fine,” she reassured him, even though she didn’t feel fine at all.
She was almost at the door when Mr. Jones got up.
“Wait a minute,” he said.
Helena turned and stared at him, hopefully.
“Your position as a secretary has been filled,” he said. “But we do need a typist.”
“Oh! Mr. Jones,” Helena said immediately. “That would be great. I really need a job right now.”
“All right, then,” Mr. Jones said. “It’s settled. When can you start?”
“Right now,” Helena replied.
“Go down the hall to Mrs. Stewart. I’ll call her up and explain the situation to her,” Mr. Jones said and picked up the phone.
Helena thanked him and left his office to go to Mrs. Stewart, the Secretarial Department’s supervisor. She was so excited she had a job she didn’t care about anything else. She knew the money would be less, but it was great to have a job, after all. Jobs weren’t easy to find, and even though she knew she could get a nice letter of recommendation from her boss, it could still take months to find something else.
She walked down the hall to Mrs. Stewart’s office. She was a very nice older lady who had always been polite to Helena. Mrs. Stewart showed her to her new office and left her to get settled, seeming really happy to see Helena again.
At the end of the day, Helena was called to the Accounting Department and given a salary advance. Tears filled her eyes, realizing how nice and sensitive Mr. Jones was. He must have understood she was in real need right now.
Helena left the office and went by the grocery store to pick up some groceries. She had to be really careful with her money right now, and it would be a lot cheaper for her to cook than to order anything to eat. She made herself pick up some fruit and milk, as she was feeling very weak lately. I need to take better care of myself, she thought. Otherwise, I’m going to get sick.
The following weeks, Helena threw herself into her work, trying to forget. It would be late at night before she would get back to her apartment, and then she would lie there sleepless, thinking about him. Would the pain ever go away? she wondered… However, she already knew the answer. It never went away for her mother, and it would never go away for her, either. She just had to learn to live with it.
She hadn’t heard anything from Dimitris. Her aunt wrote to her twice, telling her how much she missed her and wished she would come back, but she didn’t mention anything about him.
***
Dimitris was devastated and tormented. He felt like a caged animal, but his mother was right… Helena had to make up her mind. If she wanted to be away from him, he wouldn’t force her into anything. But how could she leave like this? he wondered. Especially after the moments we shared… Is she in love with Steve? The question burned in his mind. He didn’t really believe that, not after the way she responded to his passion, but then again, she left with the man…
Days were going by unbearably slowly, and he was sinking deeper and deeper into his depression and self-pity. He didn’t care about his business or anything else.
The only thing that kept him going was trying to untangle the mess with Thomas and Katie, and co-operating with the police to solve the mystery of Asimina’s disappearance.
***
Two months after Helena had left Greece, her life was getting back to normal, at least on the surface. A couple of times, she’d gone to the movies with some girls from work, but she spent the rest of her evenings home alone.
She was feeling kind of sick and woozy, lately. The girls at work suggested she should go see a doctor, but she brushed the idea off. As the days went by and she didn’t feel any better, she decided to go to the doctor, after all.
She was devastated to find out she was pregnant. She wanted Dimitris’ baby more than anything in the world, but how on earth was she going to take care of a child on her salary? She thought about turning to her aunt, but then she decided against it. If Dimitris found out, he would insist on marrying her. She didn’t want to marry him for all the wrong reas
ons. That's why she left Greece in the first place. She was going to manage on her own. She had to.
***
Dimitris was really upset. He looked at Sophie, who sat in an armchair by the window, nervously squeezing her hands on her lap.
“Everything is going to be all right,” Mrs. Nikolaou reassured her, reaching over and touching her hand.
Sophie kept silent, and so did Dimitris.
Thomas and Katie would be there any minute. Everything was set up and ready for them.
In order to get Katie to come, Dimitris had told her that something new had come up, and they needed to talk about the inheritance. He even added that there was a clause in the property deeds which needed to be clarified. He was counting on the fact that Katie might know about the clause, not allowing the house to be transferred outside the family. But even if she didn’t, he was sure, hearing that the discussion had to do with the inheritance, she wouldn’t be able to resist. To make her even more relaxed, he had lied that his mother had already returned to Athens.
The sound of a car pulling up drew him from his gloomy thoughts. He walked over to the side window to see Thomas walking around his Porsche and opening the door for Katie.
She seemed to hesitate for a moment, glancing at the house and the surrounding area. Katie is no fool, Dimitris thought. I have to handle this very carefully if I want to get some answers.
Katie swung her legs out of the car and followed Thomas to the front door. The doorbell made Sophie jump in her seat. Mrs. Nikolaou hastily disappeared in the back of the house while Dimitris went to answer the door.
“Hi there,” he welcomed them. “Come on in.”
“Hello, Dimitris,” Thomas replied. “Martha is not here?”
“She’s in the kitchen, preparing dinner,” Dimitris replied, trying to act as casual as possible.
He turned and walked towards the living room, feeling Katie’ scrutinizing gaze on his back.
“Where is Sophie?” Katie inquired.
“In the living room,” Dimitris replied, thinking how right he was to have Sophie present at the conversation. Even though his first thought was to keep Sophie out of this, he then realized that if she weren’t there, Katie would be really suspicious, and he wouldn’t be able to get any information out of her.
“Hello,” Sophie said, standing up as they walked into the room.
“What’s wrong?” Katie asked. “You look kind of pale. Are you sick?”
“Yes, what’s wrong?” Thomas cut in, walking over to Sophie and taking her hands in his.
Dimitris had to admit he seemed really sincere at this moment. And maybe he was. Maybe he wasn’t that bad after all, and he was just another victim of this evil woman.
“I’m fine,” Sophie replied. “I just miss Helena so much,” she admitted, and Dimitris was glad to see Katie’s face relax. It was smart of Sophie to bring up Helena. Katie would believe her. Besides, it wasn’t far from the truth. Sophie had been devastated ever since Helena left.
“So what is this all about?” Katie asked, anxiously.
“As you already know, Thomas, we’re thinking of expanding the business,” Dimitris started, using information Thomas and Katie were already aware of.
“I know,” Thomas replied, enthusiastically. “I think it’s a very smart move.”
“Yes, but this move requires vast amounts of funds,” Dimitris went on, “and most of our funds right now are tied up in the three new ships we’ve ordered.”
“So why don’t you get a loan?” Katie cut in. “You have valuable property you can put up as collateral,” she continued.
Was that bitterness in her voice? Dimitris wondered.
“That’s just it,” Dimitris replied. “I wanted to use this property as collateral…”
“This property?” Thomas cut in, upset. “Mortgage our family home?”
“And what is the problem?” Katie interrupted, ignoring her husband’s outburst.
“The problem is that it seems this house doesn’t belong to me, after all.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t belong to you?” Katie inquired, and the surprise in her voice sounded genuine.
So she didn’t know about the clause in the property deeds, Dimitris realized.
“As my attorneys informed me, there is a clause in the property deeds that doesn’t allow this house to be transferred in any way to anyone besides Angelos’ heirs.”
Katie drew a sharp breath. “Angelos!” she burst out. “It’s always been Angelos. And what about Thomas? Isn’t he part of the family, as well?”
“Katie, please…” Thomas cut in, running his fingers through his hair.
“Shut up!” she snapped at him. “You’re such a coward. They’ve cut you out of the will, taken everything that belongs to you, and you never complained.”
Dimitris watched Thomas walk over to the bar and pour himself a drink.
“Katie,” Dimitris said. “No one cut Thomas out of the will. He received his rightful share.”
“Rightful share, my ass!” she burst out, and her face turned red. “He got peanuts, while you got the business, this house, and the three hundred acres surrounding it.”
“I didn’t inherit the business or this house,” Dimitris retorted. “My family bought it.”
“You stole it!” she bluntly accused him.
“We bought it when the business was going under after your husband’s mistakes and disastrous business moves.”
“Dimitris, please…” Sophie cut in, seeing Thomas collapse on an armchair.
“He’s worthless…” Katie said, and walking over to the bar, she poured herself a drink. “I should have never married him.”
“Then why did you?” Sophie attacked her. “For the money?”
“What money? He collected the minimum share while Angelos and you got all the inheritance.”
“Yes, but you didn’t know that when you married him,” Sophie retorted.
“Thomas never had any money,” Katie went on, ignoring Sophie. “I was the one who always had to take care of things,” Katie pointed out, spitting out the words one by one.
“What do you mean take care of things?” Dimitris cut in. “As far as I know, you never worked a day in your life,” he lied, pushing her to expose herself.
“I’ve worked all right… I’ve worked really hard for everything I have,” she retorted.
“Doing what?” Dimitris pressured her.
“That’s none of your damn business!” she snapped.
“I didn’t know that working at the ‘Black Cat’ was that profitable!” Dimitris threw in her face.
As soon as Katie heard the name of the bar she used to work at, her face turned from red to almost purple from fury.
“How dare you judge me?” she yelled at him. “You think you’re better than me? Your mother was getting fucked right there next to me!”
Dimitris almost squeezed the glass he was holding in his hand to pieces. It took all the strength he could muster to prevent himself from physically attacking her.
“That’s not quite true,” Mrs. Nikolaou cut in, appearing at the door.
Katie almost choked on her drink.
“I was working at the bar all right,” Mrs. Nikolaou went on, “but I never followed the customers to the back room. On the contrary, you seemed to be spending more time back there than serving drinks.”
“It paid better,” Katie said provocatively.
“Katie!” Thomas yelled, jumping out of his chair.
“What did you think, you idiot?” She turned to him. “That I fell for you? I thought you were rich. That’s why I married you… I figured why get screwed every night by losers when I could marry you and have just one loser screw me… Little did I know that you weren’t rich, after all.”
Thomas collapsed back in his chair and pulled his tie loose. He seemed to be having a problem breathing. Sophie rushed to the bar and wet a towel; walking over to him, she placed it on his forehead.
“So you’re stupid, after all,” Dimitris pointed out, wanting to send Katie over the edge. It was his only hope to get some answers.
Katie burst out laughing… it was a crazy, creepy laugh. “I was smarter than everyone,” she bragged. “Smarter than you, and smarter than that crazy old bat, Eleana.”
“Don’t you dare talk about my mother like that!” Sophie burst out.
“I can talk any way I want,” Katie retorted. “She always favored you and Angelos over Thomas, and she favored that bitch, Erin, over me. The two off them sat for hours and talked behind my back. She thought she was smarter than me. She went and wrote all this crazy stuff in her diary… but I took care of her, all right.”
“Katie… what did you do?” Thomas asked, shocked.
“Something you should have done a long time ago,” Katie replied. “I got rid of her… and her worthless son, as well.”
“What are you saying?” Sophie launched at her, grabbing her by the arms and shaking her wildly.
“I poisoned your filthy mother,” Katie replied coldly, “and sent your worthless brother to his death. Your precious inheritance money paid the assassins to take care of Angelos.” She laughed again. “I was so amused, watching all of you desperately searching for him, while I knew he was buried at the back of the cave…”
“What cave?” Dimitris grabbed her, pushing Sophie aside.
“I’m never going to tell…” Katie sang in an eerie voice.
“You’re lying,” Dimitris pushed her even further.
“I’m not!” she retorted furiously. “I sent him an anonymous note to meet me on the other side of the island—the cave with the stalactites and stalagmites—to find out something about his mother. You see, he suspected that his mother was murdered… That fool, he followed my instructions and came alone. Stephanos Orphanos, Antonis Andreou, and his son Sotiris were waiting for him at the secluded beach. They killed him and hid his body deep in the back of the cold and wet cave…”
“And where is Asimina?” Dimitris insisted as Sophie collapsed on an armchair.