LITMIR.BIZ

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he and Danae had suffered marital difficulties, they’d been wonderful to Lys and had made life beautiful at their villa on Kasos Island while she’d dealt with her sorrow. They’d helped her through those difficult years and had made it possible for her to go to college on the mainland.

      Nassos was the kindest, dearest man Lys had ever known in her life next to her own father. The two men had been born on Kasos and had always been best friends. Early in their lives they’d gone into the fishing business together and had slowly amassed their fortunes. Kristos had ended up in New York, while Nassos stayed on Heraklion and had eventually married.

      For Lys, the underlying strife during their divorce had been devastating. Since then she and Danae had been estranged. It tore her heart out. At this point Lys didn’t know how to overcome her pain except to pour herself into work at the hotel, and avoid the press as much as possible.

      Deep in tortured thoughts, she heard a voice. “Kyria Theron?” She lifted her head to see another officer in the doorway. “Thank you for coming. Detective Vlassis will see you now.”

      Hopefully this meeting would provide the answer that let her out of proverbial jail and allowed the funeral to take place. She walked inside.

      “Sit down, Kyria Theron.”

      Lys found a chair opposite his desk.

      “Coffee? Tea?”

      “Neither, thank you.”

      The somber detective sat back in his chair tapping the tips of his long fingers together. “I have good news for you. The medical examiner has turned over his findings to my office. We know the truth and foul play has been ruled out.”

      “You’re serious?” Her voice shook. The rumor that she might have poisoned Nassos with some invisible drug in his penthouse apartment in order for her to get a portion of his money had been devastating for her.

      “It’s been determined he died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage probably caused from an earlier head injury.”

      “Why did it take so long?” she cried.

      “Unfortunately the bleeding went undetected. The reason it was difficult to find the first time was because it’s not unusual for SAH to be initially misdiagnosed as a migraine.”

      “So the doctor didn’t catch it.”

      “Not at first. A human mistake. It caused a delay in obtaining a CT scan.”

      A small gasp escaped her lips. “After he’d hit his head on the kitchen cupboard several months ago, I thought he must have suffered a concussion. I told him I wanted to talk to his doctor about it, but Nassos told me to stop fussing because the pain went away. That must be why he had a stroke.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Thank heaven he can now be laid to rest.”

      “This has been a very stressful time for you, but it’s over. The press has been informed. I’m sorry for your loss and wish you well in the future.”

      Another miracle. “Thank you. Have you told his ex-wife?”

      “Yes.”

      “Good.” Now Danae could make the funeral arrangements. “You’ll never know what this means to me.”

      Lys jumped up from the chair. “Thank you.” She couldn’t leave the police station fast enough and rushed past the officer posted at the front desk without glancing at him. She couldn’t endure one more smirk.

      Once outside, Lys hurried to her car, running past the usual news people stalking her movements to take pictures. She got into her car and drove back to the Rodino Luxury Hotel where she had her own suite. She’d been living there and working in the accounts department for Nassos since graduating from business college in Heraklion four years ago.

      The moment she reached her room on the third floor, she flung herself across the bed and sobbed. It was over at last. But with Nassos’s death and Lys’s unwanted estrangement with his ex-wife, there was no one to pick up the emotional pieces.

      The couple’s tragic divorce had fragmented Lys. If they’d been going to end their marriage, why hadn’t it happened years before now? She simply didn’t understand. And then had come the shocking news of his death... The loss was almost more than she could bear.

      They’d worked together at the hotel. He’d taught her everything about the business. He’d been her friend, confidant, mentor. How was she going to be able to go on without him?

      For Nassos not to be there anymore was killing her and she missed Danae terribly. Until the police had closed the case, Lys had been in limbo, trying to do her usual job, but her mind and heart hadn’t been there. When she did have to leave the hotel for any reason, she’d felt accusatory stares coming in all directions and avoided any publicity if she could help it.

      Thankfully this was over and there’d be an end to the malicious talk that he’d been murdered. Hopefully everything would die down, but where did she go from here? Lys felt like she’d been driving her car when the steering wheel had suddenly disappeared, leaving her to plunge over a cliff. She was so heartbroken she could hardly think.

      While in this state, the phone rang. Lys turned over to look at the caller ID. It was Xander Pappas, Nassos’s attorney. She picked up and learned that he’d be in Nassos’s private office at the hotel in a half hour to talk to her. The detective had already been in touch with him.

      “I have something important to give you.”

      She sat up in surprise. “Will Danae be meeting with us?” Lys longed to talk to her.

      “No. We’ve already spoken and I’ve read her the will. She’ll be calling you about the funeral.”

      “I see.”

      Stabbed with fresh pain, Lys thanked him and hung up. If there hadn’t been a divorce, she and Danae would have planned his funeral together. Now everything had changed. More tears gushed down her cheeks before she got off the bed to freshen up.

      Of course she hadn’t expected to be present at the reading of the will and hadn’t wanted to be. Danae had been married to Nassos for twenty-four years. That business was between the two of them.

      A few minutes later she left for the corporate office downstairs. On the way, she couldn’t help but wonder what Xander wanted to give her. Nassos couldn’t have known when he would die, so she couldn’t imagine what it was.

      After nodding to Giorgos, the annoying general manager of the hotel, she walked in to Nassos’s private office. The attorney greeted her and told her to sit down.

      “I have two items to give you. Both envelopes are sealed. You’ll know what to do after you open the envelope marked Letter first. Nassos wrote to you at the time he divorced Danae.” He put both envelopes on the desk.

      She swallowed hard. Nassos had written something that recently? “Have you read it?”

      “No. He gave me instructions to give them both to you upon his death, whenever that would be. Who would have imagined he’d die this early in his life? I’ll miss him too and am so sorry since I know how close you two were. I’ll leave now. If you have any questions, call me at my office.”

      After he left the room, Lys reached for the envelope and pulled out the letter with a trembling hand. She knew Nassos’s handwriting. He wrote with a certain panache that was unmistakable.

      My dearest little Lysette,

      Immediately her eyes filled with more tears.

      I’ll always think of you that way, no matter how old you are when you read this letter. You’re the daughter I never had. Danae and I couldn’t have children. The problem was mine. I found out early in our marriage that I was infertile. It came as a great shock, but I’d dreamed of having children, so I wanted to adopt. She didn’t, and I could never talk her into it. I decided she didn’t love me enough or she would have agreed to try because I wanted children more than anything.

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