LITMIR.BIZ

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really no need to be. I have the solution to all our problems.’

      Aghast at the descent of a woman whom she knew she had wounded, Maddie hovered in the centre of the carpet. ‘I don’t know what to say to you. You must hate me.’

      ‘Why? If it hadn’t been you in his bed it would have been some other woman. Giannis lives by his own rules, and I wouldn’t dream of interfering. I feel privileged to be a part of his life. He’s a very special man,’ Krista murmured with a cool smile. ‘But this pregnancy of yours does create a problem.’

      ‘How did you even know I was pregnant?’ With Krista talking as though her relationship with Giannis was ongoing, Maddie’s unease was increasing at a rapid pace.

      ‘Haven’t you seen the pictures in the newspapers yet? They were taken yesterday, outside the clinic. Not very flattering of you, I’m afraid. But you’re definitely pregnant.’ Krista released a musical laugh. ‘Anything relating to Giannis Petrakos is always very big news.’

      Maddie tried to hide her chagrin. ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t want to talk about my private life with you.’

      ‘If you care about the future of your twins, you will listen to what I have to say.’

      Maddie went very still. ‘How did you know I’m having twins?’

      Krista looked calmly back at her. ‘How do you think? Giannis told me…’

      Maddie’s skin went clammy and she turned away, speared by that declaration like a fish on a hook. She felt quite sick at the idea of Giannis discussing her predicament with this woman. She also felt rather scared of this beautiful blonde in her ice-blue designer suit, with diamonds twinkling in her earlobes and at her slender throat.

      ‘Let’s concentrate on why I’m here,’ Krista continued. ‘I have a proposition to put to you.’

      ‘I don’t want to be rude…but what’s any of this got to do with you?’ Maddie was struggling desperately to retain some semblance of dignity. ‘I understood that you were no longer engaged to Giannis.’

      ‘Giannis and I are very close friends. We’ve broken up before, but he always comes back to me. This is a messy situation, and I’m happy to help Giannis to sort it out.’

      Maddie’s hands coiled into defensive fists. She felt gutted and utterly humiliated. ‘Then go and talk to him about it.’

      ‘No, this is between us. I’m willing to adopt your children when they’re born.’

      Maddie was dumbfounded by that assurance, and she spun round wide-eyed. ‘You can’t be serious!’

      ‘It would be the best solution for everyone. Giannis and I will get married, as we’ve always planned, and bring the children up together. It’s perfect.’

      Repulsed by the very suggestion, Maddie stared at the smiling blonde and wondered if it was true that Giannis would go back to her. Krista was so very confident that it was hard to believe what she said did not have a solid basis in fact. ‘Does Giannis know you’re here?’

      Krista elevated a pencilled brow. ‘What do you think?’

      Maddie’s heart sank, and a creepy chill ran down her taut spine. Was this her reward for defying Giannis’s wishes and insisting on her independence? Certainly Giannis had to be very close to Krista if he had already shared so much about Maddie with her, his ex-fiancée. Maddie felt as gutted as if Krista had taken a fish-knife to her.

      ‘Obviously Giannis feels responsible for your children.’

      ‘He doesn’t have to. I’ll manage fine on my own,’ Maddie hastened to declare.

      ‘But Giannis will not tolerate that,’ the blonde protested. ‘He’s a Petrakos, and he’s used to total control. Don’t you understand what that means? If he’s not satisfied that you are a perfect parent, he’ll take your children away from you.’

      Maddie flinched.

      ‘You really haven’t a clue.’ Krista Spyridou gave an impatient shake of her head. ‘Giannis is very powerful and very ruthless when it comes to getting what he wants. If I adopt your children he’ll be delighted, and he’ll ensure that you never have to work or worry about money again.’

      ‘I have no intention of giving my children up!’ Maddie told the blonde in angry disgust. ‘And no amount of money will change my mind on that score.’

      ‘I would treat them as my own.’ Krista kept on talking in the same relentlessly upbeat tone, flatly refusing to recognise Maddie’s revulsion. ‘I’m trying to help you—help all of us. If you don’t watch out you’ll lose your children anyway. Giannis wants them. Wouldn’t they be better off being raised by their father within marriage? What have you got to offer them?’

      Maddie yanked open the door. ‘Please leave. I’m not interested in discussing this any further.’

      Krista settled a card down on the table. ‘My phone number. Be sensible and do the right thing. Some day your children will thank you for it.’

      It took quite a few minutes for Maddie to calm down after Krista’s departure. She felt threatened and intimidated, but more than anything she felt scared—bone-deep scared.

      Had Giannis sent Krista as a messenger? Evidently Krista would do anything to please Giannis and get him to the altar—even accept another woman’s kids and raise them. Were they conspiring against her? Was the rift between Giannis and the Greek heiress already healed? Had her pregnancy ironically brought them back together?

      Her head pounding with tension, Maddie crammed the clothing she had unpacked back into her case. She was leaving without even knowing where she was going. But what choice did she have? She wasn’t running away, she reasoned frantically. She was just trying to look out for the future and protect herself. She believed that her unborn babies needed her love, and that nothing would compensate them for the loss of it or her. The very idea of Krista taking her children made her feel ill. The woman had reminded her of a smiling piranha fish. Not an atom of human emotion had the blonde betrayed during a dialogue that would have taxed most women’s control to the utmost.

      Chilled by that memory, Maddie went down in the lift and out on to the street.

      Giannis was in the middle of a board meeting when he got the call from Nemos.

      ‘You make sure they don’t lose her…not for so much as ten seconds!’ Giannis warned in raw, wrathful Greek. ‘You make sure that nothing happens to her as well.’

      His lean, powerful face forbidding, he sprang upright, like a lion going in for the kill, and walked out of the conference room without a word. Maddie was bolting again. He couldn’t believe it. He was furious, affronted, and badly shaken by that news.

      What was the matter with her? What was he supposed to do? Imprison her? Clearly giving her space and allowing her to go to a hotel had been a serious error of judgement. Acting like Mr Sensitive had been a tactical disaster. So now it would be gloves off, and he would make her understand her limits. In a rage like nothing he had ever experienced, Giannis swung into his limo.

       CHAPTER EIGHT

      MADDIE was hurrying breathlessly down the street, hauling her case, when Giannis appeared in front of her. She stopped dead with a gasp, because it seemed to her that he had come out of nowhere.

      ‘Please get into the car. I don’t want to see a picture of us staging a public dispute in tomorrow’s newspapers,’ Giannis breathed with stinging scorn.

      His dark golden eyes were blazing. Shock had overpowered Maddie’s flight instincts and settled her into stillness. ‘I—’

      ‘Those babies are my flesh and blood too,’ Giannis cut in fiercely.

      Bothered

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