Chapter Eight #3
‘You don’t have to be nervous. I might be a lawyer, but you’re not on trial. And all we’re going to do today is talk through your options. And they are your options. Ms Konstantinou. Not mine. Not your brother’s. Not your fiancé’s.’
‘Call me Ariana.’ The young woman grimaced. ‘Ms Konstantinou is what my old principal used to call me.’
‘I think the less said about that, the better.’ Ares stepped forward. ‘Let’s go through, shall we?’
The sitting room was another jaw-dropping reminder of the Konstantinou family’s wealth. It was light and spacious, and the beautiful furniture was arranged in that effortlessly oh so casual way favoured by the wealthy. Most impressive of all, there was an unimpeded view of the Parthenon.
‘This is a lovely room.’
‘It is. I love that I can see the whole of the city, but mostly I love that my mum rented this exact apartment before she married my dad. That’s why you chose it, wasn’t it?’ Ariana’s face softened as she turned towards her brother. ‘Ares gave me the apartment for my twenty-first birthday.’
Ares nodded. ‘They had their first date here. She cooked him chicken souvlaki—’
‘And she burnt the chicken,’ Ariana said.
Willa felt her heart twist as the siblings smiled at the punchline to what was clearly one of those family jokes. They were close, but it was obvious that even though he was her brother, Ares had stepped into the void left by their parents’ deaths.
As the coffee and sparkling water arrived, Willa cleared her throat. ‘You said you were nervous, Ariana. Did you have a specific reason?’
Ariana shrugged. ‘Just that the last time I had to deal with a lawyer was after the accident. They were all locked in a room with Ares, and I didn’t really know what was going on.’
Ares leaned forward. ‘You were very young, Ari.’
‘I know. I’m not blaming you.’ Ariana’s eyes were suddenly over-bright. ‘How could I? You took care of everything. Of me, and Pappou. Even though you had all that other stuff with—’
Her eyes darted to Willa, and she broke off, biting her lip.
‘You’re my sister. You and Pappou came first. You always come first.’ Ares spoke firmly but there was an ache beneath the authority, and Willa wondered if he had processed his own grief.
Most likely, he had put the needs of his sister and grandfather first, even though he was still reeling from Zoe’s betrayal.
‘In my experience, the legal system has a rather polarising effect on most people,’ Willa said carefully. ‘When they don’t need it, it feels elitist, intentionally overcomplicated and intimidating.’
‘And when they need it?’
‘It feels intentionally overcomplicated and intimidating.’ She smiled, and then Ariana smiled, and the tension in the room eased fractionally. ‘When it comes to prenups, it gets even worse. The law is seen as pragmatic and unromantic. Undermining marriages before the vows have even been made.’
‘Exactly.’ Ariana glanced pointedly at her brother.
Willa took a breath. ‘But I disagree with that view. I’ve met countless couples, and honestly, I would say that a prenuptial agreement is the best way to start your marriage in a spirit of openness and honesty.’
Her stomach tightened as she spoke. She felt like a hypocrite. How could she preach openness and honesty when her whole existence was based on a lie?
‘So you’d get one, would you?’
‘I would. Prenups aren’t jinxes. Or predictions. They deal with the unromantic aspects of a marriage, so you can focus on the romance. Why don’t we all take a breath, and then let’s get your prenup written.’
It took just under three hours. But most of that was spent simply reading through the document and explaining each clause.
Slumping back against the sofa, Ariana blew out a breath. ‘What happens now?’
‘I get this written up. You then reread it with your brother and make sure you’re happy, and then I send it to Mr Arteta’s legal team, and we wait for him to respond.’
Ariana frowned. ‘Davey doesn’t care about any of this.’
‘You said.’ Willa nodded. ‘And if he has no amendments to make, then you can both sign it as it is.’
‘Thank you, Willa,’ Ares said quietly. Their eyes locked for a moment, and her chest felt tight as if she was holding her breath.
‘Yes, thanks, Willa. I feel so much better now. Actually,’ Ariana groaned, ‘I feel famished. We should go out and eat. And celebrate?’
‘It’s not finalised yet, Ari—’
‘I know. But I’ve been drinking green smoothies for what feels like forever.
’ She sighed theatrically. ‘Look, I did what you asked me to. I went to the spa so you could get the prenup sorted, and now I want to have an actual drink with alcohol in it. And I want to eat fatty and salty and sugary food. So could we please all go out to dinner? You’ll come, won’t you, Willa? ’
‘Well, I—’ Willa began, but Ariana was grabbing Ares’s hands, tugging them like a child. ‘We could invite Pappou too. He’d be so thrilled.’
Ares nodded. ‘Okay, but you can’t discuss the engagement with him.’
‘I know that. And I promise I won’t. Now, can you please get someone to book a table at Pláka. Let me grab my shoes.’
She returned a moment later wearing a pair of beautiful, beaded sandals.
‘Okay, I’m ready.’ Glancing up at Ares, she frowned. ‘You look different.’
‘I look exactly the same, Ari.’
‘You still dress like Pappou, but there’s something different. Your hair maybe?’
Ares sighed. ‘I thought you were famished.’
Turning to face Willa, Ariana rolled her eyes. ‘He hates being late. But it wouldn’t matter if we turned up at midnight. Everyone in Athens loves Ares because he’s done so much for local people.’
‘Ariana—’
‘What? It’s true. You’ve invested loads of money in local businesses. And you’ve set up countless charities.’
He had? Willa frowned. ‘I had no idea.’
‘That’s because he likes to keep a low profile. For low, read submerged.’
She wanted to ask more, but Ares was pressing his hand into the small of his sister’s back. ‘The car’s here, Ari. Let’s go.’
They met at the restaurant. He was frail but straight-backed and handsome with a mass of white hair and the storm-coloured eyes that his grandson had inherited.
‘This is my grandfather, Pappou, and this is—’
‘My friend, Willa,’ Ariana interrupted. ‘She’s a lawyer.’
‘Given that Ares and I share a name, it might be easier if you called me Tino to save confusion.’ Ares Sr smiled at Willa. ‘Which area of the law are you in, Willa?’
‘Family.’
He nodded slowly. ‘In my day, that used to be unfashionable. Among the male lawyers, anyway. As often happens in life, they needed women, like yourself, to show them what matters. And what matters more than family?’
‘Pappou is very pro-women.’ Ariana squeezed her grandfather’s arm.
‘Did you always want to be a lawyer?’
Willa blinked, caught off guard by Ares’s question. He had been speaking to the waiter, but clearly, he had been following their conversation.
‘From when I was about fifteen. But only really because I loved Suits. Do you know the show?’
Ariana grabbed her hand and squeezed it with excitement. ‘Same. I love that show.’
‘No other lawyers in the family, then?’
Back to Ares.
Ariana was talking to her grandfather. Maybe that was why her brother’s eyes felt so intense, why Willa could feel his curious gaze probing her. Beneath the table, her fingers scrunched up the napkin in her lap.
‘They run a hotel. In California.’ It sounded so mundane, and she suddenly felt defensive of the beautiful old hotel with its arched veranda and red-tiled roof. And of her family too.
Not her family, she thought quickly as she felt another stab of homesickness.
Because it was so hard to give them up. So hard not to know, just as if she was there, what time it was on Santa Catalina.
What were they doing right now? Were they having breakfast on the terrace? Had Robert been for his morning swim?
‘I’d love to have my own hotel.’ She felt a rush of gratitude as Ariana’s voice cut off her thoughts.
‘What would it be like?’
‘It would be like a cross between Chateau Marmont and the Gritti Palace.’
Ares rolled his eyes. ‘You mean filled with reprobates and sinking into the sea?’
Ariana rolled her eyes back. ‘Willa knows what I mean.’
Willa smiled. ‘Of course. Classic but with an edge. The hotel equivalent of a dirty martini.’
‘Exactly. We should go into business together.’
‘Did you never think about it?’ Ares was picking up his water glass, but she knew he was watching her. ‘Going into the family business.’
Yes, she thought with a pang. Often, as a small child.
But after the triplets were born, her relationship with Robert had changed in the way that a landscape changed when a glacier melted.
Things revealed themselves, but they had always been there beneath the carapace of ice.
But it was only six months ago that she had understood what she had been seeing.
Thankfully before Ares could ask any more questions, the food arrived.
As she started to eat, it became obvious why Pláka was the restaurant of the moment among the Athens in-crowd.
The food was sublime. The diners even more so.
But even in a room full of luminously beautiful people, none shone more brightly than Ares.
He should have been called Apollo, Willa thought, as her eyes darted over to him beside her.
She couldn’t let herself look too closely.
It made her feel dizzy, and she wasn’t even drinking alcohol.
‘I fly back tonight,’ she’d explained when Ariana had suggested cocktails. ‘Sparkling water’s fine. Truly.’
Ariana made a sad face. ‘Let me know if you want something buzzier. But they do great mocktails here too.’ She seemed more relaxed now. Ares, less so. But no doubt, he was not convinced that a giggly Ariana was going to keep her promise of not mentioning the engagement.
He was sweet with his grandfather, speaking clearly and steering the conversation to matters that were dear to the old man’s heart. And when Tino started to tire, Ares insisted on seeing him home.
‘It’ll take me ten minutes door-to-door.’
‘Which is why I’m coming with you. It means I can walk back and have space for dessert,’ he said firmly when the older man protested.
‘What did you think of Kallos?’ Ariana asked as the two men left the restaurant.
‘I thought it was beautiful.’
Leaning forward, Ariana rested her elbows on the table. ‘You know you’re very privileged. I don’t think Ares has ever taken anyone there outside of family. Not even Zoe. You know about Zoe?’
Willa nodded. She felt something like jealousy. ‘Did you know her?’
Ariana nodded. ‘They were childhood sweethearts, kind of. Zoe was like a cousin. They knew each other for ever before Ares proposed. Not like me and David.’ She bit into her lip.
‘You’d like David. He’s not driven and intense like Ares.
He’s more like Daddy. And he gets me. I just want Ares to like him,’ she added wistfully.
‘I’m sure he will.’
Ariana sighed. ‘Maybe. He’s so hard to please.
I love him. I mean, he’s the GOAT. But all he does is work.
He needs to find someone who gets him. That’s what Pappou wants too.
We just want him to be happy. He hasn’t been, you know.
I think he’s forgotten how. He’s too busy thinking about me or Pappou or his charities.
But he’s not had anything for himself. Not since Zoe. ’
When Ares returned, they finished the meal and then dropped Ariana off at the apartment and returned to the townhouse.
‘Did you have fun?’
Ares seemed surprised by the question. ‘I did. I don’t often go out impulsively like that.’
‘You have a very lovely family.’
He was pleased. ‘Ari is a handful but she’s a sweetie, and my grandfather is a legend.
’ He hesitated. ‘They love you, by the way. My grandfather couldn’t stop talking about you.
And Ariana texted me. She wants to take you clubbing.
You’re fire, apparently. I’m not invited, by the way. It would be too cringe.’
Willa laughed. ‘That’s exactly what my sisters would say. When they were about six or seven, they went through a phase when they thought I was fire. Now I am definitely cringe.’
She was still laughing when a thought occurred to her, and her stomach clenched. What would her sisters think of her if they found out the truth? It would be way worse than cringe, surely?
‘When are you planning on telling them about the baby? Or have you already told them?’
Ares’s question, the casualness of it, coming on the back of thinking about another, bigger truth, caught her off balance.
‘No, I haven’t.’ Her fingers found the ring around her neck. ‘I don’t know when I’ll tell them. They’re very young.’
‘How old?’
‘Thirteen.’ Fourteen in a month’s time. She turned the ring quickly, rolling it back and forth.
‘But you’ll tell your father, your stepmother?’
His question made something sharp and smooth slide through her. ‘Why does it matter to you?’ She stepped backwards unsteadily as Ares stared at her.
‘It doesn’t. I was just asking—’
The faux reasonableness of him, standing in front of her was suddenly terrifying. ‘Well, don’t. You don’t get to pry into my life. Or tell me what to do. You’re such a hypocrite. I mean, you haven’t even told your family the truth about Zoe.’
It was a low blow, but if Ares felt it, he didn’t show it. Instead, he held her gaze. ‘And that’s why you’re not telling your family that you’re pregnant?’
Objection, leading question, she thought, as her hand made a small, unformed gesture of its accord.
‘I’m not telling them because I can’t.’ She had reached for anger; instead, she felt a surge of hot, swirling panic as his eyes dipped to her face.