Chapter One
Rafael
I see her leaning against the rail that bounds the SkyPark Observation deck, one of the most unique buildings in Singapore.
Her black hair is twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head and adorned with jewelled hair clips in the shape of dragonflies.
Her gown is scarlet silk, wrapped around her slender figure in a complicated series of twists that highlight the luscious curves of breasts, hips and thighs.
The humid, scented air toys with the split in her dress, revealing one rounded thigh and making the silk billow around her legs. She wears matching high-heeled sandals of scarlet silk with straps that criss-cross up her calves, making her legs look long and elegant.
This building is an architectural marvel, but she…is a masterpiece. Clean and precise in her nose, cheekbones, jaw. Yet also sensual with that sulky, delicious mouth and delicately arched, dark brows.
She’s looking at the view, her eyes wide, a rapt expression on her lovely face. It’s true, the view is spectacular, but I don’t care about the view. At least not of the city or the harbour. The view I’m particularly concerned about tonight is the woman leaning up against the rail.
She’s why I’m here, but she’s not what I expected, not in any way.
She’s Olympia Zakynthos, the younger sister of the one man I hate above all others—Ulysses Zakynthos, owner of the huge energy conglomerate Vulcan Energy. A powerful man. Also, the man directly responsible for the ruination of my family’s company and my family along with it.
It’s been years since that happened, and in that time I’ve slowly but surely made a name for myself and Atlas Construction, the construction company that I started as a labourer in and now am the CEO of.
I’ve also made many plans for how to best get my revenge on the man who caused my father’s death and my mother to sell herself to pay his debts.
Yet the time and circumstances have never been right.
However, Sicilians like their revenge served cold, and I am Sicilian through and through, and now, finally, it’s the right time and the path to my revenge is standing in front of me, leaning against the rail and admiring the view.
Ulysses Zakynthos’s Achilles heel. His only weakness.
The occasion is a charitable gala for the very rich and powerful, so, after my sources informed me that Vulcan Energy would be represented, not by Ulysses, but by his younger sister, I made sure to secure an invite.
I’m not well liked by high society—I’m too raw, too rough, too unrefined and unsophisticated for their tastes—but that doesn’t bother me. Nothing bothers me, nothing except the loathing in my heart for the man who ruined me.
The dragonflies in Olympia Zakynthos’s black hair glitter in the light, drawing my attention back to her, reminding me of my plan, which is, in essence, very simple.
Her brother took my family from me and so I will take his family from him.
I will take her, turn her against him, make her mine and then, once she is, I will take his company too.
It won’t be difficult to get close to her.
The information I’ve gathered so far indicates she’s been sheltered all her life so she’ll have no protections from a man like me.
And I know women. I know what they like and I know what gets them off.
To say my experience is wide and free-ranging would be to understate the case, so I’m sure I won’t have any problems seducing Miss Olympia Zakynthos.
She’ll fall to me as all the rest have fallen, willingly and happily, but…
I have to admit, I didn’t expect her to be so lovely or for my body to instinctively tighten at the sight of her.
Beautiful women I can get with a snap of my fingers, yet there’s something about this one, something I can’t name, that digs deep inside me and pulls.
The way she’s standing with her elbows on the rail, staring at the view.
The way her eyes are wide and her lovely mouth curves, as if she’s never seen a view like this one before. It speaks of…innocence almost.
I can work with that.
The other guests swirl around me as I grab two glasses of excellent champagne from a passing waiter. Then I move over to where my quarry is standing.
She doesn’t notice me, a wolf moving amongst the sheep and approaching the smallest of lambs, ready to devour.
She has no idea that tonight she will cause her brother’s ruin.
However, just before I arrive at her side some sort of sixth sense alerts her, a latent survival instinct detecting the approach of a predator, and she turns her head suddenly, her gaze meeting mine.
The impact of those amber eyes is almost physical and I stop dead in my tracks, the champagne in my glass sloshing against the rim as I nearly spill it.
Dio. I have never seen eyes that colour, a delicate, smoky gold, but something in them pierces me like a crossbow bolt. I’m caught, held there, staring at her like a teenage boy poleaxed by his first sight of a girl in a bikini.
The air between us seethes with electricity. It almost suffocates me. Then her thick, black silky lashes fall, veiling her gaze as colour washes through her cheeks, and a powerful satisfaction seizes me.
I was never in doubt that she’d find me attractive—most women do, after all—yet seeing the confirmation on her face is a drug I can’t resist.
Like a magnet I’m drawn to her, so I continue on, coming up to the rail beside her and holding out the glass of champagne. ‘Such a beautiful view deserves the best champagne, don’t you think?’ I say in Greek, her mother tongue. I make sure she knows which particular view I’m talking about.
Those silky lashes lift and, again, her incredible eyes meet mine.
Dio, she’s luminous.
A hesitant smile curves her mouth and it’s so unbelievably sweet my cold, dead heart catches in my chest.
‘Oh,’ she says, the most delicious husk in her clear voice. ‘You speak Greek? Thank God. My English isn’t bad, but I keep making such an idiot of myself. Wait…’ Her eyes widen. ‘How do you know I’m Greek?’
Fuck.
I’ve given myself away. I shouldn’t know who she is, let alone that she’s Greek, but she had me so transfixed I spoke without thinking. That won’t happen again.
I’m good at hiding what I feel, I always have been.
Emotions are a weakness I can’t afford, not in the cut-throat world that I was forced into years ago, as a Cosa Nostra enforcer, and not in business either.
So I don’t let a hint of her effect on me show as I gather my resources to respond.
Conversation is not a forte of mine, nor do I enjoy it.
I prefer action to pretty words. But women sometimes require pretty words so I merely smile back at her.
‘Because you’re Olympia Zakynthos,’ I say easily. ‘Head of Vulcan Energy, no?’
Pink flushes the delicate olive skin of her cheeks. ‘Yes, but I’m not the head of Vulcan Energy. That’s my brother, Ulysses. I’m only representing him at the gala tonight.’
‘Surely not “only”,’ I murmur.
The pretty smile plays around her luscious mouth.
‘Oh, believe me, it definitely is “only”. He’s back in Athens.
’ She waves a hand. ‘Doing something with something.’ Immediately the words come out of her mouth, she flushes again and a soft, self-conscious laugh breaks from her.
‘Sorry, that sounds stupid. The truth is, this is my first social occasion on my own for…ages. I’m not used to so many people I don’t know and, also, I’m terrible at small talk. ’
I don’t want to be charmed by her honesty and yet, against my will, I am. ‘I don’t blame you,’ I say. ‘I don’t find social occasions easy, either. To that end, allow me to introduce myself. I am Rafael Santangelo.’ I extend the champagne to her again. ‘There. Now you know one person at least.’
The gold of her eyes glows as she takes the champagne flute from me, and I can’t resist making sure the tips of my fingers brush hers as she does so. Her gaze flares as we touch and I hear the slight catch of her breath, feel the prickle of undeniable electricity that chases over my skin.
Dio, I wasn’t expecting attraction to spark between us so quickly, but I’m not unhappy with the situation. It will make my job so much easier.
‘Pleased to meet you, Rafael Santangelo,’ she says, giving me an adorable mock bow. Then she looks pointedly at the glass of champagne I’m presenting her with. ‘I should warn you that my brother has told me not to accept drinks from strange men.’
I lean against the rail, still holding the wretched glasses. She’s not very tall. The top of her head only reaches my shoulder. ‘But I’m not a strange man,’ I say. ‘You know my name.’
Her smile is a delight. A gift that she’s giving and only to me. ‘That’s true. And you know mine, so I suppose we’re hardly strangers.’
She takes the glass from me without a second’s thought and an unfamiliar part of me wants to snatch it back from her, tell her that her brother is right, she shouldn’t be accepting drinks from strange men.
Especially men like me. I once helped the local consiglieri run protection rackets, a gun in my hand to enforce compliance, my fists and a knife to mete out punishments.
People were afraid of me, as they should be. And so should she.
‘If you like,’ I say before she can take a sip, prompted by this odd protective urge, ‘I could go and get you another glass and you could watch me to make sure there’s nothing in the drink.’
‘You could,’ she agrees, then tilts her head, surveying me, assessing me as if I’m a threat.
And I am. A little lamb like her should be running for the hills, yet instead, she smiles.
‘It’s okay. I trust you.’ She nods her head to a man standing alone in the crowd not too far away.
‘I have a bodyguard. He’s there to rescue me from the consequences of my own idiocy. ’
I know she has a bodyguard. I’ve already noted him and dismissed him as no danger to me or my plan.
But her openness and willingness to trust is unexpected and presents an…
unexpected obstacle. I want to tell her that trusting me is the last thing she should do, but I bite down on the urge.
I have a revenge plan to follow and she is the key. A key I can’t afford to throw away.
‘You seem very convinced of your idiocy,’ I say. ‘That’s the second time you’ve mentioned it.’
She laughs and takes a sip of champagne, her nose wrinkling at the bubbles.
Then she closes her eyes. ‘Oh my God, you’re right.
I told you I wasn’t used to people.’ Her eyes open again and she gives me a look from beneath her lashes.
‘Sorry, I know I should be talking about how wonderful Vulcan Energy is and all of that, blah blah. But truth is, I know nothing about it. I’m only here for the holiday. ’
Something rises in me, something fierce and protective. She shouldn’t be so honest with a stranger. It’s a mistake. It leaves a chink in your amour, makes you vulnerable. And she, so beautiful and so honest, should not be so vulnerable.
Especially when I am around.
‘And why are you not used to people?’ I ask, ruthlessly exploiting her weakness, because that’s the kind of man I am. Ruthless.
She sighs, and leans on the rail beside me, mimicking my stance. ‘Oh, truth is, I don’t go out a lot. This is my first visit to Singapore. In fact, it’s my first visit anywhere.’
Interesting. Another little fact to file away.
‘What do you think of it so far?’ I ask.
‘It’s so beautiful.’ She glances out over the view once again.
‘The gardens and the fountains, the harbour…’ Her gaze comes back to mine, a spark of mischief in it that renders me momentarily speechless.
‘What I really wanted to do was have a Singapore Sling in the Raffles Hotel. But Georgios over there has strict instructions from my brother that I’m not allowed to go out on my own. ’
I knew she would not be unprotected. What I didn’t know was that she would find that constraining herself.
‘Surely Georgios can take you to Raffles,’ I say casually, privately wondering how anyone could refuse this woman anything.
‘Oh, he could,’ Olympia replies. ‘But I want to go by myself, without him. He’s like a…a dark cloud hovering everywhere. Kind of spoils the vibe.’
‘Can you not send him away?’
She sighs. ‘He takes orders from my brother, not me, so no. Ulysses is so overprotective it’s ridiculous.’
While she might not be able to see why her brother is overprotective, I do.
There is an innocence to her, a guilelessness matched only by a smile so bright it hurts.
She’s like the sun, a light I’m drawn to, and I won’t be the only one.
She’s vulnerable, achingly, painfully vulnerable, and I’m a bastard for doing what I’m going to do to her.
I should walk away from her while I still can. She’ll think me rude, perhaps even be slightly hurt, but…no. I’m not going to walk away. The damage her brother did was too great, and my fury at him is too strong.
I was the one who came home one day to find my father dead in his study with a gunshot wound to the head and blood everywhere after Ulysses destroyed his company.
I was the one who had to deal with a hysterical mother unable to believe her husband took his own life.
And I was the one who had to watch the debt collectors come and take everything in sight.
So no. There will be no baulking at the last hurdle. It’s only her feelings that are at risk here, and I don’t care about her feelings. I want my revenge and I will have it.
‘You can’t come all the way to Singapore and not have a drink at Raffles,’ I say instead. ‘I’ll take you if you like.’