Chapter Seven
CHAPTER SEVEN
F OCUS , H ELENA ORDERED herself as she dabbed BB cream under her eyes, trying to cover the dark circles that had formed from too little sleep. A little blusher and a swipe of lip balm had put a little colour back into features paled from tossing and turning all night.
‘I was twenty-one...’
‘I’m sorry...’
‘It can’t happen again...’
Leo’s words were background music to images of a kiss that was so carnal, so intense she’d woken up damp, exhausted and miserably unsatisfied. And she would stay that way, she reminded herself, because acting on whatever this was between them would ruin them both.
But at least she wouldn’t have to worry about it for much longer. The message she’d received from Kate at some ungodly hour of the morning had put an end to that.
Leander has promised to return to Greece on Sunday.
It had taken Helena a moment to realise that what she was feeling wasn’t relief but a sense of loss that shocked her to the core. But Leander was who she needed, so she sent Kate back a series of praying hands emojis.
The alarm on her smart watch beeped with a ten-minute warning and she used that time wisely. She’d set up her laptop under the shade of the thatched pool house awning, aware that Leo would be done with his morning swim. She chose to forgo the peaty Greek coffee she loved to have semi-sweet and opted for an espresso, taking it out to the table, where she made sure that the sun wasn’t shining on the screen or the camera.
She flicked through the dossier she’d brought with her on Jong Da-Eun, the German-born Korean actress who had recently gained an international following with a part in a major Hollywood blockbuster. But beyond her celebrity, Jong Da-Eun had a history of charitable partnerships proving her more than capable of being a brand ambassador for Incendia.
She had met Jong Da-Eun about a year ago and, discovering that they had both lost family members in a way that had changed their lives irrevocably, they had formed a fast and firm friendship. Now she wanted to make that relationship professional too.
Helena closed her eyes and inhaled the sea-salt air, taking the time to appreciate the moment. She loved this part of her job—finding the right people for the right role, knowing that it would positively impact not only the charity but the people that it could reach, knowing what good it could do. And she had to believe that Incendia would continue. She had to believe that she would fix it. That all this was not only worth it, but would work.
The sound of the video call interrupted her thoughts and she settled into the chair and hit the accept button.
‘Helena! It is so lovely to see you.’
‘Likewise, Jong Da-Eun,’ Helena replied sincerely.
‘Please, Da-Eun is fine,’ the actress assured her.
‘Kamsahamnida.’
Da-Eun laughed easily. ‘Your accent is getting better.’
‘I’ve been practising,’ Helena confided.
‘It’s paying off. But Helena, we shouldn’t be speaking on your honeymoon,’ Da-Eun chided. ‘Though,’ she added, peering at the background behind Helena, ‘it looks incredible.’
‘It is incredible,’ Helena replied, allowing the natural excitement of the location to fill her voice, happy to avoid discussion of the actual honeymoon.
They caught up a little on the details of each other’s lives. Helena asking about her latest drama series and the male lead she was paired with, and Da-Eun asking about Incendia and the wedding. Helena hated being evasive, hated having to pick and choose her truths, but if she didn’t then neither Incendia nor a possible partnership with Jong Da-Eun would even be possible next year.
Helena’s chest ached. She desperately wanted Incendia to be a success. She had worked twice as hard as many of her fellow students, volunteering in the charity sector throughout her studies and beyond, for no extra credit. She had developed her skills until they were honed to a fine point, studying business leaders in the sector and beyond, understanding how their minds worked. She wanted to be seen as an excellent businesswoman, just like her father. He had been a titan in his industry and paired with Giorgos Liassidis they had been unstoppable. It was a legacy that she’d wanted not just to be a part of, but to be worthy of.
And she was good at what she did. But ever since Gregory’s theft she had begun to wonder if she did actually manage to make it through the financial review would that finally be enough to appease the yearning in her heart? For more. For belonging. For love .
Yanking her thoughts back to the present, Helena wasted no more time. ‘You know how much I’ve wanted you to work with Incendia, but I really believe that this campaign is the right one for you,’ she said truthfully.
‘So do I,’ Da-Eun replied with a smile.
‘Wait...what?’ Excitement unfurled like a whip within her. ‘You’re going to do it? You’re in?’
Da-Eun laughed. ‘That is why I like working with you, Helena. You can be all work one minute and then a ball of excitement the next.’
Helena blushed and tried to apologise.
‘No, don’t be sorry. It’s refreshing,’ Da-Eun insisted. ‘This is a cause you not only believe in but have personal experience with. It’s so much better than these po-faced men who would do absolutely anything just to make money.’
Helena hoped Da-Eun didn’t see the way her words had caused her to pale. Didn’t realise how close she had come to the truth. Because wasn’t that what she was doing? Absolutely anything to get her hands on her inheritance.
No, she assured herself. It wasn’t like that. She wasn’t doing it to put the money in her back pocket, like Gregory had, or like countless others who took advantage of any loophole they could find. This was different. Yes, she was doing a wrong thing, but it would achieve the right thing in the end for Incendia, and that was all that mattered. She closed down the call with promises to send contracts and set up meetings for when she returned from her honeymoon.
The shares are yours. The money is yours. Your father made silly, outdated stipulations on your inheritance and you’re doing what you have to, in order to save a charity you believe in.
A very Kate-sounding no-nonsense response sounded in Helena’s head and she let it soothe her doubts. After all, she had just managed to secure Incendia’s first international brand ambassador!
Leo hung back from the threshold, watching Helena’s video call, struck by how natural she looked. In control. Powerful in an innate way that he hadn’t seen before now. It reminded him of watching his father and hers doing a business deal over lunch.
It wasn’t arrogance that had given them a near lazy sense of ‘ease’, but belief. Belief in their skills, belief in their company, and knowledge. Knowledge that they were the best in the business. And, watching Helena now, he was surprised to find himself enjoying that about her too.
And, just like that, he was regretting not having done his research on Incendia. The way she had talked so passionately about it couldn’t be faked. Whoever she’d been speaking to knew it, and so did he. But the person on the call had called it a ‘cause’. And although he loved his company, he had never met anyone in business who called their company a cause .
What was it about what this company did that made Helena so desperate that she would marry his brother to access money to cover the financial hole? The questions that he’d managed to keep at bay until now began to burrow through his mind like woodworm, burrowing little holes into every conversation they’d had before now.
He watched as she wrapped up the conversation, the sun catching the golden glints in her hair, the oversized shirt hanging from her shoulders, indolently revealing the smooth skin he’d spent an alarming number of hours thinking about. A gentle tan had sun-kissed her skin with freckles that looked wholesome, even as his body responded to the near primal passion he had glimpsed the night before.
It seemed that, despite the warning his brain had been given, his body still hadn’t got the message. All night he’d been tormented by impressions of a kiss that was just as real as his erotic dreams had provided. He’d woken up, his body on fire and full of a tension that wouldn’t quit until Helena and this entire situation was firmly in his rear-view mirror.
He was about to turn away when Helena got to her feet and he realised that the shirt, which stopped midway down her long thighs, was all she was wearing. Whether it was a shirt or a dress, he didn’t give a damn. He would go out of his mind if he spent the next few days in close proximity to a woman who was his every fantasy come to life.
He tried to leave again, when his attention was snagged by her cry, ‘Yes!’ He turned back to find her dancing up and down as if she’d won some great victory.
‘Yes, yes, yes !’ she cried again.
As she punched a button on her mobile, he wondered when he’d last felt like that about a deal or a contract.
Never , he realised with a start.
Gwen’s damage had happened too soon after he’d stepped up to take over the helm from his father for him to ever fully trust or feel such pure easy joy or trust in a new deal again.
‘Megan, we did it!’ he heard Helena cry into the phone. ‘Jong Da-Eun is coming on board.’
Even from here he could hear the high-pitched scream of the person Helena had called, especially when Helena had pulled the phone away from her ear to laugh, and he couldn’t help but smile at their exuberance.
‘Yes, yes, I know. So can you move forward with the contract? Absolutely... No, that won’t be necessary, just send it out to the list in the dossier.’
There was a pause and some of the joy dimmed from her features. ‘No update? Nothing from the CPS?’
Leo frowned, recognising the acronym for the British Crown Prosecution Service.
It’s not failing. It’s employee theft.
‘Okay... No, that’s okay. If you can just chase Dr Matheson for his research proposal, then we can begin to create the fundraising plans.’
And once again his interest was piqued.
What did Incendia do?
Helena raised her gaze and it clashed with his in shock as she discovered him standing on the threshold.
‘No, that’s it, thanks, Megan,’ she replied, without taking her gaze from his. ‘Have a great rest of the day.’
She hung up the phone and now he didn’t know what to do. Come out onto the deck? He could hardly turn and leave.
And just when had he become so indecisive and weak-willed?
Throwing off the awkwardness, he brazened it out onto the deck.
‘Am I right in thinking that congratulations are in order?’ he asked, hating the hesitation between them, the wariness heavy in the air awkward and uncomfortable. He’d almost preferred the intense sexual tension to this.
Slowly, she nodded, the smile on her lips pulling to one side. ‘Yes,’ she said with quiet confidence, unable to quite hide her excitement. ‘I’ve just secured my first brand ambassador and she’s going to be great.’
‘Then that does deserve congratulations. We should celebrate,’ he announced before frowning. ‘Or do we have another social event to attend?’ he asked with distinct displeasure.
‘Celebrate?’ Helena asked, as if confused.
‘You know, celebrate. Do something special to mark the success,’ he offered at about the same time as he realised that it was something she usually did with his brother. ‘Unless you want to wait for Leander?’ he asked, wondering why that thought filled him with a strange kind of resentment.
‘Well, I suppose I could. Kate messaged. Leander’s coming back on Sunday.’
Her words had the same impact as a stone thrown into a lake.
‘ This Sunday?’ Leo asked, unable to hide his surprise.
‘Why? Is something wrong with that?’ Helena asked, picking up on his shock.
‘No, I just...hope that Kate got him to sign in blood. I’m about done with this whole affair,’ he dismissed, despite the bitter taste in his mouth.
Only to see Helena’s expression morph into hurt.
‘You’re not the only one,’ Helena grumbled as she made her way past him.
‘Wait,’ he said, reaching out to clasp her by the arm.
Everything stopped. His heart, her steps.
Slowly, she looked down at his hand, where his fingers had wrapped around her bicep, and he released her immediately. He’d done it without thinking, but the tremors rippling through the air and across his skin warned him it had been a mistake.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. For the snarky comment, for grasping her arm. ‘I’m...’ he took a shaky inhale ‘...I’m trying. I’m not used to...’ he pressed his lips together ‘...modifying my behaviour. Having to, or even wanting to. Usually, people just do what I say and don’t really ask questions,’ he admitted hesitantly.
Or talked back, Helena guessed. Because Leo seemed to be talking only about professional interactions. The confession pulled at her heartstrings as she began to see, really see, how the separation between the two brothers had impacted him . But even what he had just said seemed much more like the old Leo than the still aloof Leo she had met on her wedding day.
‘So,’ he tried again. ‘Leander’s coming back on Sunday. But it’s Thursday today and I feel like we should celebrate sooner than that.’
Helena could see that he was trying. That it was an effort for him, but he was doing it for her. And even just the glimpse of what he could be like when he wasn’t so angry and rooted in the past made her want to pull him out fully into the light.
‘You know...’ she said hesitantly. ‘I saw that Leander left his prized convertible here in the garage,’ she went on, remembering how much Leo had loved to drive. To be in control, but also to be free in that control. ‘It would almost be a crime not to take it out for a spin on such a beautiful day.’
‘Now that, Helena, is an excellent plan,’ Leo replied, with a spark in his eyes that she hadn’t seen for years.
As Leo manoeuvred the car along the coastal road leading away from the Mani Peninsula and upwards, Helena couldn’t help but smile. The powerful car practically purred under his command.
The wind roaring in her ears and whipping at her hair meant that conversation was almost blissfully impossible and she was surprised by how content she was to simply be there in the moment, the sun falling on her shoulders and the stunning coastline a picture of intense blues, startling yellows and rich greens.
This was the most relaxed she had seen Leo since he had burst back into her life and she was glad of it. As he changed gear, the convertible leapt forward, restrained by his control but eager to show its power.
In tan trousers and a white linen shirt, rolled up to his forearms, he looked every inch the powerful Greek billionaire with the world at his feet and Helena revelled in being beside him. His eyes firmly on the road, his eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses, she watched his lips curve into a smile hooked at one side.
‘What?’ she couldn’t help but ask.
‘That,’ he replied, nodding towards the downward trajectory of the road, at the end of which was a small fishing village. ‘Are you hungry yet?’ he asked.
Oh, yes. She was very hungry. Just not for what he was able to offer her.
Half an hour later, they were sitting under a blue and white fluttering awning, protecting them from the fierce heat of the sun. The table was one of only about six on the small terrace of the main, and quite possibly only, restaurant in the small village stuck like a barnacle to the side of the coast.
‘Are you sure this is how you want to celebrate?’ Leo asked, as if he wasn’t sure it was enough.
‘Yes!’ she insisted with genuine sincerity. ‘Because honestly, if I have to smile at another reporter, or give another red-carpet interview, I think I might actually murder someone.’
‘Well, if it’s my brother, then I’ll happily help,’ Leo replied with a humour that was usually absent when talking about Leander. She ignored the slip, all the while hoping for more. Because she would love nothing more than to help the two brothers find their way back to some semblance of a relationship. Somehow.
The waiter arrived to pour their wine, promising that the food would be with them shortly. They had ordered a fish platter and side of fresh salads, pitta and the hummus she had been lusting after the moment she’d seen another couple dining in the late afternoon sun indulging in the chickpea dip.
‘To your new brand ambassador,’ Leo toasted.
Helena clinked her glass to his and took a sip of the cool white wine that instantly burst with tart, delicious freshness on her tongue.
‘And can I ask what she will be branding for you?’ Leo enquired.
Helena swallowed, the wine going down the wrong way and causing her to cough.
Apologising and spluttering, she didn’t know why she was reluctant for him to know, even though she was aware that she’d been keeping it from him.
‘It’s a medical charity,’ she started.
Leo’s head cocked to one side in curiosity.
‘For heart conditions, mainly. But it’s one of the only charities supporting the families of people with—’
‘Brugada,’ Leo correctly concluded.
She clenched her jaw, surprised that Leo had realised, had even known the name of the disease that had killed her father. She was touched—moved. They hadn’t really been talking that much back then.
Shock rippled through Leo’s body with a shiver that raised the hairs on his arms and neck. Brugada syndrome was what had caused Michael Hadden’s heart to stop one night in his sleep and never start again. There were rarely any symptoms of the genetic disorder that caused irregular heart rhythms that were often catastrophic if left undiagnosed.
Malákas.
‘I didn’t know,’ he confessed.
‘Why should you?’ she asked defiantly.
‘Because if I had I would never have offered such a low price for the shares. Christós , Helena.’ Leo’s conscience sucker-punched him in the gut so hard he was winded.
‘Don’t do that,’ she commanded. ‘I made my choice that day. I knew what I was doing,’ she whispered angrily.
‘But I didn’t,’ he fired back.
Helena let out a cynical laugh. ‘Whether you like it or not, I made it as a businesswoman. If you change your mind because you feel sorry for me, you’re undermining me and patronising me. On the day we’re supposedly celebrating me.’
Realisation dawned in his gaze and he started to shake his head in denial, but stopped as he fully understood what she was saying.
‘That wasn’t my intention.’
‘But it was what you were doing,’ she pointed out gently.
‘It’s not a good deal for you,’ he said again.
‘Then maybe, in the future, you’ll think twice about the deals you offer,’ she said, leaning back into the chair, clearly aware that she’d made her point.
He’d been so hell-bent on getting all the shares in Liassidis Shipping that he hadn’t even bothered to do his own research. Research he was usually absolutely meticulous about. He didn’t like it, the effect she seemed to be having on him. The way he was behaving out of character. But he also didn’t like the discord between them. Not after how much he’d enjoyed the peace.
‘How did it come about? You and Incendia,’ he asked both carefully and curiously.
She could have sniped back at him, he certainly deserved it, but he sensed that she wanted it too, the fragile truce between them.
‘After my father passed away, Mum was...pretty difficult to be around.’
Helena had always found it difficult to talk about Gwen. It was as if it were a betrayal to reveal some weakness in her mother’s character. Especially to a man who had been so devastatingly impacted by her already. But was grief really a weakness? It affected everyone in such different ways and none that could be predicted until it was felt, experienced.
‘At first, Mum was determined to continue on as if nothing had happened. Yes, her husband was gone, but she could cope with that as long as everything else remained the same. And she did that first by trying to carry on with his work.’
Which had been disastrous.
‘I...knew that she had made a mistake that had cost Liassidis Shipping greatly, but...’ she trailed off, shaking her head ‘...I didn’t know that she’d gone expressly against your wishes, or those of the board. I didn’t know that at all. I just thought she’d made a mistake and that you’d...’
‘Exiled her?’ Leo asked, his eyes lit with a strange mixture of understanding and lingering resentment.
Helena pressed her lips together and nodded guiltily. She understood a lot more now than she had then, as to how damaging that would have been for his company. How it would have felt to have his decisions questioned like that, and to have been so publicly defied. In a way, wasn’t that what Gregory had done by stealing such an obscene amount of money from Incendia on her watch?
‘We shouldn’t have let it happen,’ Leo said of himself and his father.
‘No one expected her to throw herself into it to that extent,’ she admitted. ‘But I think it was because... Well, I think because if she could keep everything the same, then nothing had happened. She hadn’t lost the man she loved. She wasn’t drowning in her own grief. If she was busy, if she was doing something, then she didn’t have to think about it. The only problem was...’
‘That if she wasn’t managing her own grief, she wasn’t managing yours either,’ Leo concluded correctly again.
Helena nodded. It was strange how much he seemed to understand her without her having to explain. It was familiar, and it both soothed and hurt at the same time.
‘My grief was a reminder of things she didn’t want to acknowledge. And it made an already difficult relationship painfully strained. One of the teachers at my boarding school referred me to Incendia and it was there that I got some support for myself, rather than having to neglect my feelings in order to try to protect my mother’s. Their help was a godsend.’
But when grief had entwined with the loss of the Liassidises from her life—the anchor that had seemed to hold her little family together—it had felt as if everything had slipped through her fingers. After her mother had failed to navigate her own grief with her husband’s work, she had returned to England and thrown out everything that had ever belonged to him. She had put the house in Mayfair on the market without even telling Helena and although it had never really felt like a home it had still been a devastating blow.
Helena had clung to Kate in those early months, and even Leander. But the people she’d missed so terribly, her father and...and Leo, she forced herself to admit, were gone.
‘I worked with one of their counsellors, and then began volunteering when I had started to find my feet again. Knowing first-hand how important their work and the funding they raised for such specific research was—the kind that big pharma doesn’t have any interest in because the conditions are so specialised there is little financial incentive—just made my work there more important.’
Leo was listening intently, impressed beyond belief at the kind of strength it must have taken to work at a charity where every day she must be reminded of the loss of her father.
‘So, after my A-levels, I went to study business management at Cambridge Judge Business School.’
‘That’s incredible,’ he said.
‘You sound surprised,’ she accused.
‘Not in the least.’ And he wasn’t. Because he had always known, really, that whatever she put her mind to, she could achieve.
‘I did my master’s there too. Did a few years in the sector, worked as a consultant across a few startups. I won a few awards,’ she admitted, as if it were something to be shy about rather than proud, and Leo was back to cursing the mother who had taught her daughter to expect so little.
‘And when Incendia approached me about the CEO’s position it was... It was a dream come true.’
Leo wondered whether she realised it—how passionate she sounded when talking about Incendia. Helena shone the moment she talked of it, her eyes bright and powerful, the flush on her cheeks nothing to do with anger, or sexual tension. Just joy and inner pride that made her more beautiful than he’d ever seen her.
His conscience twisted painfully in his chest as he realised not only how much he’d missed, but the active part he’d played in her isolation during such a painful and grief-stricken time. He knew then that no apology could cover his behaviour. But he found himself wanting to explain, to justify.
‘I had no idea. About Gwen. About...’
Helena bit her lip, but he pressed on.
‘About how difficult that time must have been for you.’
‘I don’t know how you could have. You were too busy trying to save a company my mother nearly destroyed.’
He nodded. ‘It’s no excuse, but that was a really hard time. Dad had just stepped down from the day-to-day running of the company, and I was working flat-out.’
Mina had broken off their engagement and he hadn’t even had time to work through that. He’d been pulling nineteen-hour working days to retain the few clients that had stayed, to keep the workforce on so that when they did get new clients they could fulfil the work orders. He’d refused help from his father, because to accept it would admit that he was failing, and he wouldn’t even let himself think about asking for help from the brother who had all but disappeared from his life.
‘I wanted to prove myself. I shouldn’t have taken it out on Gwen, I know that. Even though I’d told her not to do it, to engage that client, I think that Gwen saw me as a child, an upstart and that she knew better.’
‘A little like how you see me?’ Helena asked, her tone light, but something serious in her gaze.
And he realised then how truthful that statement was. He felt the sting acutely.
‘A little. Yes,’ he admitted. ‘I still think that you’re playing a very dangerous game in trying to plug the charity’s financial hole yourself, I won’t lie to you. But I understand why you’re doing it. And, ultimately, it’s your choice as CEO.’
She nodded, but didn’t look convinced.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
‘I... What if...?’
He waited. Whatever her fear was here, it was important to her and he couldn’t rush it.
She looked down at the table. ‘What if it’s not enough?’
The desperation in her tone cut him to the quick.
‘For who?’ he asked.
‘The board. My mother.’
The latter was a near whisper that broke what little was left of a very cold, hard heart.
‘It needs to be enough for you , Helena. No one else.’
Leo knew that better than anyone, because he’d learned it the hard way.