The Innocent's Surrender Read Online Free Page A

heavily, ?I will be honest. I am saddened, sister, by this lack of gratitude?this failure in your duty to the family that raised you.
    ?This letter,? he added reproachfully, ?is a formality?no more. So, is it really so much to ask? Especially when he will be expecting to receive it from us. And when so much depends upon it.?
    ?I thought you wanted to drag things out,? Natasha returned curtly. ?To keep him waiting.?
    ?We have done so,? said Andonis. ?But now some gesture is needed. A little?propitiation to keep him interested.? He chuckled. ?And to keep him sweet.?
    ?I don?t think sweet and Alex Mandrakis are words that belong in the same sentence.? Restlessly, Natasha pushed her chair back and rose, walking over to the tall glass doors which opened into the garden. ?You shouldn?t have brought me into this business,? she said, staring into the warm darkness. ?Not without asking me first. You had no right?no right at all.?
    ?But where is the harm?? Andonis demanded. ?There will be no marriage between you and Mandrakis. We swear it. You have only to say you accept the terms we are offering. Give him something to think about.?
    He looked at her appealingly. ?The fact that a girl he has never seen is offering herself to him will appeal to his vanity and his arrogance. In the short term, it may cloud his judgement, and create a delay that is vital to us, and to the continued prosperity of the Papadimos family?in which you share, Natasha mou .?
    He paused. ?Perhaps you should remember that. Also how my father rescued you and treated you as his own,? he added significantly. ?Maybe it is time you repaid the memory of his kindness, with a little generosity of your own.?
    She said coldly and clearly, ?Your father wouldn?t have touched a deal like this, and you know it. He hated the Mandrakis family far too much to offer even a bogus olive branch.?
    And Alex Mandrakis has seen me, even though he won?t remember it ?
    ?That is true,? Stavros agreed. ?But think what a fool this Alexandros will appear when we obtain our money, and his offer is brushed aside with our contempt. He will lose face with his shareholders, his board, and most of all, with his father. Old Petros will not easily forgive him for walking into our little trap.
    ?And he has made other enemies. Once we have demonstrated that he is not fireproof, they too may move against him.? He sighed gustily. ?Our ultimate victory may be greater than we could hope for. And that is something our father would relish indeed. As you well know, sister.?
    Yes, Natasha thought bitterly. Only too well. Where the Mandrakis family was concerned, Basilis too had seemed to abandon all logic and reason. He would never have forgone an opportunity to do them a serious mischief, if it had lain in his power.
    But did it never occur to either Stavros or Andonis that what they had in mind might prove to be a double-edged sword, and that Alex Mandrakis might well have some similar plan?
    Or did they believe they were the ones who were fireproof?
    If so, she thought fatalistically, God help us all.
    She said abruptly, ?Very well. If there?s really no other way, give me the letter, and, for your father?s sake, I?ll sign.?
    She paused. ?But I still think it?s a truly terrible idea, and I hope it with all my heart that it won?t all end in tears.?
     
    It wasn?t just that one letter, of course, she reflected later, as she lay in bed, listening to the soft swoosh of the ceiling fan above her. When it came down to it, there?d been a whole sheaf of documents relating to the refinancing that also required her signature, and she?d obeyed wearily, sitting at Basilis?s old desk in his former study, with Stavros and Andonis like twin sentinels fussily directing her pen.
    Afterwards they?d been barely able to conceal their triumph at her capitulation, and she?d had no difficulty in refusing their offer to join them in the saloni for a celebratory drink, on the grounds that she had an early flight the next day and needed