Spellbound in His Arms Read Online Free

able to handle the physical and psychological
abuse of her husband, as well as the shame and misery of her life, Anastasia
had committed suicide at the age of thirty-five, when Eric was only ten years
old.
    This was going to be another long night Elizabeth realized and let out a deep breath, feeling desperate and helpless. Deep in her
heart, she was sure about what she should do, but she was absolutely
terrified, even by the thought.
    She stood up and gathered the papers from the top of her
desk and placed them in a folder. Then she took the folder to the back of the
room where a state-of-the-art, in-wall safe was hidden behind a mahogany
bookcase. Among the extensive collection of books, Elizabeth picked the correct
one and tugged on its cover. Taking a step back, she watched the bookcase turn
sideways, revealing the safe. The key to the safe hung from a gold chain on her
neck along with a gold heart—a gift from Manos. She entered the combination on
the touch screen monitor, which ironically was the date she met Manos for the
first time—just another one of his ways to torture her. She placed the small
key hanging from her chain in the lock and turned it. The door of the safe
opened smoothly, revealing stacks of money and piles of folders. She placed the
folder she was holding on top of the others and stood back for a moment looking
at the contents of the safe. She knew there was sufficient evidence in there to
send Manos to prison for a life-time.
    If only….
    She turned to look at the phone. No, she couldn’t do
it.
    At least, not yet.

Chapter Three
     
    Philip Manos watched Elizabeth through the
hidden camera. He suspected she wanted to turn him in. But he knew she didn’t have the courage to go through with this.
    A very peculiar and secretive man like him, one with so
many enemies, had to be very careful. And so he had installed secret cameras
throughout the building in order to monitor everything going on. Of course, he
was the only one who knew about this. He didn’t trust anybody—not even his son,
Eric.
    He also had another secret safe in his office. Actually,
it was a secret room with a solid steel door, which could only be opened by a
combination and his fingerprint recognition. The steel door hid behind an
enormous aquarium, with thick glass on all sides, except the back one, which
was a mirror. Pushing a button hidden beneath the bottom left drawer of his
mahogany desk, the heavy aquarium rotated on its steel axis, revealing the door
to the safe.
    In there, along with the cash and the bonds he had for
emergency purposes, he kept the monitors connected to the hidden cameras, as
well as the surveillance tapes from everything important going on in his company.
He also taped the dealings taking place in his office, so he would be able to
blackmail anybody he needed to at any given time.
    His little black diary was also kept in there. Everybody
he’d ever known or had dealings with was logged in that little diary, along
with embarrassing or incriminating details of their personal lives. That little
diary was a powerful weapon, which could destroy the lives of very important
men—businessmen, politicians, country officials and an endless number of gentlemen of the underworld.
    Manos was an artist in manipulating people’s lives and
turning everything to his advantage. He had no conscience and no remorse. He
cared about no one, but himself—a ruthless, cold-hearted bastard, as most of
his employees and associates wouldcall him…and he had all of
them on tape.
    ***
    Michael watched the nurse leave Jackie’s room and close
the door softly behind her. As she turned to leave, she almost ran right into
Michael, who was leaning against the wall.
    “Did she wake up?” he asked.
    “Just for a brief moment, sir.” The nurse gave him a
polite smile. “I spoke to her, but I’m not sure she understood me. Does she
speak Greek?”
    “I’m not sure,” he admitted, looking towards Jackie’s
room.
    “You