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Her grandfather, Dimitrios Philipos

‘Iabout everyone’ His tone was brittle and unsympathetic as he observed her distress with evident satisfaction ‘Information is the key to success in life’

Alesia sed back the luony ever be considered ‘success’?

Marriage

It was the cruellest taunt She’d long ago been forced to come to terms with the fact that, no e How could it? How could a woman in her position ever marry?

Her enius of her grandfather ‘If you truly know everything about me then you must also know the reason I’ sicker, that she needs an operation—’

His s you You didn’t disappoint me’

Fury shot through her, driving out the weakness induced by his reminder of her own limitations as a woman

She hated him

Alesia stared at the grandfather she’d never even ave a shiver of revulsion Her head throbbed with a tension headache that had been plaguing her since she’d stepped off the plane at Athens Airport and she felt a dull ache in the pit of her stomach, a reminder that she’d been too nervous to eat for the past few days

So much was at stake Her otiate so short of a monster

He presided over the rooilded chair with ornately curved handles, barking out orders to terrified staff who hovered within shouting distance

Alesia glanced around the opulent room with distaste Such a blatant display of wealth sickened her

Did the man have no shaive her mother the care that she needed?

Care that he should have been providing for the past fifteen years

Alesia took a deep breath and tried to calet her nowhere It took enor the old man to his piles of money and lonely existence But she couldn’t do that She had to ignore the fact that he was the most selfish, shallow individual she’d ever laid eyes on and she had to ignore the fact that if it hadn’t been for herhere now She had to stay focused on the task in hand