Page 15 of Secrets, Lies and Love

The time has come to face the problem. Both my cousin and my driver are moved by her sad story. I don’t know how to feel compassion, but on the other hand, I’m fair. I’ll do everything possible to help her and then close the book on this forever.

Dionysus

CHAPTER EIGHT

“So she can be discharged now?”I ask the head of the medical team as soon as I arrive at the hospital.

“Yes. We did a complete check-up, and Miss Bradley was admitted over twenty-four hours ago. With the results and the observation time that we consider safe, I don’t see why we can’t release her.”

“Will she be able to fly?”

“No. I wouldn’t advise that yet. Let’s wait another week, at least.”

I nod and start walking towards the room where Harper is staying.

The conversation with Odin never leaves my head. Should I ask her what she wants to do or not give her an alternative? My need for control tells me to send her to where she came from because, from what I already know about her—combining the information provided by Odin and also by Anderson—the girl does not belong in a big city. However, I will wait to make a decision until after seeing her.

“Mr. Kostanidis,” someone calls, and when I turn around, I come face-to-face with Anderson.

“I thought you had already left. I gave you three days off.”

“I didn’t go. I don’t need time off. Not working makes me anxious.”

“Anderson, as I told you, there is nothing to fear. Your job is guaranteed.”

He nods his head in agreement because he has known me for long enough to know that I never go back on my word. “That’s not why I stayed. The thing is, I didn’t want to leave Miss Bradley alone.”

I frown, finding it strange. My driver isn’t usually that protective. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Wrong? Nothing, but the girl looks like an angel. I’m worried she’ll insist on staying in New York and get into trouble.”

“Did she say she intends to stay?”

“Yes. She said she made a promise that she would succeed in the big city and that she intends to keep it, so I thought...”

“What?”

“You said you intended to investigate her, right?”

“Yes. And I already did.”

“Did you find anything?”

“No. She’s just a country girl lost in the big city.”

“Cici told me?—"

“Cici?” I interrupt him.

“Yes, she told me she hates her first name because her stepmother chose it.”

“How could that be possible?’

“I was also confused, but she explained to me that just fifteen days after her mother died, there was already another woman in the house. That’s how she got the name she hates: Harper, whichwas what a relative of her stepmother was called. She accepts Cecily, however, but prefers Cici.”

For a moment, I think I’ve hit my head and woken up in a parallel reality. This man talking to me is not the Anderson I know. My driver is closed, and perhaps because he has lived with my family for a long time, he’s also suspicious.

“Continue.”

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