Page 34 of Look for Me

Could she hire a private investigator?

Nope. No money.

All she could think of was running. Hiding.

For the rest of her life.

Nikos pointed to some dark chocolate fudge. “Let me try that first.”

“It’s dark chocolate and has the least sugar,” Corinne said.

“But it’s still sweet though?” His voice lowered. Somehow it sounded calmer.

Yeah, that was the thing that had kept Corinne alive.

Nikos might be crazy and did crazy things—like making her sit outside in the hot sun for fifteen minutes every day—but he still had a soft spot for her.

He wouldn’t let anyone hurt Corinne because he wanted to do that himself.

And he had done it—not for Corinne’s sake, but to get back at his former business partner who had stolen the diamonds from him.

As Corinne cut a small piece of the fudge for Nikos to try, she thought about how it could all go down.

At some point in time, Nikos and Flavian had to confront each other.

Corinne prayed that her children would not be in the crossfire.

Please, Lord. Save us. Spare us.

“You’re right, Gail.” Nikos chewed slowly. “It’s not sweet enough. Give me something sweet.”

Gail.

Corinne hope nobody else heard him.

Sometimes she wondered why she even bothered to use different names at different places. After all her trouble, Nikos had tracked her down to Key Largo.

Whether she went by Gail or Dinah, it made no difference.

All the men in her life had tracked her down.

Including Martin, who knew her by her real name.

Nikos's eyes were on her now, as if prying into her mind to read her thoughts. Corinne kept her breath even and tried not to think about all the things Nikos could do to her. His death threats, particularly.

Right now, though, Nikos could do nothing to her. It wasn’t because she was in public or that it was daylight.

It was because Nikos knew Corinne could lead him to the South African diamonds that Flavian had stolen from him which had led to the fallout in the two men’s business relationship.

Yes, for now, Corinne had the upper hand.

Corinne pointed to another block of fudge. “This one has maple syrup in it, plus pecans.”

“I like maple syrup.” Nikos's eyes brightened like a little boy’s. “Gimme a sample of that, please.”

When Nikos wasn’t high on something, he could communicate like normal people.

Ditto with Flavian.

---