‘A prank? The Nerissa was nearly destroyed. Do you know how many thousands of pounds of damage your brother and his friends caused?’ Giannis said harshly. ‘It wasn’t just the financial cost of having the boat repaired. The sentimental value of everything that was lost is incalculable. My father designed every detail of Nerissa’s interior and he was so proud of that boat.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Ava was shocked by the raw emotion in Giannis’s voice. She had only considered the financial implications of the fire, and it hadn’t occurred to her that the boat might be special to him. It made the situation even worse. ‘Sam really regrets that he allowed the gang on board. He thought that they just wanted to have a look at the boat, and he was horrified by what happened.’ She bit her lip. ‘My brother is scared of the gang members, which is why he refused to give their names to the police. He’s young and impressionable, but honestly he’s not a bad person.’
Giannis’s brows rose. ‘The manager of the boat valeting company told me that your brother already had a criminal record by the age of sixteen. Sam McKay clearly has a complete disregard for the law.’
He picked up his briefcase and walked over to the penthouse suite’s private lift. ‘I remember the letter you sent asking me to drop the charges against your brother. I did not reply because frankly I was too angry. Sam broke the law and he must face the consequences,’ he said coldly.
‘Wait!’ Ava hurried across the room as the lift doors opened and she followed Giannis inside. She jabbed her finger on the button to keep the door open. ‘Please hear me out.’
‘I’m in a hurry,’ he growled.
‘When I read in a newspaper that you would be attending the charity fundraising dinner I decided to try to meet you. My friend works for the event’s management company which organised the evening, and Becky arranged for me to sit at the same table as you. I hoped to persuade you to find it in your heart to give my brother another chance.’
‘I don’t have a heart.’ Giannis reached out and pulled her hand away from the button and the lift doors instantly closed. ‘Your methods of persuasion were impressive, I’ll grant you. But it was a wasted performance, angel-face.’
Ava gave him a puzzled look. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh, come on. You obviously had sex with me because you thought I would let your brother off the hook.’
‘I did not. I didn’t plan to go to bed with you—it just...happened,’ she muttered, shame coiling through her like a venomous serpent. To say that she had handled things badly would be an understatement. Last night she had behaved like the slut that Giannis clearly believed she was, but she refused to give up trying to help Sam.
The lift doors opened on the ground floor and she shot out behind Giannis when he stepped into the foyer. ‘My reason for having sex with you had nothing to do with my brother,’ she told him, her stiletto heels tapping out a staccato beat on the marble floor as she tried to keep pace with his long stride. Her voice seemed to echo around the vast space and she blushed when she became aware of the curious glances directed at her by other hotel guests. The terribly sophisticated receptionist standing behind the front desk arched her brows.
‘Why don’t you announce on national TV that we slept together?’ Giannis threw her a fulminating look, his dark eyes gleaming like obsidian.
‘I’m sorry.’ Ava lowered her voice. ‘I don’t want you to have the wrong impression of me. I don’t usually sleep with men I’ve only just met and I don’t understand why I behaved the way I did last night. I suppose it was chemistry. There was an instant attraction that neither of us could resist.’
He growled something uncomplimentary beneath his breath. ‘Next you’ll be telling me that we were both shot through the heart by Cupid’s arrow.’ Giannis halted beside a pillar. ‘Last night was fun, angel-face, and maybe I’ll look you up the next time I’m in town. But I’m not going to drop the charges against your hooligan brother. Even if I wanted to, I don’t think it would be possible. As I understand English law, it is the Crown Prosecution who decide if the case should go to court.’
‘You could instruct your lawyer to withdraw your complaint of criminal damage inflicted on your boat, and if you refuse to provide evidence to the court the case against Sam will be dropped.’
She grabbed Giannis’s arm as he turned to walk away and felt his rock-hard bicep ripple beneath his jacket. ‘It’s true that Sam has a police record. Like I said, he was drawn into the gang culture through fear. It’s not easy being a teenager in the East End,’ she said huskily. ‘Sam will almost certainly be given a custodial sentence and I’m scared of what will happen to him in a young offender institution. My brother is not a hardened criminal; he’s just a silly kid who made a mistake.’
‘Several mistakes,’ Giannis said sardonically. ‘Perhaps spending a few uncomfortable weeks in prison will teach him to respect the law in future.’
Giannis had not been lying when he’d stated that he did not have a heart, Ava thought bleakly. His phone rang, and she dropped her hand from his arm and moved a few steps away from him, although she was still able to overhear his conversation. A few minutes later he finished the call, and his expression was thunderous as he strode across the lobby without glancing in her direction.
She gave chase and caught up with him, positioning herself so that she was standing between him and the door of the hotel. ‘I appreciate you must be annoyed that, from the sound of it, you might have lost a business deal to buy a fleet of ships. But I can’t... I won’t stand by and watch my brother be sent to prison.’
His dark brows lowered even further. ‘How the hell do you know about my business deal?’
‘I can speak Greek and I couldn’t help but hear some of your conversation just now, concerning someone called Markou who has rejected your offer to buy his shipping company.’ Ava bit her lip, and something flashed in Giannis’s dark eyes that reminded her of the stark sexual hunger in his gaze when he had taken her to bed last night. ‘I’m sure your business deal is important to you, but my brother is important to me,’ she said huskily. ‘Is there any way I can persuade you to give Sam another chance?’
He did not reply as he stepped past her and nodded to the doorman, who sprang forwards to open the door.
Ava followed Giannis out of the hotel and shivered as a gust of wind swirled around her and tugged at her chignon. Although it was early in September, autumn had already arrived with a vengeance. A thunderstorm was forecast but at the moment drizzle was falling and she could feel it soaking through her cashmere jumper. The miserable weather suited her mood of hopelessness as through a blur of tears she saw a sleek black car parked in front of the hotel.
She watched Giannis unlock the car and throw his briefcase onto the back seat. The knowledge that she had failed to save her brother from a likely prison sentence felt like a knife in Ava’s heart.
‘Have you never done anything in your past that you regret?’ she called after him. He hesitated and swung round to face her, his dark brows snapping together.
Desperate to stop him getting into his car and driving away, Ava raced down the hotel steps but she stumbled in her high heels and gave a cry as she felt herself falling. There was nothing she could do to save herself. But then, miraculously, she felt two strong arms wrap around her as Giannis caught her and held her against his chest. In the same instant, on the periphery of her vision she saw a bright flash and wondered if it had been a lightning strike as the storm blew up.
The thought