“She saw my father shoot himself in the head. I failed long ago to protect her.”
Lexi froze, her thoughts jumbling on top of each other. And she had thought she had been unfortunate. “Your father killed himself?”
“Because he couldn’t bear to live without my mother.” Ice coated his words. “Venetia was ten. She didn’t even understand our mother’s death. The worst part is she’s exactly like him—emotional, volatile and prone to mood swings. With everything I know about your friend, I know he will walk out on my sister one day. I’m just expediting it so that the damage to her is limited.”
His heart might be in the right place, but it was so twisted. Lexi walked back and forth, the gleaming marble floor dizzying her, her stomach churning with a viciousness she couldn’t curb. “You can’t just arrange her life to be without sorrow. It doesn’t work that way. I won’t do this.”
“You will get your precious Tyler back. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about that.”
“Yes. That thought crossed my mind, but not like this.” Disbelief rang in his eyes. “I don’t care what it might mean for me. I’m out.”
She turned around to do just that, but suddenly there he was, a terrifying prospect she couldn’t escape. The tension in him was palpable, the rigid set of his mouth an unmistakable warning. “If something happens to my sister because of Tyler, I will hold you personally responsible. Knowing that you could have prevented it, can you handle that guilt, Lexi?”
She stilled as she saw that same guilt cast a dark shadow on his face.
There was nothing cold about Nikos. He was just incredibly good at pushing it all away, and tailoring his life to follow the same strategy. He’d put himself behind an invisible wall of will where nothing could touch him. And he wanted his sister next to him.
Her throat felt raw, her chest tight. So many people could be hurt by the path he was pushing her on. Tyler, Venetia, Lexi herself and Nikos, most of all. Nikos, whom she had thought impervious to any feeling, whom she had assumed ruthless to a fault. Only all he wanted was to protect his sister. From what? Another truth slammed into her. “Is this about getting Tyler out of Venetia’s life or love out of it, Nikos?”
His head reared back in the tiniest of movements, his eyes cold and hard. A cold chill permeated her skin and she almost wished the words unsaid. “I’m not paying you to analyze me.” His tone was low, thrumming with emotion he refused to give outlet. “I failed my sister once. And it broke her in so many ways. I will do whatever it takes to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“Call me a villain, like your space pirate. Tell yourself I’m forcing you into this if it helps you sleep better.”
“My skin crawls to even think about manipulating him like that. But I just can’t. If I could be some kind of femme fatale as you’re plotting, Tyler and I would still have been together. But I’m not the kind of woman that men lose their minds over. So all this,” she said, pointing to the designer clothes, “it’s an utter waste. Because Tyler will never leave Venetia for me, of all people.”
He looked at her with none of the resolve diminished. It was like banging her head against an invisible wall. “Don’t underestimate yourself.” A spark of something came alive in his gaze and was gone before she could blink. “I know how much you can mess with a man’s head, and that’s when you’re not trying. Think of how easy your real job is now. All you have to do is convince Tyler that he belongs with you, as always.”
He was not going to budge from this path.
Just thinking about what he suggested, the fact that he had paid for it, made her nauseous. But he would not rest until Tyler was out of Venetia’s life. And she didn’t doubt for a second the lengths he would go to. She had already seen proof of that. He would also do it in a way that caused his sister minimum pain. Which meant Tyler would suffer. And she just couldn’t leave her friend at Nikos’s mercy.
She would have to go with Nikos, play the part he wanted her to play. At least that way, she could find a way to protect Tyler in the meantime. Tucking her knees together, she kept her gaze studiously away from his. “Fine, I’ll do it.”
He stilled. She could almost hear the gears in his head turning. “You will?”
“You’ve left me no choice, have you?” she said, blustering through it. It was the only way to stop from going into full-on panic. “You’re the manipulative jerk for doing this to them, but yes, I’ll be your evil sidekick. And it’s a NO to the sex clothes.”