‘You claim they are your “surrogate parents”.’
‘I’m not hearing a question there.’ She was hedging for time. She shouldn’t have been surprised he’d plunged right into the deep end. Yet she’d been unprepared to have her anguish over her father’s illness, known only to a handful of people, pried open so starkly.
‘Did theyunofficiallyadopt you?’ he went on coldly, his sneer over the word making her heart lurch. ‘Was it part of the bank’s terms when they took over?’
A wave of light-headedness washed over her. ‘What do you know about the…about that?’
His speaking look questioned her reasoning, mocking why she would ask it in the first place. ‘The bank’s terms were private.’
‘You truly believe there’s such a thing as privacy when you’re in the thick of a hostile takeover?’
‘If you have any semblance of humanity, yes.’
He delivered a cold, hard smile that froze her middle. ‘And, as we’ve established, I have none. So answer the question.’
‘And if I refuse?’
‘Then I would deem you extremely foolish for backing out on a deal you’ve made with me. You’re not an ally by a long shot, but you definitely don’t want to become my enemy. So for starters, and for wasting several hours of my time, I’ll drive you to the police station myself.’
She swallowed, partly glad her frozen status had halted her squirming. It was also easier for her numbed senses when she answered. ‘Yes and no. Yes, there was no official documentation, and no, it wasn’t a specific requirement by the bank. But it was approved by the doctors who…’ She paused, pressed her lips together and watched his face for signs that he knew more about her past. About the true reasons that had necessitated Tolis’s and Agnes’s stable presence in her life.
‘The doctors who first diagnosed your father?’ he finished, much to her horror.
He knew.Nelios knew at least something about her father’s condition. The condition George Lancaster had point blank refused to have treated, subjecting her and anyone who encountered the Lancaster family to needless distress.
It was only after her father’s diagnosis of depression and acute mania had been discovered—an extreme version of his bipolar disorder—on the request of the bank who held the mortgage on his precious Vayle Hotel, and their subsequent insistence on his receiving treatment and donating power of attorney that he’d agreed to seek help. And, even then, he’d defied the recommended treatment at every turn.
She dragged her gaze away because she didn’t want to know if Nelios knew more. Did he know the extent of her father’s neglect of her—the distance between father and daughter that Vayle had never been able to close following her mother’s death when she’d been ten? George Lancaster had fallen apart in the aftermath, his grief and depression driving him into bouts of careless cruelty and unreliability.
Gritting her teeth against the surge of rough emotions, Vayle exhaled. ‘Yes.’ It was a mere whisper, but she knew he heard it.
His piercing gaze didn’t relent. ‘What were the bank’s conditions, precisely?’
‘Don’t you already know?’
‘Not yet,’ he replied. ‘But I will once I own Vayle Hotel.’
She chanced a glance at him and saw the rigid control he’d fastened over his emotions. Whereas only a handful of hours ago she’d marvelled at it, Vayle now wondered how much effort it took for Nelios Petralis to keep all that willpower in place.
‘So you’re really going ahead with this takeover? Do you care who you hurt in the process?’
His jaw rippled and her thought deepened.Why did he need to exert so much control? What was buried beneath his glacial surface?
‘Everyone involved besides you and Agnes will be offered compensation and a position elsewhere. And you, as owner, are being paid more than market value for a crumbling relic. I’d hardly call that hurting you. What you’re really asking is if this ispersonal to Agnes Adamis. The answer is yes, it is. So, as agreed, you will tell me what I wish to know,’ he tagged on silkily.Like the cobra said to the mouse.
Vayle considered refusing; considered using that information to strike a better deal. But if felt…sleazy to use her family trauma,her very personaltrauma, as a bargaining tool. Besides, as he’d so arrogantly announced, if she failed in this task—and that hope dwindled by the second—he would have the sordid details presented to him on a silver platter anyway.
‘My father had a condition that went undiagnosed for years.’ She curled her fists in her lap, the admission tunnelling to the very heart of her painful memories. ‘Severe mood swings that arose out of nowhere, lingered for hours, then disappeared. My mother, when she was alive, was the only one he’d listen to. She would cover for him—pacify the guests he offended.’ A bitter smile twisted her lips until she forced it away. ‘Unfortunately, after her death, he…fell apart. And with social media, and information now readily available, word started to spread about Dad’s condition and the hotel started to suffer. As you probably know, we were mortgaged to the hilt.’
‘Why didn’t the bank foreclose straight away if it was a losing business?’ he asked curiously.
She shook her head. ‘The bank manager was Dad’s friend. He kept giving him a chance to turn things round. And, at first, he would. When he wasn’t feeling…himself he would let the junior staff take over, that sort of thing. But inevitably things would take a turn for the worse…until eventually the bank gave him an ultimatum. He could stay on as the owner and proprietor on the condition he hired a manager and assistant to run the day to day.’ Her gaze darted to him to catch a wave of bleak bitterness.
‘And did the bank insist that these people your father hired were to be childless or did he come up with that condition on his own?’ His voice was tinder-dry and bitter.
Her heart lurched again and, although she suspected the awful answer, having lived with George Lancaster almost all her life, she answered with the truth. ‘No bank has the right to order that. I think it was my father. I had no idea that stipulation even existed before you mentioned it today.’
Again those dark-brown eyes bore into her, digging out her hidden depths. Staring back, she caught a shadow of what he felt. It wasn’t enough to trigger a sense of kinship but it…eased one tiny knot inside her.
