‘Skase!’
‘Please, everyone!’ Milo said, trying to call the group to order again. Finally, hush. ‘This is a delicate situation, as we know; we have been here before. But the good thing about it this time is we have prior knowledge, and we can start preparing before anything has been formally agreed with anyone, to make certain it never happens. We must ensure that Kostas Petsas does not gain the right to develop on this land!’
And as the crowd began to cheer in support, Faye’s attention was drawn to the door of the conference room and Kostas striding in.
68
Kostas was moving like he wasn’t nervous, but each atom of him was sparring against his every action. Body and mind were asking for protection from the intensity; heart and soul were determined to continue. There was noise, booing, expletives, accusatory remarks as he approached the front of the room and the man standing there. In his peripheral vision he could see some of the audience were on their feet. This was what he had expected, right? Everyone here had knowledge of his plans and this was the backlash that would have come whenever this had played out.
‘Please,’ he said to the man. ‘Could I say something?’
‘This is not the time or place for you to try to tell us that we do not know what we are talking about,’ Milo told him and the rest of the room. ‘Regardless of what you might think, we do not have a little-island mentality.’
‘I do not think that,’ Kostas told him, then turned to the room. ‘That is not at all what I think.’
‘Then why do you try to hide that you are wanting to develop this land? Having photos with our children while you try to obtain permissions to cut down trees they swing from,’ a woman called.
‘I know that is how it looked?—’
‘It is how it is!’
‘Yes,’ Kostas said. ‘That is what you saw on those plans. It is true. When I came here to Corfu, my plan was to get hold of that land and turn it into a vacation resort to rival the finest in the world. I would have been honest with you, but how would I have been able to get my way then? And my plan needed to stay under the radar for as long as possible so by the time you all got to know about it, it would be too late to do anything to stop it.’
There were gasps from the crowd, outcrying from some, but others just looked bewildered. He ploughed on.
‘This place was to be built in Corfu to make a statement. To show the people of the island how much I blamed them for my father’s death.’ He swallowed, heart thumping in his chest. ‘How I blamed them for my father’s suicide.’ He took a breath. ‘The resort would be there for everyone to see, every day of their lives, and I wanted every single employee to not be from this island.’
It sounded so much worse saying it out loud than it had in emails or messages with Stathis, even with the man in planning in Corfu Town. More expletives, men on their feet, outraged.
‘I wanted to make money, yes, I wanted to achieve success, definitely. But, more than anything, I wanted to hurt everyone I thought had hurt my father, hurt my mother, hurt me. These plans, they were born out of nothing but revenge.’
He wished he had his notes, just to hold something with his hands as his fingers trembled. He couldn’t lose it now. He took a second, looked over the rows of people. And there was his grandmother, seated near the back. She nodded her head and it gave him the strength to internally regroup.
‘But I was wrong… and I was stupid,’ Kostas carried on. ‘From the moment I arrived back here on Kerkyra, everyone treated me with so much kindness and respect I definitely did not and do not deserve. And, as much as it pained me to admit to myself, being back here, it did feel like coming home. And that scared me at the time, because how could it feel like that when my end game was to destroy how the island is and replace it with a vacation vision for the future so at odds with what Kerkyra is?’ He sighed, looked out into the audience. ‘Being here, being on the island, being amongst everyone, remembering how it feels to be part of it, it changed everything. And all the things I thought I knew about what happened back then, with my parents, with my injury and the attack in Athens, I saw it with fresh eyes and then… someone gave me a completely new understanding.’
He took a breath. There was so much more he wanted to say, so much good he hoped he could now do here on the island, but it had to come later. No one was going to want to listen to a man they despised. Just like hisyiayiahad said, it would take time for him to build people’s confidence again, if it was even possible at all. For now, there was only one thing he needed to make clear.
‘So, you should know, as of late last night, I have signed a ninety-nine-year lease on this land. It’s finalised. And it’s mine.’
There were gasps, more outrage and uproar until he put his fingers to his lips and whistled loud, cutting the air. He put his hand to his chest and the badge that sat there, heart hammering, eyes beading with tears, emotionally spent. Just a few more words.
‘And I am going to do absolutely nothing but protect it. For ninety-nine years, at least, no one is going to be able to come and build anything on the paradise that is Avlaki.’
This time, when he looked into the audience, he only saw one person and they were already locking eyes with him. Faye.
69
As the conference room descended into chaos, Faye couldn’t think straight. And with people beginning to stand and have conversations over conversations, pulling at their neighbour’s shirt sleeves or toying with worry beads as they tried to fathom it all, she tried to find Kostas through the crowd.
‘What is going on?’ Katerina exclaimed, hair flying out behind her as she arrived next to Faye. ‘He owns the land now? How can that happen? Before our first meeting of protest!’
‘I don’t know,’ Faye said, eyes searching the room. He had said a lease, hadn’t he? That wasn’t the same as ownership.
‘And what does he mean he will protect it? No one spends millions of pounds on something for no reason,’ Katerina continued. ‘And that must be the kind of money we are talking about!’
‘I really don’t know anything, Katerina.’ She needed to see him. Talk to him.
‘Well, we need to find out! And quickly! Before he signs something else. Seeing as apparently you can do that all hours of the day or night! It is like aperíptero!’
