Taken by the Greek Billionaire(39)
“Sebastian—”
“Just get the fuck out of my home, Penny!”
The violence in his voice made her jump back and Penny clutched the deeds to her chest. “I didn’t—”
“Didn’t what?” he roared. “Lie to me? Take me for a fucking fool? And the worst of it is I suspected from the very beginning and ignored it all! I wanted you that badly and you fucking knew it, you bitch.”
Where had the weight on her chest come from? Where? Penny stepped forward, unable, despite everything, to bear the accusations, the lies. “Sebastian—”
“But no more,” he interrupted and he stepped forward, his hand around her arm again. He was pulling her forward, his grip almost painful. Through the study, the hallway, into the lobby, and then to the door.
Her heart clenched and Penny wanted to scream. “Wait,” she shrieked. “Just wait.”
“Never again. So get out, get out now or I’ll do what I should have done in the very beginning.” He spat the words out. There was none of her Sebastian left anymore.
“Just let me explain,” she said, the words fast and frantic and hurting! They hurt as they came out. Her throat burned.
But he was opening the door now, the lashing rain she hadn’t even realized was there, hadn’t even heard it against the windows, marking out the path to the gates and then onto the road, into London, to home.
“There’s nothing left for you to explain. Thanks for the sex, Kleftisa. Was it worth two hundred grand? Probably not, but let’s just call it a tip.” And with that he threw her out the door and slammed it shut right in her face.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The wood was not complying with his demands. No matter how much he rubbed it the angles were not working. Sebastian sighed and picked up another piece of sandpaper. Though the machine specifically designed for this purpose sat right next to him he felt the need to do it by hand. It soothed him somehow—or at least it used to. Tamed the beast that seemed like it was going to explode at any moment.
“Work for me,” he whispered to the wood but it did not.
Another hour and more he spent sanding and rubbing and still at the end he was nowhere closer to where he wanted to be, but hadn’t it been that way all month? Twenty nine fucking days. Twenty nine days walking around in a cloud of anger and loathing. How could so much in his life have changed so quickly?
He dropped the sandpaper and reached for his beer. It was icy cold and he shuddered as it hit his chest. But then wasn’t that encouraging! His chest had felt pretty odd of late. Like there was something heavy sitting on it. And he fucking knew what.
Penny.
His thief.
His fucking woman!
He’d been so angry, he thought, so angry but the anger had somehow begun to morph into guilt and then to denial and then back again and he’d reacted, was still reacting, in a way that made no sense. He should have pinned her against the wall and fucked her until she spoke some truth, because the more he thought about it the surer Sebastian was that Penny had been lying. Oh it had taken him a good few weeks to get there, but little things kept occurring to him and the more he considered the more something felt wrong.
Just about the money.
Not when he was buried balls deep in her. Not when she sobbed his name or snuggled into his arms as she slept. She’d lied. He was almost sure of it, and he’d had plenty of days to think it through once the thought had taken root. And he needed to know why. Not just for his own sanity, not just because the madness was still there, but because something else was too….
He carried the beer upstairs with him, wondering how he was going to fill his night. Work of course as always. What else was there?
“Demetrious?”
Max’s voice caught him as he headed for his study and Sebastian halted. He’d been giving the staff a bit more run of the house. It made sense. If Penny had taught him anything it was his vulnerabilities. Both the outer and the inner. And Max had risen to the challenge admirably. He’d put together a new team, people who were stealthy and silent and didn’t intrude on his privacy.
“Max?”
“I have the report for you.”
Another one. He scowled and took it, though part of him did not want to read it. The first report Max had given him had been a rude awakening. He’d read the story of Penny’s background, and her sisters and felt his heart clench and his guilt spiral. Abandoned by her mother when she was just four years old, her father was unknown. She’d being shunted from foster home to foster home. Difficult the reports had said. And no one had come forward to adopt her. In the end she’d ended up in the group home she’d spoken about. There were few of them left these days, one to one foster care was preferred, but back them there were many and she’d spent all her teenage years in that place. It was also where she’d met the women she’d called her sisters.