Taken by the Greek Billionaire(4)

The last thing she would wear tonight was a black ninja style balaclava. Penny took it from the bottom of the garment bag and stuffed it in the spare pocket of her waist bag. It left only her eyes free and completed the outfit. But it wouldn’t be put on yet. Walking through the streets of London looking like she’d stepped out of Charlie’s Angels would be about as stupid as the leather gloves, and Penny grinned as she grabbed a long denim jacket to wear over her body suit.

There all done. The only thing that remained was to pull her hair into a tight lacquered braid and she could be on her way. She should be pleased, she thought. All her preparations were complete. Only Penny wasn’t, and that shocked the hell out of her. For the first time since she, Rachel, and Lyra had come up with their plan she felt a twinge of nerves. Not full blown, she wouldn’t allow that, but there was definitely something. A sort of stirring low in her belly.

She shut her eyes tightly and took a deep breath. It was the pressure, pushing her into feeling shaky. She had to bank it down. If she fucked up it would mess up her sisters’ missions, and that could not be allowed to happen! It couldn’t. “There’s no time for this,” she said aloud, her words echoing in their tiny bedroom.

Her eyes snapped open, gaze travelling to Rachel’s bed, which of course was tidy in the extreme. The pink patchwork bedspread Lyra had bought her two Christmases ago lay perfectly straight and smoothed out. The knick knacks on her bedside cabinet were all lined up properly. One was a miniature, chocolate colored bear that Penny had given her for her eighteenth birthday. It clutched a little posy of flowers with a tiny sign saying, Rachel Rocks. Penny could remember seeing it in the market and though she’d been short of cash she’d grabbed the bear. The hours walk to work the next couple of days had been more than worth the smile Rachel had given her.

Her gaze moved onto Lyra’s bed. Her king size duvet—far too big for a single—scrunched up in the middle—was like a large snowdrift. Her bedside cabinet was stacked with a pile of books so high they could topple at any moment. Penny read the titles off almost absently. Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, The Iliad. Lyra loved her classics and read them over and over again.

Finally Penny turned to look at her own bed. The bright blue duvet was haphazardly thrown across the mattress, her pillows scrunched into a tight ball, her ancient iPod ear buds trailing from the behind them. Her bedside cabinet was stacked with romance books, most bought from charity shops. Though her sisters laughed at her reading choices Penny knew they often grabbed a couple themselves to devour.

How different they all were, yet how alike.

Penny felt her sisters’ absence keenly in that moment and had to take a deep breath to steady herself. “They’re doing their part,” she said. “Time to do yours.”

She imagined Rachel had already begun. Lyra was about to start, and all their work would be pointless if she didn’t succeed—they had to secure that building. So it was her turn now. She stood up and shrugged the denim jacket on, buttoning it at the front to cover her waist bag. She’d discard it once she got on point, and it had only cost one pound fifty from the local used clothing store—so it wasn’t wasteful really.

“In a couple of hours this will all be over,” she whispered as she left the room, patting her waist bag for reassurance. “You’ll have done your part and then it’ll be up to your sisters. Just a couple of hours.”

Lyra’s words of earlier echoed in her mind then, as if her sister was standing right next to her. Yes, sweetie, and then everything will change.





Chapter Two





“What do you mean you’re not going?”

Sebastian Demetrious sighed into his Blackberry, not wanting to have this conversation at all, yet knowing it was unavoidable. “Exactly as I said,” he replied. “I will not be going.”

The person at the other end of the Blackberry, his Uncle Gosta, sucked in what Sebastian assumed was a shocked breath. “But, Sebastian, you’ve gone every year. Theos, for five years without fail you have never missed this,” he spluttered. “Everyone is expecting you. Lady Williams is counting down the moments until your arrival, which should have been over an hour ago….”

Sebastian ran a hand through his shortish black locks, thinking it was probably time to get it cut again. He was Greek and so his hair had a tendency to curl. He could only allow it to grow an inch or so before it started to do so, and it was pushing beyond that right now. “Five years is enough,” he said, pulling the keys from the ignition of his merc and mentally booking an appointment with his barber. “I have of course sent a sizeable donation in support of the event, but I see no need to personally attend it myself.”