When Christakos Meets His Match(51)

                ‘Demetrius—’

                The man butted in. ‘Alexio, I did some more digging via some colleagues in Paris and you need to hear this... Sidonie’s mother persuaded her sister to take out a mortgage on a flat her husband had bought and paid for years before. She also maxed out credit cards in her sister’s name. She died leaving the woman in so much debt that she’ll never recover.’

                Alexio felt angry now and gritted out, ‘What does this have to do with Sidonie?’

                ‘You met her when she was on her way home from Paris?’

                ‘Yes,’ Alexio agreed curtly, regretting having ever involved his friend like this.

                ‘She’d just signed an agreement to accept responsibility for all those debts on her aunt’s behalf. Now, let me ask you this—has she given any hint at all that she’s a woman with a huge financial burden on her shoulders? If not,’ his friend went on heavily, ‘you have to ask yourself why she’s acting as if nothing is wrong.’

                * * *

                When Sidonie woke again she was alone in the bed and for some reason her belly went into a ball of tension. Something was wrong. She could feel it.

                She lifted her head and looked around. No sign of Alexio. Maybe he’d gone for a swim? He was a powerful swimmer and liked the sea as opposed to the pool.

                Muscles protesting pleasurably as she sat up, Sidonie got out of bed and went to the bathroom, tying her hair up so that it wouldn’t get wet in the shower.

                When she came out again she rubbed her body dry with a towel and looked at the vast array of clothes hanging in the walk-in wardrobe. Something bitter struck her again to think of his other women, but Sidonie shoved it down. She didn’t have the right to feel jealous, possessive.

                She found some shorts and a green halterneck top and stuck them on and then went to find Alexio, still with that odd feeling of foreboding in her belly. Before she could leave the bedroom, though, she heard the sound of her phone ringing. She kept it on mainly in case Tante Josephine was looking for her, and when she located it at the bottom of her bag she saw that it was her aunt.

                Expecting nothing more than her aunt wanting to chat, Sidonie sat on the edge of the bed and answered warmly in French. Her smile faded in an instant, though, when all she could hear were racking sobs from the other end of the phone.

                Instantly Sidonie stood up. ‘Tante Josephine, what is it? Please try to stop crying...’

                Eventually her aunt was able to calm down enough to start talking, after Sidonie had encouraged her to breathe slowly. Her aunt was prone to panic attacks and Sidonie didn’t want one to happen before she could find out what was wrong.

                Through fits and starts it transpired that someone on her vacances had heard about Tante Josephine’s financial woes and put the fear of God into her by telling her all sorts of horror stories about repossessions and jail sentences for not paying debts. No wonder her aunt was hysterical.

                But no matter what Sidonie said it didn’t seem to have any effect. Her aunt was working herself up into another bout of hysterics. Desperate, Sidonie racked her brains for what she could say that might calm her down. Tante Josephine didn’t understand nuances, and Sidonie knew that if she tried to placate her with reassurances that the debts were now in her name it would have no effect. Her aunt still believed the debts were hers.

                Her aunt only understood right now—and right now, she was panicking. Sidonie knew that in her aunt’s mind the threat was as real as if gendarmes had just turned up to arrest her.