Page 1 of A Diamond Deal
Broken Greek Vows
Lela May Wight
For those who have lost, and for those who still love.
PROLOGUE
Poppy Ariti spreadthe interlinking green stems holding violet purple, sunset orange and heaven’s pink flower tips. She slotted them through the holes in the permanently placed vase.
Wildflowers. They were everywhere on the island, but these she’d picked for him.
‘Dors, mon petit,’ she sang, as she had on her every visit. A lullaby her mother had sung to her, and her grandmother to her mother. And now…
She sang it for her son.
She sang it for Isaak.
‘Sleep, little one,’ she said again, finishing her lullaby for the last time in a croaked gulp. She couldn’t stop them. Could never stop them. Tears. They fell. But today she cried not only for him.
Poppy cried for herself.
Hot, slow tears of betrayal.
‘Mrs Ariti, we have to go.’
Poppy turned to the shadow on her left, holding her small brown leather overnight bag. ‘I know,’ she said, because Serena was right. She understood her urgent tone was appropriate.
She swiped at her cheeks.
She wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye.
Six months ago, she wouldn’t have been able to contemplate leaving the Greek island of Sotiría. Her home. The one place she could be with him.Isaak.But shehadto leave him.Tonight.
She could do this, she told herself.
She was…better.
‘Au revoir, bébé.’ She leaned forward and pressed her lips to the white stone and stood from her knelt position.
Serena took her elbow. ‘Quickly now,’ she said, pulling her into step beside her.
Hair lashed into Poppy’s eyes. The coastal wind whipped at her cheeks, pushed her thick black woollen overcoat close to her breast, as if it tried to stop her escape.
Hurriedly, they made their way down the sloped path to the small boat waiting for them at the jetty. Serena, dressed all in black, stepped aboard first. She dropped Poppy’s bag onto the decking, turned, and held out her gloved hand.
‘Mind your step, Mrs Ariti.’
Poppy took her hand and placed her flat booted heel on the decking. She didn’t correct her. She’d told Serena, her personal bodyguard since Konstantinos had slipped the engagement ring onto her finger three years ago, countless times to call her Poppy. And no longer was Poppy staff, but a soon-to-be tycoon’s wife.
The paparazzi had swarmed.
She shuddered.
Formalities were unnecessary between them. Especially now Serena was no longer employed by her. In another life, she and Serena would have been friends, but notthisone.
Poppy understood her need to keep the formal barrier between them.
She understood why, after the funeral, Serena had left her employment.
