Page 3 of The Billionaire's Last-Minute Marriage
Pandora Quinn had been in the late Zeus Mytikas’s home office many times in the past six months of working at Mytikas Holdings, but not since his death. It seemed eerie now, walking along the echoing hallway of a dead man’s home. But she had one last mission to complete before she could disappear. One last act of defiance.
She had never broken a law in her life, even when Zeus had forced her to act as his spy over the past four months. She had always done her best to keep her betrayal of Xander as minimal as possible, or at least so she’d reassured herself. But breaking into the Mytikas mansion...this was most certainly crossing a legal line she’d struggle to explain if she was caught.
One last thing to accomplish. Then she could finally go back home.
The polished marble stairs that led up to the private office wing of the mansion seemed to glitter ominously, like slippery ice. The walls were powder blue and ornamented with heavily accented columns that wouldn’t look out of place in an ostentatious rococo palace. A vision of a similar pair of arctic-blue eyes came into her mind, tightening her stomach into a thick knot. She threw a quick glance over her shoulder to the foyer below, as though fearing she had somehow conjured Xander’s magnifying presence through sheer force of thought.
She felt her balance shift on the steps, her stomach lurching painfully as she tilted a couple of centimetres backwards before finding her centre of gravity again. Her frequent trips and falls had become a bit of an in-joke around the office, along with her loud voice and quirky sense of humour. She’d laughed along with the others at first, but at a certain point it had felt a little less like harmless fun and more like...well, unkind judgement.
She probably could have explained that these traits were a permanent part of her neurology, but she just didn’t fancy trying to describe the various nuances of the autism spectrum to people who barely even remembered her name most days. If they had wanted to know more about her, they would have asked.
Working for a corporation that dealt with almost every global financial market meant it wasn’t unusual for her to be running errands on the weekend. But today wasn’t just any normal Sunday. Today her boss, powerful Greek financier Xander Mytikas, was marrying one of the wealthiest socialites in New York.
Herformerboss, she reminded herself sternly and couldn’t resist the urge to take another quick glance at the sleek digital watch on her wrist. It was almost four in the afternoon. The wedding was probably long over by now, the happy couple most likely already on their way to the airport for their luxurious Asian honeymoon. Her stomach tightened uncomfortably.
She hadn’t meant to reveal the details of Xander’s top-secret wedding plans, or the connected business dealings. Especially not to Arista Theodorou, of all people. It was common knowledge within the company that Zeus’s long-time mistress and Xander had been at war from the moment Zeus had fallen ill.
Guilt aside, she knew that this last step was necessary. She had already formally communicated her resignation to the HR department. Perhaps she had waited until the very last moment when she knew Xander would not see it until after he’d returned from his honeymoon, but she had done it nevertheless.
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Pandora exhaled the breath she’d been holding in and began looking for the large safe that Arista had mentioned was in this office. She’d been surprised to find the house was completely deserted on her way in, so she didn’t try to be quiet as she tapped and banged along the wall to find any hollow spots. A small cry of victory escaped when she finally heard the echo and opened up a hidden panel in the wall to reveal a large, reinforced steel door.
Her hands shook as she turned the dial and placed her ear next to the old-fashioned mechanism. Finally, a useful situation for her super-sensitive hearing. After a few unlucky attempts, she tried the short emergency combination from the private CEO elevator in the office, which she had never actually had the chance to use. To her surprise, she heard the pins click into place within the lock mechanism. The large heavy door swung open revealing an unlit, smallish rectangular room beyond.
The old house dated back to the prohibition era and was filled with hidden tunnels and exits, just perfect for a slippery, paranoid old man like Zeus.
Her skin grew clammy and everything within her clenched against the thought of going inside the enclosed space, but still she took that first step and then another. She couldn’t find a light inside, so she used the torch on her phone to perform a quick scan of the shelves. All of Zeus’s old files lined the walls and within them somewhere was the damning evidence of whatever it was Zeus had on her mother that Pandora had spent the past six months trying to retrieve.
Evidence that esteemed Irish senator Rosaline Quinn still refused to reveal the exact details of to her beloved daughter, other than to allude that it had the potential to end her long-running career. Which wasn’t entirely unsurprising, Pandora thought with a frown, considering dear old Zeus had been best known for his shady deals and lascivious affairs.
Six months ago, her family had received an invitation to attend a gala in New York. It had seemed like such a glamorous opportunity at the time, and she’d been confused by her mother’s reluctance to attend.
At the event with her family, dressed in all their finery, Pandora had overheard what was meant to be a private conversation between the Greek tycoon and her mother. Zeus had clearly been waiting to call in a favour from Rosaline. A favour that her mother had been unable to deliver. The old man had got an evil gleam in his eye, spotting Pandora and calling her to enter the room where they’d been arguing. She’d tried to play the hero for the first time in her life...and she had ended up indebted to the devil himself.
With that thought, she scanned the room and landed on another row of cases along the very back wall. The evidence had to be here, it just had to be. Her hands seemed to fly frantically, flipping through the files within.
The sound of her mobile phone ringing was a sudden shock to her system, making her jump and drop one of the black file boxes across the floor. But the name on the screen made her pause, frowning. Arista Theodorou. What on earth could she want now?
The woman’s smug tone assaulted her ear and Pandora instinctively winced. ‘Just saying thank you for the information, darling, and paying you back in kind. I’d get as far away from Xander as you can, if I were you. Being jilted certainly won’t improve his temper and when he finds out you were involved, it won’t end well for you.’
Jilted? What on earth did Arista mean? Her mind spinning, Pandora straightened her spine and stared down at the phone. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about but I wasn’tinvolvedin the way you’re implying. You were the one who tricked me into revealing confidential information. You got what you wanted when you found out about Xander’s deal with his bride.’
She ended the call with a sharp press of her thumb, turning the screen black in her hand. For a long moment she simply stared down at the rectangle of metal and plastic, Arista’s cryptic messages echoing in her ears. Guilt roiled in her stomach as she tried to ignore the wordjilted...surely the older woman was lying. That kind of thing didn’t happen in perfect society weddings, did it?
She returned to the safe, hefting a particularly large box out into the well-lit office. The lid lifted up on a hinge to reveal many smaller boxes embossed with the names of familiar luxury jewellery brands. Sure enough, one glimpse inside revealed an astonishingly expensive-looking diamond watch. She sat back on her heels, wondering if perhaps she should just give up. If she couldn’t even find Zeus’s evidence, who was to say that Xander would either? Maybe she was better off just cutting her losses and running back to Ireland. But if he came after her with legal action over the NDA for talking to Arista, she could bring further scandal to her mother’s door...
She was so completely engrossed in her own anxious ruminations that it took a moment for her to register the faint sound of movement in the room behind her. Almost as though some part of her brain knew what she would find, she turned her head centimetre by centimetre, then felt the breath freeze in her lungs as she was pinned by a familiar ice-blue gaze.
‘Hello, Quinn.’
Xander stood in the office doorway, his wide frame becoming very still as his eyes scanned the room, moving over her armful of treasures, and came to a stop upon the wide-open safe door. ‘Am I interrupting something?’
Pandora became aware of three things at once. One, Xander Mytikas was absolutely devastating in a tuxedo. Two, he was staring at the mess of files behind her on the floor of the safe and was probably going to have her arrested for breaking and entering. And three, he should be on his honeymoon right now but he wasn’t even wearing a wedding ring.
‘Is this the reason you resigned?’ Xander’s voice was deceptively calm as he took one slow step into the room. ‘Because you planned to hit the jackpot and run?’
Pandora shook her head, her mouth suddenly unable to form words as she took one equal step backwards, her eyes darting back towards the mess in the safe again before she could stop herself. Almost in slow motion, her eyes snagged on a particular label and she felt her jaw sag. There it was: her mother’s maiden name in stark black lettering amid the chaos of a pile of blank brown folders. She froze, her body tightening like a coiled spring.
Xander’s eyes followed her gaze towards the safe, his mouth twisting with anger.
