Sofie nodded. ‘I... Yes... We’re...together.’ She felt so awkward.
The other woman said conspiratorially, ‘You’re not his usual type.’
Sofie made a face. ‘You don’t need to remind me.’
Lucy Levakis laughed. ‘No, I mean that in a good way. I’ve always thought there was more to that man than the hedonistic playboy he presented to the world.’
‘Do you know him?’
‘He’s done some business with my husband, Ari Levakis, over the years. We’ve met socially. But I guess it’s understandable that he would go off the rails after such an awful tragedy.’ She winked at Sofie. ‘You’re a breath of fresh air—and a good sign that he’s not totally unredeemable.’
Sofie smiled weakly. She was dying to ask if the ‘tragedy’ referred to Achilles’s family and how they’d died.
‘Darling, there you are. I need you to help me deal with the Demetrious couple—that woman is insufferable.’
A very handsome man, about the same height as Achilles, appeared by Lucy’s side. The zing of love and passion between them was almost palpable.
Lucy tore her gaze off her husband and looked back at Sofie. She introduced her husband and then said, ‘It was really nice to meet you, Sofie. Good luck. I hope to see you again.’
She winked at her and then they were gone, hand in hand. Clearly one of the very rare couples that Achilles had referred to as being genuine.
It made Sofie feel a little off-centre to have met someone so normal. As if the real world had collided with this fantasy existence for a moment, giving her a tantalising sense that perhaps it worked for some people...
At that moment Achilles appeared, and Sofie had to force that rogue notion out of her head. Her existence in Achilles’s world would only ever be transitory.
He stopped beside her and slipped his arm around her waist. He looked at the painting she was still standing before. ‘You like this one?’
She pointed to the notice beside it. ‘It’s a million euros.’
‘If you like it I’ll buy it for you.’
Sofie thought for a moment. ‘No, let someone else buy it. You can just donate the money to the charity.’
‘Done.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘It’s like Monopoly money to you, isn’t it?’
Achilles shrugged. ‘I can’t apologise for what I was born into. It’s a legacy.’
‘One I think you don’t exactly relish...’
Achilles’s face hardened. ‘I have no problem with the legacy. I have an issue with how it came to me.’
‘Your family...?’
More people came into the space around them and Achilles caught her hand, pulling her outside to a quiet terrace, where flaming lanterns flickered over the space throwing out golden light.
He let her hand go. ‘Did you look it up?’
Sofie shook her head. ‘No... I wouldn’t do that after the last time. Achilles, look...you don’t have to tell me anything, but clearly it’s out there. Maybe it’s better I hear it coming from you than someone else?’
Achilles’s mouth tightened. He turned away and looked out over the view. Soft jazz music drifted on the breeze. People were laughing.
He said, after a long moment, ‘My family had a yacht. Me and my parents and my younger brother and sister, Darius and Olympia—’
‘Darius...’ breathed Sofie. ‘That’s where the name came from.’
‘Yes. It popped into my head. But I didn’t remember the significance. Obviously. We were all on the yacht—it was about this time of year, the end of summer. I was leaving the yacht early, because I was due to go to Athens and from there back to London to school. My family were going to follow me in a couple of weeks. I was thirteen, my brother was nine and my sister six.’
It was as if Achilles was speaking from a script. Sofie wanted to touch him but he seemed too remote. Caught in memory.
‘I had just got onto the launch and was heading away from the yacht. They were all waving. Darius and Olympia had made a banner, saying how much they loved me and would miss me. Even though I’d see them again in two weeks. They held it up so I could read it just before...’
He stopped. Gritted his jaw.
‘Just before the explosion.’
Sofie was very still.
‘Everyone on the yacht was killed instantly. It was an accident. A fault in the engine. Leaking fuel that caught fire. We were hit by debris. I woke up in a hospital in Athens about a day later. I thought it had been a bad dream, but it wasn’t. They were all gone. In an instant. For ever.’
‘That’s why you had that nightmare after seeing the boat on the lake. You hate boats...’ Sofie realised then that she hadn’t seen any pictures of Achilles on boats or near them. Apart from the one in his father’s study in London.
It was as if Achilles didn’t hear her. He gestured with his head to the dark sea around the island. ‘It happened out there. I own this island. This event was devised by my mother because she loved the arts so much. She took great pleasure in separating the cynical masses from as much of their money as possible, encouraging them to outdo each other.’
Sofie was trying to absorb the fact that this was his family’s island. ‘She sounds like she was a lot of fun.’
‘She was. She didn’t take any of this too seriously. She really didn’t care about wealth, or status. Our family villa is on the other side of the island...’
Sofie said nothing. She was reading between the lines. Achilles hadn’t been back there in years. If ever.
Achilles continued, ‘My parents were one of those few couples who really adored each other. And us. We were a very happy family. I loved my brother and sister. I would have done anything for them. I would have died for them.’
‘But you survived.’
‘Yes. I survived. So that I could live with the reminder every day that I have inherited a legacy that was theirs as much as mine.’
Before Sofie could even try to articulate a response to that he looked at her.
‘I live with the reminder that what I lost can never be recreated,’ he said. ‘I had a family and I lost it. I will never suffer such loss again.’
Sofie’s heart ached. ‘But, Achilles, no matter what you do there’s no guarantee that—’
‘Of course there is. It’s very simple. I will never marry. Never have a family.’
‘What about the Lykaios legacy? Don’t you owe it to your family to keep it alive?’
Achilles’s mouth twisted. Sofie had never seen him so bleak.
‘I owe it to them to make the company successful. I owe it to the employees who trust in me to guard their livelihoods. When I leave this company it will be more successful than it’s ever been, and it will be run by a board who will protect its interests—not a family who can be destroyed in a second.’
‘But you weren’t destroyed.’
‘Wasn’t I?’ He shook his head. ‘Don’t look at me like that, Sofie. I’m not looking for sympathy.’
Sofie tried her hardest to push the emotion down. But it was hard. She knew in that moment, fatefully, that she’d gone way past a point of fooling herself that she could walk away from Achilles unscathed.
Feeling almost angry with him for getting under her skin so comprehensively, she said, ‘I can’t pretend not to be affected, Achilles. I’m a normal person with normal reactions. I care about you. I wouldn’t be with you if I didn’t.’
‘You’re too nice.’