The Greeks Demand

Chapter 1

It all started years ago and the strain of all the years in between wasn’t enough since she is once again tortured by chance as she stared into those all to familiar dark pools of brown eyes. Those unchanged eyes that had haunted her dreams for these last three years.

Niklas sat there staring at her as she poured his wine; once again he has found her serving him, even though it isn’t in the way he prefers. He caught her crystal blue eyes as they racked over his face in disbelief. It was a turn of events, he had heard about her misfortune and had planned to revel in it whilst he was in Manchester, maybe even made an appearance at the auction and catch her when she was at her lowest, but fate intends to be cruel throwing him into an unexpected, uncontrollable situation.

Niklas, a name she hasn’t spoken in 3 years, a resolve she had set for herself. She was stubborn enough to stop herself from recalling his name, but the memories were a lot harder keeping at bay. He had cast a spell over her from the moment she met him six years ago.

6 years ago

Avoiding the world once again, trying her best to be invisible she snuck into the country club bar taking a seat at the booth furthest from anyone. Even as an unknown guest she had captured the attention of every man the moment she came walking in, Her beauty something she was use to and never took advantage of. Her long thick brown hair cascaded down the back of her slender body, bouncing from the steps she took to her table. Her big blue eyes scanning the room for a place to sit.

She had caught the eyes of one man in particular, Niklas Liakoss. Sitting opposite the door he had been the first to be knocked down by her natural beauty. He couldn’t help but look upon the girl as she entered. In that few seconds he had sketched her face into his memory. Her eyes big and bold, almost a electric blue, a straight nose, defined cheekbones and a slight flush of pink stained her face from the attentive eyes on her. She was the most beautiful women he had ever seen.

She took a seat and let go of the breath that she had been holding since she walked into the bar. Her father would drop dead at the sight of it. She pushed her hair out of her face and behind her ear, clearing her view which was when she got caught by his eyes. She felt compelled to stare back at him just as he was staring at her, but her shyness made her look down. She had never been confronted with a person that had such a demanding presence that left her breathless from across the room.

“Hey can I get you something to drink?” The waiters’ words pulled her out of the spell she had fallen under. Her heart was still beating like a drum; she stole a glance at the guy across the room. It gave her such a rush it almost felt like a dirty secret when their eyes met.

“Excuse me?” The waiter caught her attention again.

“Sorry.” She smiled at the waiter in front of her, “Can I get a dry lemon schweppes with ice and a slice of lemon.”

“Sure.” He mumbled and left with her order, not sparing her a second glance, not that she cared. The only glance that mattered to her was the one from the demanding stranger.  Arabelle kept her eyes down, pretending to be busy on her phone. She could still feel his eyes on her, her skin feeling hot, as if his gaze was scorching her. The next time she looked up was when the waiter placed her drink on the table.

It continued the stolen glances over the rims of their drinks. The air seemed to fill with a visible tension. She felt something stir in her, something she’d rather not acknowledge. She placed some money on the table and left.

Niklas signaled the waiter, “Who was that girl?” He demanded. “I don’t know Mr. Liakoss. The bar is open for public use as well and she paid with cash.” He swallowed the last of his whiskey, then threw a few bills on the table and walked outside to find her. He has never run after a woman before. In fact he has never been so intrigued by one, she had awoken a desire in him from across a room, what would happen if they were close enough to touch each other.

She was standing outside near a black mini cooper talking on the phone, it didn’t seem like she was all that interested in the conversation. She was looking up at the stars, coiling some of her hair in between her fingers. She sighed audibly. “Qui Maman.” She answered the person on the phone just as she saw him approaching her. “Au revoir.” She ended the call, their eyes not leaving each other for a second.

Arabelle felt nervous at the thought that he had followed her out, she felt apprehensive as he approached her. He was a very large male, with him sitting down it was already intimidating, but this was a lot worse, he would tower over her. This wasn’t why her stomach was in knots. The man nearing her was absolutely gorgeous. She felt herself wondering if he wasn’t just walking to his car, instead of towards her. She felt that it must have been that, she must have imagined all the tension and unnerving looks.

Niklas watched as her eyes filled with apprehension, he should have known randomly approaching her...no following her would raise a few red flags. She seemed like a deer in the headlights of a car hurling at it. He stopped right in front of her.

“Good evening.” His voice seeming too deep and too loud. Will he scare this frightened deer away? He looked at her expecting her to run or even scream both fitted the situation. What had he been thinking following her out like this?

“Yes?” If the situation was different she would have a different reaction, he wasn’t oblivious to the effect he had on women, most of his conquests gave in without any fight at all, no chase, no fun.

“You can’t look at a man as you had looked at me and then just leave without introducing yourself.” He saw the way she swallowed; he knew he had an affect on her after all.

“Since when has approaching strangers been acceptable?

“Since when have women become so clever?” He argued back

“This isn’t the 50’s.”

“All the better! I like women with a voice of their own, I’m Niklas Liakoss.” She looked up at him weighing her options, what will be the harm in introducing herself, what will be the chance of them ever meeting again.

“I’m Arabelle.”A smile appeared on his face

“A French beauty.” He had caught the few French words she had spoken, the basics she hadn’t sound fluent.

“Only in birth.” He nodded; he had expected that she had studied French, as for being French she was seriously lacking in what should be her natural tongue.

“This is going to be straight forward, but I always go for what I want...May I have your number so that I can set a time for our date tomorrow.” A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, which gave Niklas a feeling of accomplishment.

“How presumptuous of you! What makes you think that I don’t already have plans?” His smile grew even more, a full on cocky smile now as he stared into her eyes.

“I don’t presume that you don’t have plans, I presume that you will cancel them in order to see me again.” She started digging in her handbag only to reveal her car keys.

 “Maybe you’re too confident.” She said unlocking her car. Niklas still had hope; maybe she would get a card from inside the car. She got in the car; smiling at him she shut the door and started the ignition. Niklas took a few steps back shocked that she had turned him down. As she pulled out the parking he started walking away fuming.

Arabelle smiled as he walked away, she had to knock him down a little. She didn’t drive off though she wrote her number on the fogged up window and pushed the horn of the car. Niklas turned around and looked at the car. He took out his phone and typed in her number. She felt warm and bubbly inside as she finally drove off.

End of flashback

Arabelle finished pouring the wine, Niklas eyes were fixed on her. He felt amazed by how she looked even more beautiful than she did all those years ago, but he could see the anger festering in her clear blue eyes, they were steadily, but surely turning into an icy storm. It’s a side she keeps hidden well, he remembered every second of their three year affair.

After the night they met everything happened all too fast. Niklas thought he had found the perfect girl for him. She served him and yet she opposed him at every step of the way. Everything was working perfectly until the one benefit that she had attended with him a few months into their affair.

It was a fund-raising benefit where famous artist exhibited their works to be sold, all the profits going to an orphanage. They were getting along so well that night. Arabelle was flirty and cheeky and Niklas was possessive and demanding. He felt like the luckiest man with the beautiful creature that was clinging to his side in a sheer navy blue evening gown, her dark brown hair curled and pinned to the side, most of it had fallen out as the night had progressed. Her eyes looking seductive circled in black liner, long lashes throwing shadows on her cheeks as she innocently looked up through them at Niklas. She felt like the luckiest girl with his strong arms holding her close letting everyone know that she was his. They were admiring a photograph shot in black in white showing a few rays of sun, shining straight through the clouds onto crops, it was beautiful an example of everything in nature working together. A guy had approached them stopping right in front of the photograph.  

“If it isn’t little miss proper De lancret.” Niklas grip on Arabelle intensified as the guys’ eyes roamed her body.

“I...” Arabelle didn’t recognize the guy from anywhere.

“Of course you wouldn’t remember me princess, the last time you saw me you were 15 and was shipped from daddy’s castle to mommy’s.” The anger was building in Niklas, he was irritated by the way this man was acting familiar towards Arabelle. It bothered him especially since he didn’t have an idea of what the guy was talking about.

“Sorry I don’t remember you, that was over five years ago.” The guy smile kindly at Arabelle.

“I can’t expect you to remember every guys heart you broke by just smiling at them...The effect of being ridiculously rich excuses you from seeing the little people.” His voice held resentment at the last words, he had basically sneered them at her.

“Ridiculously rich?” Niklas questioned frowning at Arabelle, whom he believed to be a normal 20 year old student that lived in a small, but decent one bedroom apartment walking distance from her university.

“Yes the only daughter to the De Lancret empire and then their is her mothers fashion line that is present in any and all exclusive boutiques throughout Europe and the UK.” He never thought of Arabelle as a gold digger, he liked the idea of taking care of her. He had thought that she had seen him instead of his bank account, but in reality she had a wealth that equaled his, if it didn’t over take his.

“It was nice to meet you, but Arabelle and I have to get home, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Niklas took the class of wine out of her hand and put it down on a near by table before ushering her out of the building and into their car. He got in without saying a word and drove off. The silence was deadly, Arabelle felt it choking her, like all the oxygen was being sucked from the car. She let go of an audible sigh to no prevail as Niklas just stared out in front of him. In the end she had to break the silence.

“You want to talk about whatever is bothering you?” She asked him giving his inner thigh a squeeze.

“What do you mean? What could possibly be bothering me? Except the fact that the girl I live with has been lying to me about her background for the last six months of our affair.” She let go of his leg and rubbed her hand over her face in frustration, pinching the bridge of her nose as she felt the headache coming on.

“I never lied about my background. I never said that I wasn’t from an influential family. We never even talked about our families. Anyway my parents are rich not me! I want to build my own life.”

“You went from Arabelle De Lancret business student living in a small apartment to the only heir of one of the elite families of the world! That’s two entire worlds apart.” She took a deep frustrating breath. He was pressing all the wrong buttons her anger was building up. They fight every single day about silly misunderstandings, but him being so difficult and one sided is making the anger burn her inside restraints.

“I thought of all the people you would understand and appreciate that I want to make a name for myself, that is what you did, right? You didn’t take any shortcuts in life.” He kept quiet again and stared out in front of him.

“That’s not the point.” He said after awhile still not looking at her.

“Of course it isn’t! So please tell me what is the point?” She was completely over this argument and felt she wouldn’t be able to say anything right at the moment. He had already made up his mind about the situation and she has been voted as the wrong party. It’s never a win-win or lose-lose situation with them. In this relationship it is a win – lose situation and she was never the party on the winning side.

“Trust! I have been living with you for two months and you haven’t thought to share half of you live with me. What if I have requested to meet your parents what then?” She sighed twirling a piece of her hair in between her fingers.

“Fine, when do you want to meet them? You will need to take some time off of work. That is if you can spare a day or two out of you busy schedule, because we know you don’t have time for anything else, least of all your girlfriend.” She spit the words at him, trying to hit a sensitive spot and see his demeanour c***k.

“I have told you before we aren’t exclusive, yes we are seeing each other and living together, but you aren’t my girlfriend! I don’t do superficial labels.” Another argument they had have over and over again. If she knew how he had felt about his precious labels she would have never moved in with him. When she found out she had already sold her apartment and was deeply in love with him. She feels cheap at times, hidden away in his house, being there whenever he needs her and he flaunts her in public as what? His live-in friend? Of course not she is his mistress it’s as simple as that.

“Why do I need to take time off?” He asked finally taking his eyes of the road and looking at her for a fleeing moment before pulling into their driveway and opening the gate.

“If it escaped your notice but my parents are divorced! My mom lives in Paris and my dad lives here in Manchester.” The gate was finally open and they drove into the yard to the garage.

“Fine, I’ll take a few days off.” Arabelle was extremely pissed by his attitude and wanted to lash out at him for making her feel like an untrustworthy slut.

“You know meeting the parents is an exclusive thing.” She threw at him over the roof of the car as they got out to head into the house. Niklas wasn’t about showing his wealth to the world, even if his house wasn’t simple it wasn’t flashy. He unlocked the door that went into the house and switched off the alarm.

“Why do you keep on pushing for a fight?” He asked as he took of his jacket throwing it on the couch.

“Why can’t you just let the fight blow over and leave it at that? Why keep on adding wood to the fire, Agapi mou?” That Greek endearment stabbing at her heart ‘My love’ as if, what a lie!

“Well I’m going to bed, my own bed. Ring, when you need me master! I’m here to serve you...Shoot is ‘master’ labeling it?” His face was classic, he was taken aback by her words for extra measure she unzipped her dress and let it fall down on the steps as she walked up them. She knew just how to make him regret their fights.