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He paused and looked for a flash of the bright orange designer dress. He had seen the pop of color every once in a while as she searched the island for an escape. Stergios now spotted her sitting on the wet sand near the house. Her blond hair was plastered against her head and her soaked dress clung to her body as the ocean waves lapped against her bare feet. With her slumped shoulders and outstretched legs, she appeared weary. Defeated.
Kidnapped.
Stergios hissed and rubbed his hands over his face. Jodie always knew what to say to pierce his armor. She would do anything to get a reaction. But it wasn’t going to work. This was not a kidnapping.
He knew what a kidnapping felt like. It was a constant state of fear and of not knowing. It was howling pain punctuated with numbness. At times he hadn’t felt human. He had been a pawn, a package. His childhood, his innocence, had been stripped from him in an instant. Worst of all, he had discovered what he was capable of and how far he would go to find freedom.
He understood what it felt like to be taken. And still... Stergios stared at Jodie. He replayed his actions in his mind and it had been strangely familiar. The truth suddenly cracked his resistance wide open. It was as if jagged shards dug deep in his chest and he couldn’t breathe.
He had made the same decision his father had made years ago.
Stergios took a shallow breath as the pain scored through him. This hadn’t been a delay or a detour. He had kidnapped someone. He had followed his instincts and had snatched Jodie in broad daylight.
He rested his forehead against the windowpane and struggled to remain standing as a cold sweat prickled his skin. The idea to abduct Jodie had come naturally and he hadn’t questioned it.
Stergios closed his eyes as the nausea swept through him. After all these years of fighting the possibility, blood will out. He thought he had been protecting his family by keeping Jodie away. Instead, he had uncovered one of his deepest fears. He had always pushed himself to be a better man than his father. To distance himself from everything the man had represented.
But every time he looked in the mirror, he was reminded of his father. Despite his achievements and milestones, nothing could cover up the fact that he was Elias Pagonis’s son.
Stergios stepped away from the window. He thrust his hands in his hair, but he didn’t feel the sting of his fingers dragging along his scalp. He had to fix this. Redeem himself. Find a way to erase his actions.
He glanced up at the sky and noticed how the trees swayed against the wind. There was no way they could leave the island tonight in this weather. And could he allow Jodie to attend the wedding? Was he willing to take that risk?
Stergios would consider the consequences later. Right now she was his obligation. He couldn’t let anything happen to her while she was here.
He strode out of the house, the door banging against the wall, and marched through the sand. Jodie’s eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of him. She scooped up her shoes as she struggled to stand up.
“You are so stubborn,” he called out over the roar of the storm.
She scurried back, poised to run. “Don’t talk to me! I’m furious with you.”
“Are you going to stay out here all night?” The wind whipped his hair as the cold sheet of rain stung his bare skin.
“Yes,” she spat out. “I’d rather catch pneumonia than be your prisoner.”
“You always pick the wrong choice,” he said in a growl as he rubbed the water from his eyes. “Instead of showing common sense, you have to make some dramatic statement.”
“This from a man who thought kidnapping was the only option.”
He had had enough. Stergios lunged forward and grabbed Jodie. She screamed as he gathered her in his arms. She fought for her release, kicking and slapping, demanding that he set her down.
“Keep that up and I’ll drop you,” he warned as he walked across the beach.
“Try it and I’ll take you down with me.”
He entered the house and walked through the living area, past the welcoming heat of the fire he had built in the fireplace. “There are two bedrooms,” he told her as he approached the door. “Mine is on the other side of the house. This one is yours. You can stay here for as long as you like.”
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