Spellbound in His Arms by Angel Sefer Page A

there was no moon, Michael seemed
to know exactly where he was going. He knows these woods like the back of
his hand .
    She realized he must have known about the other way out
too, but for some reason, he hid it from her. Why? The question burned
in her mind, but she decided to leave it for later. Right now, all she needed
was a hot bath and a good night’s sleep. She was in no position to think any
more. She was exhausted physically and above all emotionally. This whole
experience had been an emotional rollercoaster and she couldn’t wait for
everything to end.
    Jackie was sure Michael kept secrets from her. No matter
what though, she needed his help. She was in way over her head. This was a very
dangerous situation, not to mention the fact she was in a foreign country, a
stranger among strangers. Michael was her only contact and she needed to stay
close to him, at least for now.
    ***
    Manos paced up and down his office, fuming. He had been
waiting on Roussos for the last couple of hours. Where the hell is he? What
if something went wrong?
    A knock on the door made him stop and spin around to
face it. “Come in!”
    Roussos stepped inside.
    “Where the hell have you been?” Manos yelled.
    “I came as soon as I could,” Roussos replied.
    “So, what happened? Did you find them?”
    “They weren’t in the attorney’s office. I turned the
whole damn place upside down, but found nothing.”
    “What?” Manos slammed his fist on his desk. “What do you
mean they weren’t there? Where could they be?”
    “I have no idea…maybe…”
    “Maybe, what?”
     “They might be at a bank.”
    “A safety deposit box!” Manos exclaimed. “Why didn’t I
think of that? All we need to do is find out which bank the attorney was
dealing with.”
    “Find the bank and then what ? Breaking into the
attorney’s office is one thing, but robbing a bank?”
    “We’ll do what we have to do ,” Manos replied
giving Roussos a lethal look.
    “You’ll have to find someone else for that! Banks
aren’t my kind of thing.”
    Manos looked at Roussos and smiled approvingly. He
wasn’t only good at getting things done, but he had turned out to be a fine
actor, as well. That idiot son of his was in for a real treat.
    “Get out of here!” he roared. “I’ll take care of
everything myself.”
    Roussos turned to leave, when he heard Manos’ voice.
“And don’t forget Elizabeth. I want this taken care of right away.”
    “Yes, sir” Roussos replied and closed the door behind
him, uttering a silent curse.
    ***
    Roussos stood for a second outside Manos’ office, just
long enough to exchange a look with Eric, who was standing at the door of the
dark closet behind Elizabeth’s empty office. Then, he left quietly.
    Eric stood at the dark closet, smiling satisfied. It
was so smart of me , he thought, to get Roussos on my side .
    Roussos hated Philip Manos as much as Eric did. And now
Eric had an even greater reason to hate Philip. Roussos had given Eric
Michael’s birth certificate which he had stolen from the mansion, after he had
left the attorney’s office empty handed.
    This document infuriated Eric, and he realized one more
time his father was nothing but a ruthless bastard, who didn’t hesitate to
destroy other people’s lives for his own gain. And not only that, but he took
pleasure out of doing it, as well.
    ***
    Michael sat at the kitchen table with his notes and a
hot cup of coffee in front of him. Now that Jackie was safely sleeping
upstairs, he could concentrate on the evidence he had so far.
    Tony and he had been watching Manos for quite some time
now and were sure he was involved in all kind of illegal stuff. But they needed
proof—solid evidence—to put him behind bars once and for all. Philip Manos was
a very rich and powerful man with high profile social connections and no one
had been able to touch him so far.
    The night of the shipwreck that had killed Constantinos
and his father came back to his mind and