Taken by the Greek Billionaire by Emma Shortt Page B

they’d all chipped in to buy it. It
captured them all so perfectly. Rachel was wearing a flowered top and skirt,
her blonde hair blowing in the breeze. Lyra was
kitted out in tight, faded blue jeans and red shirt, her hair piled as
haphazardly as ever. She was in her usual black jeans and tee. Her sisters. She
couldn’t help but sigh as she added the picture to the backpack. Just a couple
of days and she missed them so much.
    “Is that everything,” Sebastian asked. “There aren’t more clothes?
You don’t need a suitcase?”
    “No,” she sighed. “These are all my clothes.”
    “Okay then. So let’s get this done and get out of here.”
    “Yes,” she agreed. “Let’s get this done.”
     
     

Chapter Eighteen
     
    She directed him to
Langley
Place
, a nasty, run down sort of hotel that he was
unfamiliar with. On one side was a betting shop and on the other a Payday loans
store. The shops opposite were boarded up. As with all the other streets they’d
driven or walked up hardly any of the street lights were working and it looked
as though the rubbish collection crews hadn’t visited in a while.
    “Cheerful,” he said and Penny laughed.
    “Only the best round here.”
    He parked behind a monstrous merc even
more impressive than his and eyed the hotel with a fair few misgivings. It
looked as though it had been built in the eighties and left to slowly decay
ever since. A faded multicolored carpet was visible next to the open doors
where a huge sign said, ‘Auction, Prince Room, Six.’.
    Various people milled about, some looking a bit worse for the wear,
some looking distinctly shady and Sebastian had to fight the urge to grab Penny
to him and call his security or better still simply drive away. But he’d
promised to do this, and he always kept his promises. Besides, in return she’d
tell him whatever he wanted. Why that was so important he didn’t know, but
important it was.
    “You have the money?” she asked, interrupting his whirring thoughts.
    He nodded. “And we’re here to buy what?”
    “Property,” she said.  
    “A property auction?” he asked, wondering again why the hell she
needed a property and what made it so important that she’d had to steal to get
the money for it. The only thing he could think of was that she wanted
somewhere else for her and her sisters to live. That made sense. Their current
home was atrocious, and maybe her sisters were younger and it was her job to
provide a home for them? He’d ask, he decided, along with all the other
questions that were stacking up one after the other.  
    “Yep.”
    “But why here?” he asked pointing to the building. It was far from
being anywhere close to any sort of auction he’d ever been to. “Who on earth is
going to come here?”
    “People that live around here, and don’t be such a
snob.”
    Though she had a point he ignored it. “I am far from a snob,” he
said, “And if you keep talking like that, Penny, I will spank you senseless
when we get home.”
    She sighed and opened the car door. “Promise?”
    They began to walk up the stairs, her bag slung over her shoulder,
the money tucked away in his jacket pocket—in the form of a check book now
though not a pile of cash that would barely fit.
    “This is an auction for local property,” Penny said, pointing to the
sign. “A whole bunch came on the market a few months back but they haven’t
sold. They’re in the heart of my area and those that live there can’t afford
them and those that do won’t want them.”
    “Because of their location?”
    “Right. We’re
talking in the heart of a council estate in one of the most deprived areas in
the country. Who’s going to develop here? There’s no money, nothing. The guy
that’s selling them has tried this as a last ditch effort. It would have been
easier if we could have bought it before auction, but we didn’t have the cash.”
    “Because you hadn’t stolen it yet?”
    “Right.”
    “Then why not