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Sicilian millionaire to leave the room before getting up from his post and stalking towards MJ.
    Pulling out the newspaper he kept stuck in his jeans’ back pocket, he threw it at MJ’s face. “Thought you’d like some morning reading,” he sneered.
    MJ forced herself to open her eyes as something swatted her face. She picked it up gingerly, realizing that it was a day-old tabloid. Unfolding it, she sucked her breath in when she saw its headlines. Holding the paper between her hands, she walked to the wastebasket and it was there she tore the offensive thing into pieces. Something inside her whispered she was making a big mistake…that she was missing something here, but MJ was in too much pain to listen to the more sensible part of her.
    Even with her eyes closed, the pictures on the tabloid still burned in her mind. It can’t be him , she thought feverishly. It must be an old photo, drummed out by Herod Andreadis. Or maybe it was—
    A sob caught in her throat.
    The photo had Helios inside the penthouse suite of a hotel, which had only been completed this month. The Christopoulos family owned the hotel, and she and Helios had been invited to attend its grand launch. Now she knew Helios was able to attend…but not with her.
    No, no, no, no—
    Panic waltzed back into her imagination, mockingly repeating the words MJ was screaming inside her mind.  
    It was only when she heard James laughing above her that MJ realized she had sunk to her knees. “It’s not true,” she whispered, but the lack of conviction in her voice made her flinch.
    “It is true, you stupid cunt,” James jeered. “Want me to bring you old issues? All of them has Helios in it, with different women in his arms each week.” The misery in her face filled him with glee, and when he looked down at her, he didn’t really see MJ. It was the face of MJ’s father he saw, crumpled with pain and defeat.  
    Too bad Vlahos was dead. It would have been better if he had been alive. James would have sent snapshots of MJ’s injuries over the years, and this would have been his crowning glory.
    “You should get up,” James said brusquely. “You wouldn’t want Manolito to see you like that, would you? He might realize that you still love Helios Andreadis, and…”
    The door behind them swung open.
    MJ froze, the sound of it filling her mind with terror.
    “If I realize my little dear still wants her Greek lover, what would I do?”
    MJ’s teeth sank into her lip as Manolito pulled her head back by the hair. Their eyes met just before Manolito’s gaze turned wild with rage. He spat at her face, and she couldn’t even react, every part of her immobilized by fright.
    He wasn’t just angry , MJ thought numbly. He was livid, murderously so.
    He spit at her again, and she didn’t even blink.
    “You thought to string me along for the ride while you wait for your young Greek lover to rescue you?”
    She started to shake her head, but this only seemed to inflame him more. The last thing she saw was Manolito’s boot-covered foot heading towards her face.
    As everything went dark, imaginary Helios fell to his knees. Let me see you, brat.
    Oh, how she had wanted to hear those words from him for so long. But now they meant nothing.
    ****
    James gazed down at the check he held in his hands. One million dollars. It was his. And it was all thanks to Vlahos and Madeline’s brat. Shoving it back into his shirt’s breast pocket, he shrugged into his leather jacket and grabbed his overnight bag from the bed. It was time to go. He knew how things worked in Manolito’s world. Regular deposits into his bank account meant Manolito would keep MJ around until she broke. But a one-time payment like this? He doubted she would last more than a week.
    When he got to the airport, James decided to take a flight to Nassau on a whim. He used to go there for vacation between races, and back in the day, the parties there had been wild. It had been years since he had been