Excerpt of "Deadly Secrets" - Chapter Three, Part Three

When Helena opened her eyes next morning, the sun was shining brightly through the windows. She looked around the familiar room and felt warmth in her heart.
All of a sudden, she recalled last night’s events and jumped out of bed. She rushed to the French doors and stared outside. It was a mess—ruined bushes and toppled trees all over the place. The thunderstorm had destroyed the magnificently maintained yard. Even the small gazebo at the edge of the yard wasn’t spared by the wrath of nature’s outburst.
Feeling numb inside, Helena walked to her bathroom to wash up. Then she put on a pair on white shorts and a yellow top. Looking in themirror, she saw the dark circles under her eyes. She hastily put some makeup on. Even though, she felt defeated and heartbroken, she wasn’t about to let him know that.
Raising her chin stubbornly, she walked downstairs. She didn’t want to be late for breakfast, and give him another reason to complain.
After having breakfast with her aunt, she would take her things to a small hotel on the waterfront, which she had noticed the day beforewhen she got off the ship.
She walked around downstairs, but no one seemed to be in the house. Hearing voices from the veranda, she walked outside.
Sophie was sitting on a lounge chair with a glass of orange juice in her hand, and a very pretty young woman—about Helena’s age—was sitting right next to her. She had beautiful, long black hair and dark-brown eyes. Her skin was tanned like Sophie’s, only she was a lot prettier.
As Helena came outside, the conversation stopped. Sophie smiled at her and invited her to join them, but somehow, Helena felt she had interrupted something really important—she could feel the electricity in the air.
She glanced at the girl, who didn’t say a word; she only stared at Helena intensely behind half-closed eyelashes. Helena was uncomfortable being examined like this and experienced an instant dislike towards her.
Sophie introduced the girl—whose name was Stella—and explained to her niece that Stella lived down the street, and as soon as she heard they had a visitor, she came by to welcome her on the island. However, the expression in Stella’s eyes didn’t make Helena feel welcome at all.
Helena glanced around and noticed a few workers cleaning up the mess in the yard.
“It was a really bad storm,” Sophie stated, following her look. “We get a lot of thunderstorms around here, but the intensity of the one last night was something else.”
“Yes, it was,” Stella agreed, keeping her eyes on Helena. “I’m surprised Dimitris left and didn’t stick around to overlook the repairs.”
“He had a business appointment,” Sophie explained. “But he should be back after lunch.”
Hearing Dimitris wasn’t there, Helena felt a little more relaxed and sunk into one of the lounge chairs.
Sophie poured some orange juice for her and offered her some croissants fresh from the oven. Helena suddenly felt really hungry and spread some butter and jelly on her croissant, keeping her eyes away from Stella. She had so much on her mind; she couldn’t care less about Stella and her frosty behavior.
The conversation between Sophie and Stella went on talking about people Helena didn’t know. She listened to them absentmindedly, until they started talking about Dimitris again. Helena kept quiet, listening to Stella talking about him. It was obvious she was very fond of him, to say the least. She would melt just by saying his name.
Helena felt uncomfortable and shifted in her chair. Stella gave her a cold look and stood up, saying it was time for her to go. She wishedHelena to enjoy her short stay on the island, and Helena didn’t miss the hint.
“Thank you so much,” she replied politely. “Even though, I’m not here just for a few days. I’m here to stay,” she told Stella, and was utterly satisfied to see the shocked expression on her face.
Sophie looked at her, somewhat surprised too, but didn’t say a word. She just gave her niece a smile and wished Stella good-bye.
“What was that all about?” Sophie asked smiling, after Stella left.
“I’m not sure,” Helena replied, truthfully. “I just get very touchy when people try to tell me what to do.”
Sophie laughed and reached over to caress her niece’s cheek. “You have to forgive Stella,” she said. “She’s in love with Dimitris, and she feels threatened by your presence here.”
“Oh!” Helena said, surprised. “I didn’t know there was something going on between them.”
“I didn’t say that,” Sophie replied. “There’s absolutely nothing goingon between Stella and Dimitris,” she pointed out. “The fact she’s in love with him doesn’t mean he’s responding to her feelings. As a matter of fact, Dimitris has made it very clear long time ago that…” Sophie stopped mid-sentence, looking at Helena nervously.
“Dimitris has made what very clear?” Helena asked puzzled and intrigued.
“Nothing,” Sophie replied and stood up in a hurry. “Come on,” she changed the subject abruptly. “Let’s go for a drive. I want to show you around.”
Helena stared at her aunt, bewildered, but before she could say anything, Sophie was already on her way inside. Helena remained in her seat for a couple of minutes, looking towards the French doors her aunt had disappeared through. Why did her aunt go out of her way to make it clear there was nothing going on between Dimitris and Stella? And what was she going to say about Dimitris when she stopped? Helena’s mind was working overtime, trying to make some sense outof her aunt’s strange behavior.
And what about Stella? What was the story with her? If there was nothing going on between them, why would she be so hostile towards Helena? Maybe the Greeks weren’t the warm-hearted people she grew up to believe, after all. So far, the only person who seemed really pleased to have her here was her aunt.
“I know you must be ready to go for a ride,” Sophie said, coming back outside, holding her purse in her hands. “I also need to do some shopping, and then we can sit at one of the cafes by the waterfront and have some ice-cream.”
Helena was excited. She really wanted to go into town, since she didn’t have a chance to see much, yesterday. And what about that man at the port? she wondered, anxiously. Not wanting to upset her aunt, she hadn’t told Sophie anything about that. And from what she understood, Dimitris hadn’t mentioned anything, either. No, she decided. It was probably nothing… just some weirdo watching a pretty girl. But then again, what about the Mercedes speeding by to pick him up? Helena took a deep breath. The whole thing was bizarre, she admitted,but there’s no need to overreact. I’ll just keep an eye to make sure he won’t approach me again.
“I’ll be just a minute,” she told her aunt and rushed upstairs to take her purse. She was downstairs in a flash and followed Sophie outside.Waiting for her to get the car from the garage behind the house, gloomy thoughts clouded her day. She needed to talk to Sophie about her decision to move to a hotel, but she didn’t want to spoil their day. No, she thought, I’ll talk to her later on in the afternoon, after we come back.
Her aunt pulled up in a silver BMW Jeep.
“This is beautiful!” Helena cried out, as she opened the door to climb inside.
“I know. I love it,” Sophie replied, smiling. “Let’s go have some fun.”
Helenalay back in the soft leather seat and closed her eyes. For now, all she wanted was to forget about everything and have a good time.
Little did she know what fate had in store for her…

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