For one desperate moment, I thought about running to find Lana and Jason myself—and trying to intervene. But, no. I had to have faith in Lana.
After all, it was entirely possible she might surprise me.
18
“Well?” Lana said. “Will you do it?”
Nikos stared at her, astounded. He couldn’t believe his ears. He couldn’t believe the words that had just come out of Lana’s mouth—or what she had just asked him to do.
He felt unable to reply, so he didn’t.
“What do you want?” she said.
Again, no reply.
Lana reached behind her neck and undid the chain of diamonds. She coiled it in her palm. She held out the sparkling pile of stones.
“Take this. Sell it. Buy whatever you want.” Reading his mind in that way of hers, she added, “A boat. That’s what you want, isn’t it? You can buy a boat with this.”
Nikos still didn’t reply.
Lana frowned. “Are you insulted? Don’t be. It’s a fair exchange. Tell me what you want, to do what I ask.”
He wasn’t listening. All Nikos could think of was how beautiful she was. Before he knew it, the words came out of his mouth: “Kiss me.”
Lana looked at him as if she hadn’t heard. “What?”
Nikos didn’t reply.
Lana searched his eyes, confused. “I don’t understand—that’s it? That’s your price?”
He didn’t reply. He didn’t speak or move. He just stood there.
There was a pause.
Then Lana took a small step forward. Their faces were inches apart. They looked into each other’s eyes. Lana had never noticed his eyes before. They had a kind of beauty, she realized; a clear blue light. A crazy thought popped into her head: I should have married Nikos. Then I could have lived here and been happy.
Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his mouth.
As they kissed, Nikos, who was dried-up inside, caught fire—and was engulfed. He had never known a feeling like this. He would never be the same, he knew that.
“I’ll do it,” he whispered, between kisses. “I’ll do what you want.”
* * *
Lana left Nikos’s cottage and made her way along the path. She walked through the olive grove and into the clearing, to the ruin.
The ruin was sheltered from the worst of the wind by thickset olive trees that surrounded it. Lana sat on a broken column for a moment. She closed her eyes and sat there, deep in thought.
Then, in the undergrowth, behind her, a twig snapped underfoot. Lana opened her eyes and turned her head to see who it was.
Three gunshots rang out.
Moments later, Lana lay on the ground, in a pool of blood.
19
Leo was the first to arrive at the ruin. He was followed by Agathi—then Jason and I appeared.
As we gathered around Lana’s body, time seemed to stop for a moment. It held us suspended—while all around us everything moved. The wind swirled and screamed, the trees swayed; while we stood still, frozen, held in a timeless state, unable to think or feel.
It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity—until Kate appeared and broke the spell. She looked disoriented and confused. Her expression changed from confusion to disbelief, to horror.
“What happened?” she kept saying. “My God—”
Somehow her arrival spurred us into action. I knelt by Leo. “We need to lay her down. Leo? You have to let her go—”
Leo rocked her back and forth, crying. I tried to coax him to let go of her. “Come on, Leo, please—”
“Put her down, Leo,” Jason said. Losing patience, he made a sudden movement toward him.
Leo reacted as if he’d been bitten by a snake. He screamed at Jason, his bloodstained face a horrible sight. “Get away from her! Get away!”
Jason was startled and backed down. “Just put her on the ground, for Christ’s sake.”
I threw Jason an exasperated look. “I’ll deal with him. Call an ambulance!”
Jason nodded, feeling in his pockets for his phone. He found it and unlocked it—thrusting it into Agathi’s hands. “Call the station in Mykonos. Say we need an ambulance—and the police. They need to be here now!”
Agathi nodded, dazed. “Yes, yes—”
“I’m going to get a gun. Wait here. Don’t move.”
With that, Jason started running back to the house. Kate hesitated, then ran after him.
Agathi and I managed to get Leo to relinquish Lana’s body. We carefully laid her on the ground. Leo looked up with wide eyes. He spoke in a strangled voice.