The moment he saw her, he knew he had to have her.
She looked over at him from across the room and smiled. Her brunette hair spilling over her shoulders like spun silk and her eyes bright, flirtatious even…and her lips full, as they curved into that smile that warmed him. The blue dress that skimmed above her knees molded her to perfection, from where the neckline flattered her breasts to where it slit just above the knee.
It was her first appearance to one of the parties that he'd been attending since he'd started working at the company in New York City. He had gotten the job out of college after graduating with a master's in business administration with honors and entering into a recessive market. Still, he had brought his resume to Dino Antoinelland promised to work in any position he chose and in return, he had been given a generous salary, use of the corporate jet and a bonus large enough to pay for an apartment in one of Manhattan's high rises. Dino's business was tied to his father's but operated as a separate entity too.
The woman in front of him was an attorney freshly sprung from one of the Ivy League's and working for one of the most powerful companies in the world. A member of one of the most formidable and wealthiest families in the world had hired her to add to his roster of attorneys.
The only woman in that stable, and the youngest. He'd seen her photo in the New York Times more than once associated with a merger reached between her employer and another company. No rephrase that, more like a takeover, as the company she represented swallowed up one business after another to build its empire. Some of those acquisitions had been more difficult than others which left less collateral damage.
He doubted the CEO of what was quickly becoming one of the biggest power brokers on the eastern seaboard cared about feelings, or sentiments. The family that owned it wasn't known for either, at least not publicly.
There were the rumors of how they conducted themselves privately.
After all the current generation were descendants of deposed royalty from a country that had liberated itself from the shackles of the monarchy and amidst the purge, a few members had fled in the night to find sanctuary inside the borders of other countries in Europe.
The woman in front of him had been the cousin of the family that controlled the interests including financial for that family. Orphaned not soon after birth when her parents died in a plane crash over the Mediterrean Sea. No doubt lying in an underwater graveyard with the twisted metal of the aircraft serving as their tomb.
He'd done his research in the rising empire assigned by Dino in allegiance to the family business. His own father had denied him a job after he'd gotten his MBA, the same rights to work in the family business granted to his older brother.
Julian Jerome became determined to prove to his father that he could be as formidable in the business as his older brother. His drive frustrated his former girlfriend Cheryl who worked at a smaller newspaper, the New York Sentinel and had lent him use of the paper's morgue to accumulate enough research to write a dossier on Cassadine Industries and the family who built it.
Dino had been impressed and passed the information along to his boss, who Julian had yet to meet. He'd been ordered to put together this party to invite some of the largest stakeholders from here and Europe to do networking. The Cassadines had been at the top of the guest list.
Julian wasn't ordinarily fond of formal gatherings, he found them stifling and wearing a tux…it was something he did reluctantly. He'd rather wear a pair of jeans and a leather jacket. His older brother teased him about it.
He wore Armani now which wasn't as painful and had attracted the eyes of many women in attendance but he only had eyes for the woman across the room…standing by herself looking at the books in his library. Some of the guests had wandered from the main room from the mansion to explore the house. She had wound up inside the library which was dominated by built in shelves filled with all kinds of book nearly to the ceiling. The other distinguishing element was the stone fireplace and several chaises.
Watching her, he thought her very beautiful but it wasn't just that which drew him closer. Something familiar about the woman, the way she walked, the way she casually tossed her hair back. He wasn't sure…but had they met? Maybe it'd been all those times he'd seen her in the newspaper or on televised news that left him with a sense of familiarity without reference.
Still he hadn't remembered seeing a woman as beautiful, yet she exuded a quiet strength that left him think her moments of fragility were few and far between. She'd grown up amidst some of the most powerful and in several of the most dangerous men in the world. Yet not only had she survived, she'd thrived. Though in her mid-twenties, she seemed in her element, as she must in the courtroom and the board room. He'd been curious about her for quite a while but their paths hadn't crossed.
And now she stood there right in front of him.
Across the room, Alexis Davis had seen him standing there, one of Dino Antoinell's employers. Julian…something. She'd read about him in the Wall St. Journal as being a dynamic addition to an importing company that seemed to rise in prominence after his hiring straight out of New York University. Her cousin Stefan had told her about it and had expressed interest in acquiring the company to add to the growing collection of them.
When he sought her counsel on it, Alexis remembered warning him to be cautious in how he proceeded. She had heard that while the company had generated a lot of net earnings in the past year, the financial trails that she'd researched didn't quite match up. So she wondered about its legitimacy, oh it had its paperwork all in order to establish it as a corporation. But something hinted at something else perhaps not so legitimate.
Possibly some sort of illicit syndicate she guessed as she knew that its ties to a larger conglomerate of businesses owned by the Jerome family muddied the picture further. She knew that the Jeromes were gaining control in New Jersey and had stretched their tendrils further into the seaboard including one very familiar town, Pt. Charles in upstate New York.
The same town that had led to the downfall and deaths of several of her relatives after a scheme blew up in their faces. Including her benefactor Mikkos and his brothers. Not to mention her cousin Stavros who met a terrible end there in a separate scheme several years later.
New York City had been kinder to the remaining Cassadines, the saner ones and she enjoyed working for Stefan there. She loved the intensity of one of the largest metropolises on earth, not to mention a cultural mecca of concerts, art galleries and of course Broadway. She'd met some men and dated casually mostly when she needed an escort to a social gala or charitable fundraiser. But she really had little time for that, given the demands of her position at Cassadine Industries. She'd started as a bottom rung attorney but she knew it'd be a matter of time and hard work before she began working her way up.
Part of that rise required attending mixers like this one though she'd rather be home with a good book and some brandy. Still this gala was quite impressive, hosted by Julian Jerome. Yes, now she remembered his name.
One of the sons of the Jerome patriarch, Victor.
He'd had made sure that she and the other guests had been taken care of…plenty of food to eat, liquor to drink…including vodka to help her relax in an unfamiliar environment. Now nursing her glass carefully she noticed that Julian had entered the vast library where she stood admiring the book collection and other guests stood in small clusters.
Still, she knew after another hour, she'd find the event stuffy and would be seeking an exit strategy. Stefan had told her to put in a couple hours, mingle and network with other prospective acquisitions for their family business. It hadn't been easy. Some other powerful men were there, confident to the point of arrogance and yet…they seemed ill at ease when approached by anyone from Cassadine Industries. Perhaps because of all the gossip spread about what took place behind the scenes, whispers of the madness from the likes of a Mikkos that might have been inherited by his sons. Stavros, the eldest and the family heir certainly had more than a smattering of that but then both of his parents had been crazy.
For as crazy and diabolical as Mikkos might have been, his wife Helena who'd survived him was simply evil.
Still she'd made polite if stilted conversation with them. Stefan had hinted that if she perhaps acted in a flirtatious manner they might be more receptive. She told him in choice words what she thought of that idea.
But that didn't stop her from looking at Julian right now.
Now she looked at him and knew embarrassment but also a sense of wonder at why she had done so. He certainly was a handsome man, a few years older than her and his body did wonders to the Armani suit. He seemed in a festive mood, chatting with other people at the party but she knew he harbored a ruthless streak as well.
She'd heard about it at meetings she'd attended with Stefan and other executives from other companies.
Stefan earlier had been talking with Julian while making the rounds of the soiree before she'd retreated into the library.
The books soon grabbed her attention from the man who she'd caught looking at her. She really had little interested in spending more time with him than she had to do.
Julian watched her sip the Vodka she'd favored from the bar. While researching the guests, he'd included their choice of liquor in his selection to serve the guests. Stefan and she were both Vodka drinkers.
He favored a nice bourbon himself, a taste he'd inherited from his father.
She looked beautiful in the light as she would in the silhouette of darkness. That dress, no doubt felt silky smooth against her body and the length flattered what appeared to be an incredible pair of legs. He knew he'd seen her in the newspaper with different men on her arm. Just like he brought a different flavor of woman to parties since his breakup with Cheryl.
That relationship had gone up in smoke, after his father made it clear she wasn't marriageable material, coming from a family outside the Five Families in the northeast. He'd been fond of her and they'd enjoyed their time together…but somehow something in her had been lacking. He didn't know what exactly but something tugged inside him that she wasn't the woman for him.
Their breakup had been as amicable, as their relationship had been and they had both moved onward. She just hadn't measured up to what his father wanted and for some annoying reason that mattered to him.
His uncle hinted that he could greatly help their business by marrying into another one of the major families, sealing an alliance between them and the Jeromes. But he'd just laughed, saying he had no plans to do so. He was too young, had too much to do to be tied down by family obligations.
There would obviously be benefits to Dino and to his father, and perhaps to him professionally as well.
But there would be a price.
He thought about that conversation with a smile as he gazed at the woman ahead of him, her head bent as she flipped through the pages of the book in her hand. Her luscious hair fell over her face but not enough to cover the hint of a smile on her face.
The sight intoxicated him, his blood began to race…his heart pounded. His hearing became more acute, his sight infallible…all his senses finally honed as he had grown towards maturity and had started to work his way up to the highest levels of his family even if his father didn't know it.
But one thing remained, for now, the woman in front of him who knew he was standing there.
His hands clenched at his side, betraying his aura of impeccable control only slightly. He watched her intently as the time ticked away, watched her like a predator…
And she had no idea that she was his prey.
Instinct and wisdom told him that it was time to do what predators did to prepare. Time to separate her from the herd…to get her alone…
Slowly, gently so she wouldn't know that anything was amiss until it was too late.
Alexis sipped her vodka, the flavor of it stirring some warmth inside of her. She didn't drink alcohol much but she enjoyed her favorite liquor. Feelings welled up from within someplace deep. She had been checking out some of the aged books on the shelf including some in Latin, French and even Russian, all languages she'd learned beginning from as far back as she could remember.
In a mansion filled with people including strangers, the books at least were familiar to her. All the classics she could possibly think of were represented in this most impressive collection.
The type of library that took a lifetime or several to create.
"You like to read?"
She'd been too busy with her book to hear approaching footsteps and looked up to see Julian standing next to her. She closed the book and held it to her chest.
"Yes I do…this collection is quite exhaustive...Mr. Jerome."
He smiled.
"The name's Julian."
"I know Mr. Jerome."
If her attitude perturbed him she couldn't tell. His mouth twitched perhaps in amusement which annoyed her more.
"I saw you…and I have to ask you if it's possible we met before."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"No, I don't believe we've met. I've only been in the City for a year."
He shrugged slightly.
"Oh well…I thought you looked so familiar but I couldn't remember from where or when."
She pursed her lips.
"Perhaps from reading the newspaper or watching the news. Cassadine Industries has attracted a lot of attention. I am on the legal staff."
"I know…I heard of you and I'm certainly familiar with Cassadine Industries just like everyone else in the eastern seaboard."
She frowned, irritation on her face.
"I'm not surprised…given what some of the family members have done. It was world-wide news and it's been hard work building the corporation back up and shedding all that bad publicity."
He smirked.
"Oh come on now, Mikkos Cassadine and his brothers invented a weather machine and planned to extort billions out of the world's wealthiest governments with it."
She sighed.
"They didn't succeed and save Victor who turned evidence against the rest, they're dead. There's not many of us left but save Mikkos' wife we are not the monsters we've been portrayed as being."
He heard the edge in her voice, born of weariness no doubt and held up his hands, palms towards her.
"Okay…I know that. I'm very impressed with your cousin Stefan and how he's built your family business into one of the most formidable powers in the world. I think every business executive and political leader here fears him at least a little."
She tilted her head.
"How about you Mr. Jerome? Do you fear him?"
He heard the challenge in her voice and relished it. He smiled shaking his head.
"I'm not afraid of anyone…"
She tsked tsked him.
"Oh come on, everyone is afraid of someone and those who insist otherwise are often simply in denial."
He chuckled.
"Okay…I feared my father as a little boy until I grew up and realized he wasn't omniscient. He's grown more fragile since. But what about you? Who is it that you fear if what you say is true?"
Her face darkened then and her lips turned down slightly.
"I feared everyone but the world I live in I could never show it," she said, "So I acted as if I had no fear and now I believe it."
An interesting answer, Julian thought. He watched her mood change as she pondered his question and answered it. Her skin appeared slightly flushed, her breath quiet and her unique scent, with a hint of gardenias stirred something inside of her.
Gardenias were a favorite of his though he never guessed why. They were a flower, popular but not as much as others like roses, carnations and orchids. He watched her reach for her vodka and sip it carefully. Her lips moist from the liquor, something so familiar and yet he'd remember if they had met.
His own blood quickened as if from a forgotten memory, the details missing but not the sensations.
Still he felt as if the impressive library collection fascinated her more. Many of the books were first editions acquired by Dino's mysterious business partner.
"You like the books…"
His voice sounded like a soft baritone to her, his cologne like musk and sandalwood, and his physique formidable up close. Muscular in design and with a ruggedness that belied a businessman….with thick dark hair, hazel eyes and traces of a beard as if he were still deciding. His hands would dwarf her own and he stood just a shade under six feet tall.
Now she looked up at his face. It had softened somewhat but most likely just a mask to the real man behind it. She'd grown up among a pack of alpha males vying for dominance in a family that rivaled that on Mt. Olympus in mythology. Mikkos had been Zeus, with his own Hera faithful to him even as like the Greek god, he'd had his band of mistresses.
If she had her choice, she'd be Athena but likely she'd feel kinship with Persephone, locked up to serve more than a half-life in an island prison comparable to Hades. But since she was a "poor" cousin, she was beneath all of them.
Mere mortals around her seemed always in the shadows of the Cassadines. His eyebrows remained slightly arched awaiting an answer to his question.
"Yes I do…I've learned a lot from books…been reading since I was a little girl."
He nodded thoughtfully.
"But you haven't learned everything…have you from books?"
She didn't know what he meant by that but the way he looked at her…she sensed he seemed invested in her answer. His eyes…green with a hint of gold and when she looked into them…she felt the warmth of the vodka she had just drank and her body relax, her skin prickle.
"Well no…but I'm of Ivy League educated and am fluent in four languages, three of them living."
He smiled at her but his eyes grew piercing.
"That's not what I meant. I mean you surely learned a lot from being among Cassadines your entire life."
"At least as much as I remember of it. I can play a mean game of chess."
He chuckled.
"I can imagine…it's my favorite game as well."
She simply nodded as if this conversation had outlived its usefulness to her. He didn't want her to walk away from him, to join the other guests. That wouldn't serve his usefulness.
"I can show you more books…in another library…one that's more private…you see I'm a connoisseur of literature myself…but these books are of their owner's tastes…"
She listened realizing that she and Stefan had never been able to deduce the identity of Dino Antoinell's silent partner. No one seemed to know this person and few seemed to dwell on the strangeness of that.
Perhaps the man in front of her knew that answer…Stefan would want her to find out.
He stepped closer to her and took the vodka glass out of her hand settling it down on a small table.
"Come along…I'll show you the rest of the house if you'd like…"
She just looked at him.
"But the party…"
He smiled just for her.
"Won't notice either one of us is gone."
So she nodded and he put his hand on the small of her back and they left the library, entering down a long corridor, splendidly wall papered with an elegant design. Tables appeared throughout with antique lamps sitting on them, dimly lit. They were moving further and further from the noises of the party.
She barely noticed as she tried to think of how to get the information that she and Stefan needed.
Julian and Dino might not know it but Cassadine Industries had its eye on adding their importing firm to its own collection.
Dino's partner might collect books but the remaining Cassadines collected companies.
He took her to a room….filled with equipment one might find in a fully staffed office. A doorway led to a parlor smaller, more intimate gatherings could be held…the games room where in the middle stood a billiards table and the walls were aligned with historic photographs of sporting events…a conference room with table and chairs….she felt duly impressed by what he showed her. The owner of this house was rumored to be among the world's wealthiest even if the identity remained unknown.
But she noticed that some of the doors that were closed, he just walked past as if they weren't there to be opened. And that as they stopped to check out a particular room, his hand on her back had started caressing it gently…and through the silky fabric of her dress…she could her skin tingling. She tried to ignore it as her eyes cased each of the rooms he showed her. All elaborately decorated yet the theme seemed to vary, contemporary style in some, antiques dominated the furnishings in others.
His phone went off and he left her briefly to answer the call. She saw a window that looked out into a garden with a fountain in the midst of it, colorful lights reflecting off the spray. Wild roses grew around it and she saw a clearing of lush grass which must feel soft…and damp on bare skin. Her eye caught some movement and she saw a man and a woman walking together in the grass holding hands. She recognized them as one of the state senators with a younger woman who wasn't the woman in photographs of his wife and children in his office.
Alexis watched them, no strangers to the secret lives of politicians, while their families were elsewhere.
She didn't hear or see Julian come up behind her.
"I'm sorry that was just a business update. Oh I see Sen. Lawson and his newest legislative aide have decided to tour the grounds."
She snickered.
"I'm pretty sure they're not checking out the property."
He smiled.
"I'm sure not. Does that bother you? That his wife is not with him? I do believe like most politician wives she is aware of the arrangement."
She shrugged.
"I suppose so. No it doesn't bother me. I'm a Cassadine remember even if I'm on a distant branch."
She didn't say anything as she turned away from the window.
The two of them continued down the corridor, further away from the party with every step and she noticed that the décor around her remained exquisite.
Suddenly they stopped and Julian opened another door.
It looked empty and quiet but when Alexis walked inside of it, all of that changed. The furniture looked familiar…
"What is this?"
She glanced around the room. .
"It's a room that used to be for a child."
She frowned.
"It looks…familiar…when I grew up, the estate had one like it. I slept there. It wasn't really a bedroom, it was an old sewing room. They still had the machine and other related furniture, moved aside and covered with a sheet."
She looked around; saw the old wallpaper which peeled in places and the trundle bed in the corner next to where a table housed what looked to be a sewing machine under a hood just like her own, though the color theme was different.
It was much less elaborate than the bedroom suites where Stavros and Stefan slept in luxurious surroundings. But then she wasn't anything but the poor orphan born of distant cousins. Helena reminded her daily that putting up with her under the same roof was a supreme act of charity of which she must be eternally grateful.
As drab as it looked, it was her sanctuary, where she could create her own world away from the rest of the household. Imaginary places, and people many of them stepping out of the pages of the books that Stefan slipped her from the library were there when she needed them there.
Her sanctuary until one day, when a squall had them all trapped inside the house. She closed her eyes pushing that memory out of her mind. Julian looked at her, his eyes pensive.
"I believe the owner's son spent time here. He's a grown man now."
She nodded absently, still taking in the details of the room. Images filled her mind, voices rang in her ears.
The scent of faded roses the flowers that she'd picked from the garden when no one was looking, left in vases from colored bottles she picked from the garbage.
She'd been looking out the window, after a day of tutoring that Mikkos had arranged to prepare her for her new school located across the vast ocean between Europe and the United States.
He had told her she'd been enrolled and would arrive by ship to a town in New Hampshire which boasted an elite school for young girls. She'd been so excited, a bit nervous but she desperately wanted to leave the island that had her trapped.
"Hey there…Alexandria is it?"
She turned around to see him standing there.
"You're a friend of my cousins' right?"
Yes he'd been one of Stavros' classmates in high school. He was quite good looking, his hair mussed up slightly.
"Hey, you're a pretty girl…know that?"
She didn't at that age because no one had told her that and she had been so focused on trying to be invisible in hostile territory.
"I bet all the guys are hanging around you…"
She wasn't sure what to say about that so she just smiled and flipped her wavy hair back. She had been dressed in a skirt and matching woolen sweater. He moved closer to her.
"Hey want to see something?"
She folded her arms.
"Like what…I just came up here for my sweater…"
"It's okay…they won't notice you're gone…It will just take a second…"
She finally nodded because he was handsome and being really nice to her, a college guy at that.
"It's in the closet…"
She walked inside there with him and he closed the door. She turned around to look at him expectantly.
"Where is it…?"
He smiled at her and then reached out to touch her face.
"You are very pretty."
She flushed at the compliment and her mouth went dry.
"Hey…maybe I should just go…"
He stroked her face.
"Maybe you shouldn't…"
She blinked her eyes when Julian touched her shoulder gently.
"You seemed lost there for a moment…"
Her heart had quickened and she found her bearings quickly, as she'd trained herself to do.
"I was just thinking…that even back then I was so eager for anyone to be nice to me."
Julian frowned.
"Meaning…?"
Alexis thought of that memory and of others where she'd been so hungry for someone to be nice to her. Gentle and kind, two words not in her vocabulary except from books that she'd read.
"Nothing…this house is most impressive. I'd like to see more of it."
He smiled and nodded, and for a moment there, she felt as if she almost remembered something else.
She thought it silly and realized that she needed to do as Stefan had instructed and get the information that she needed to help the family business grow even larger and more powerful. Dino's company would be a much needed addition.
It would be difficult but she was always up to a good challenge. She knew the man with her wouldn't disappoint. She wouldn't think or remember anything else, nor feel anything but what she needed. Glancing at him as they left the room, she knew she had to keep him from getting under her skin,
Not even inside her head because something else had set up residence instead.
