Book Excerpt
Hours later, Helena was lying in
bed, thinking of the events of the day. Everything had been fine until Dimitris showed up.
“Why does he have
to ruin everything?” she wondered out loud. Then again, if she wanted to be honest with herself, she was thrilled to
see him back. The moment she heard
his voice at the beach, her heartbeat accelerated, and her mouth went dry. No
matter how hard she tried to deny her feelings and the way her body responded to his mere presence, the fact remained
that she yearned for him the whole evening. She wanted to see his smile, get
lost in those captivating eyes of his, and feel his arms holding her close...
Helena shivered and clenched
her fists. What’s wrong with me? She’d never experienced anything like this before. And now,
she had those feelings
growing stronger every day. She felt as if she was losing control of her
emotions… And all that over him—the person
who’d stolen her family’s fortune.
Anxiously, she got out of bed
and walked out on the balcony. Taking
a deep breath, she let her eyes wander over the vast
body of the sea. The dark color of the waters
reflected the emotions tormenting her
soul. Closing her eyes, she enjoyed the soft caress of the night breeze
on her face and body, and the coolness of the
tiles on her bare feet. She hugged herself while enticing thoughts whirled around in her mind…images of him holding her in his arms, gluing her to his rock hard body,
caressing her back and arms…
Bewildered, she snapped out
of it. Trying to shift her thoughts away from him, she thought about Alex. He seemed nice
and so much easier to get along with
than Dimitris. But even when she was alone with Alex, her intimate
thoughts kept on going back to Dimitris. Why was he so upset with her? She knew that Greeks had a strong sense of honor,
but Dimitris wasn’t her father or her
husband. He had no reason to get so upset over finding her alone with
Alex. There was nothing going on, but even if
it was, it was none of his business. Or was it? A soft voice kept on whispering
in the back of her head. What was going on?
Why did she have this feeling she’d done something wrong? What was this
overwhelming feeling that in some way she
belonged to him?
Enough
with this nonsense, Helena thought. She was sick and
tired of being carried away by her emotions and the strange premonitions she would have from time to time.
Her mother used to tell her she’d inherited this gift
from her grandmother, Eleana, who passed
away only a few months after Erin married Angelos. In the short time her
mother-in-law spent with them, Erin grew
fond of the wise, old lady who helped her overcome her anxiety and fears and blend in with
the people on the island. She seemed
to know so much about so many things…about life itself, and Erin enjoyed every minute of their endless conversations
whenever Angelos was away on business.
According
to Erin, Eleana had premonitions about certain people and upcoming events. She seemed to have known about Erin meeting her son and getting married to him, years before
it actually happened. And Erin had
seen proof of it… Those events were all written down in the old lady’s diary. And there were a lot more things
written down in that diary… Things her mother never wanted to talk
about. But she would warn Helena from time to
time to be careful. After they’d gone to England, she would keep on
urging her never to go back to the island.
Helena shivered, thinking of her mother’s face—weak and
pale—
staring at her with eyes wide open from
anxiety, and squeezing her arm desperately,
asking her to promise to stay away from Mykonos. She remembered her fainting voice saying: “I made the grave mistake to ignore the warnings once…and paid for it dearly. I would never make that mistake again…”
Even though it was summertime, all of a sudden, Helena was
freezing. She hastily went back inside, closing the French doors behind her.
Absentminded, she turned and glanced at the glass panel
of the doors. Oh, my God! Bewildered, she saw her mother’s figure, standing behind her in a long, sparkling white dress…
The hairs on the back of Helena’s
neck stood up. Mom! She turned
abruptly and looked behind her… Nobody was there. I need to grab hold of myself, Helena contemplated, feeling her mouth going dry. My vivid imagination is playing games with me, again. If I go on like this, I’ll end up
going crazy…
She sat on her bed and closed her eyes, taking a deep
breath. Please… she pleaded, not knowing if she was inwardly talking to
her mother or anyone else in particular. I need some help…
Her eyes flew open as she sensed a cold breeze sweeping
right
through her. Mystified, she looked at the French doors. They were closed.
Turning her head, she took a glimpse of a transparent, female figure dressed in
white, standing—or rather floating—in front of the painting on the wall.
Helena blinked, and the vision disappeared into thin air.
She took
a sharp intake of breath. What was that? She could swear she saw
someone. Was that Mom? No, she
thought and stared at the painting. Astonished,
she realized the figure she’d seen resembled the angel in the painting. Now I know there’s something wrong with me,
she thought, worryingly.
Feeling all shaken inside, she stood up and hesitantly
approached the painting. Standing in front of it, she
examined it closely and froze… “How come I
didn’t see that before?” she whispered, and bewildered stared at the angel in the painting. It was a portrait of her grandmother,
Eleana. Helena was left speechless…
Stepping
back, she sat down on the bed and looked at the picture as if seeing it for the first time. It was unbelievable… Years
before she was even born, her
grandmother had painted Helena at the age of eight, with the sadness in her eyes from losing her father, and
herself—as an angel—watching over Helena from Heaven.
“Grandma…” she whispered and sensed a soft breeze like a
caress
on her cheek. She didn’t care if it was real
or not. It felt real, and it made Helena feel wonderful. The bliss spreading
inside her was an unbelievable
experience.
She smiled, and as if in a dream, she stood up, walked to
the painting and took it off the wall. Going
back
to her bed, she placed the painting on the
bed face down and stared at the brown
paper covering the back. Without knowing why, she went to the
secretarial desk and took out a letter opener.
Then she carefully cut the brown paper on the back of the painting and
slowly pulled it away… And there it was…
End of the excerpt
I hope you have enjoyed this excerpt of mystery romance bestseller Deadly Secrets. Keep in mind that Helena Sistakis returned to the Greek Island of Mykonos to delve
into her family’s mysterious past. But what would be
the price to pay for ignoring her late mother’s warnings and
the prophecies hidden in her grandmother’s diary?
The novel is available as e-book and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and other fine booksellers everywhere:
No comments:
Post a Comment