The Bed You Make
Chapter 31, continued
This was not the jet they'd used before. That jet had been big and muscled, a kind of mechanical Yuri Petrov. The aircraft sitting on the tarmac awaiting their arrival was sleek, stealthy and dangerous-looking. And she would be on it with Stefan for over eight hours. Since last night she'd done her best to spend as little time alone with Stefan as possible. She needed some time to review their previous night's outing.
Dara shook her head at how naïve she'd been to believe that anything they did together could be free of the calculations and machinations that were so much a part of dealing with the head of the Cassadine family.
"Is something wrong?" Stefan's query interrupted Dara's thoughts.
"I am just surprised you chose this jet,” she replied. “Won't it be a little … crowded?”
Stefan indicated that Dara should precede him onto the plane. "The servants departed for Greece this morning." He looked at the elegant watch he wore. "They are less than two hours shy of their arrival there."
Dara glanced about the cabin of the Gulfstream 550 private jet. It was more elegant than most of the exclusive hotels and restaurants New York boasted. "So,” Dara did a quick count of the leather seats, “the two of us will be the only people on this plane?"
"Yes,” Stefan replied with amusement. “If you do not include the pilot, copilot and guard."
Dara fought the childish urge to flash Stefan a well-known New York rude gesture. His air of paternal indulgence got under her skin. Dara suspected Stefan not only knew that but used it to put her off-guard. "What I meant ,” she ground out as she settled into the seat he indicated, “was that it hardly seems efficient.”
Stefan sat and slid open a panel in the wall. Inside was a computer screen mounted on an adjustable arm. He tapped the screen and the display came to life. “There are times when security issues outweigh the need for efficiency or expediency,” he began. “The temptation for my mother to down an aircraft filled with Cassadine servants loyal to Nikolas only bears weight if I am on said aircraft as well,” Stefan explained. “In one fell swoop Helena would remove nearly all of Nikolas' defenses.” Calmly, he thumbed the intercom to the cockpit.
“We are ready."
