Chapter 11 Chapter 10 Noelle

For the past year, Armand Gautier has stopped talking about getting married.At first he felt that he was in a superior position to Noelle.Now, however, the situation is almost reversed.When they met with journalists, people kept asking Noelle questions, and no matter where they went together, people were always attracted to Noelle first, and then to him. Noelle was a flawless mistress.She still made Gautier comfortable, she still served as his mistress, and indeed made him one of the most admired men in France; but he was never at peace, knowing that he had not won her. She would never be able to do this, and one day she would withdraw from his life as freely as she entered his life.Gautier felt sick as he remembered how he had felt after Noelle had left him.He was madly in love with Noelle, which ran counter to his instinctive way of thinking, his experience with women and his knowledge of them.She alone was the first and foremost thing in his life.He often stayed up all night trying to find ways to please her unexpectedly.Gautier was filled with jealousy whenever she looked at other men, but he knew it best not to tell her about such things.

Once, at a banquet, she had been talking to a famous doctor. Gautier rages at her after the banquet. Noelle heard him spout a tantrum, then said calmly, "If I make you uncomfortable talking to other men, Arman, then I'm moving out tonight." He never mentioned it again. In early February, Noelle began hosting celebrities at her home.At first, she just invited a few friends in the theater for a casual dinner on Sunday, but after word spread, their salon quickly expanded to include politicians, scientists and writers.Anyone, as long as they think it will bring them fun, will come to participate.Noelle is the housewife of Sharon, one of the main reasons why Sharon is so attractive.Everyone felt an urgent need to talk to her because she asked deep questions and remembered the answers.She learned politics from government officials and finance from bankers.A great artist taught her art, and she soon got to know all the great artists of the time in France.She learned about wine from the largest wine merchant in Baron Rothschild and from there about architecture.Noelle's teachers were the best in the world, and they took turns teaching this beautiful, charming student.She has a quick mind, likes to explore problems, and is good at understanding what others have to say.Armand Gautier felt as if he saw many ministers accompanying a princess.Had he realized it, it was as far as he could get into Noelle's character.

As the months passed, Gautier began to feel a little more at ease.It seemed to him that Noelle had met all the people who mattered to her, but she was not interested in any of them. She hadn't met Constantin Demiris yet. ※※※ Constantine Demiris ruled an empire larger and more powerful than most.He had no title or official position, but he regularly bought and sold prime ministers, cardinals, ambassadors and kings.One of the two or three wealthiest men in the world, Demiris was, like a legend, incredibly powerful.He owned the largest merchant fleet in the world at that time, an airline company, several newspapers, banks, steel mills, and several gold mines—his tentacles stretched in all directions, and he formed an intricate economy with dozens of countries. The web is inextricably linked.

His collection of works of art occupies a very important position in the world, he owns several private jets, and has more than a dozen apartments and villas distributed all over the world. Constantin Demiris was of medium height, with an unduly broad chest and broad shoulders.He was darkly complexioned, with a broad Greek nose, and deep olive eyes sparkling with intelligence.Although he wasn't interested in clothes, he was always remembered as one of the best-dressed men.It is rumored that he has more than five hundred suits.Wherever he went, he made clothes there by the way.His suits were cut by Hovis-Curtis in London, his shirts were made to order at Brioni in Rome, and his shoes were made by Dalière Grande in Paris. Special shoe store, and his ties are purchased from a dozen different countries.

Demiris is well-mannered and attractive.When he walked into a room, people who didn't know who he was would turn and stare at him.Newspapers and magazines around the world have consistently published numerous stories describing the person, business and social activities of Constantin Demiris. The press loves to quote him.A journalist asked him if his friends had helped him achieve success.He replied: "To be successful, you need friends; to achieve greatness, you need enemies." When people asked him how many employees he had, he said, "None, just acolytes. If your business has this much power and this much wealth, then your business becomes a religion and your office becomes a religion." the temple."

He was brought up in the Greek Orthodox Church, but he said of organized religion: "A thousand times more crimes are committed in the name of love than in the name of hate." The whole world knew that he was married to the daughter of an ancient Greek banking family.His wife was a graceful and very charming lady, but Demiris rarely accompanied his wife when entertaining guests on his yacht or private island; A beautiful diva or ballerina, or whatever caught his fancy.His love affairs are as legendary and fascinating as his financial ventures. Half a dozen books have been written about Demiris, but none of them deal with the nature of the man or reveal the source of his success.He is one of the most famous people in the world, but he is a very hidden figure, and others cannot fathom his mind.He manipulates his image in the public mind and uses it as a shield to hide his truth.He has dozens of close friends in all walks of life, yet no one really knows him.He was born in Piraeus, Greece, the son of longshoremen to a family of fourteen brothers and sisters who never had enough food on the table and had to fight over it if anyone wanted more .That's what Demiris has, he's constantly asking for more and fighting for it.

Even as a child, everything automatically became mathematics in Demiris' mind.He knew how many steps there were in the Parthenon, dedicated to the goddess Athena, how many minutes it took to walk to the school, how many ships were in the harbor on a given day.For Demiris, time is a number that can be divided into many small segments, and he has learned not to waste a second.As a result he was able to accomplish enormous jobs without unduly expending his energy.He has a natural organizational ability that comes into play even in the most trivial of tasks.Everything becomes a game where he uses his wit to compete with those around him.

Although Demiris realizes he's smarter than most, he's not overly egotistical.When a beautiful woman tried to sleep with him, he never felt complacent for a moment, thinking it was because of his looks or his character.But he's never bothered by it either.In his view, the world is a market where people are either buyers or sellers.He knew that some women were captivated by his money, others by his power, and only a few -- very few -- by his ideas and imagination. Almost everyone he met wanted something from him: a donation to a charity, financial support for a planned business, or simply the power his friendship would bring.Demiris likes to use his brain to figure out what people are after, because their real goals are rarely what they show.His analytical mind is always skeptical of apparent facts, so he doesn't believe anything he hears, and trusts no one.

The journalists who wrote his biographies had access only to his genial demeanor and seductive charm, presenting them with a sophisticated, urbane and well-informed man.They never suspected that behind this false facade, Demiris was a murderer, a fighter from the ghetto whose instinct was to slit other people's throats. For the ancient Greeks, the word "justice" often meant the same thing as "vengeance," and Demiris was obsessed with both.He always remembers every slight he received.If anyone is unlucky and causes his dissatisfaction, he will be repaid a hundredfold.The troublemaker never even knows that he is being retaliated against, for Demiris' mind is so meticulous that he tirelessly lays intricate traps and weaves intricate webs to capture and destroy his victims.He treated severe revenge as child's play.

When Demiris was only sixteen, he started his first business with his elder Spinos Nicholas.Demiris came up with the idea of ​​opening a stand on the pier to serve hot meals to stevedores on the night shift.He saved half of the funds for the small stall, but when the stall's business boomed, Nicholas forced him out of their business, and Nicholas took over by himself.Demiris accepted his fate without a fight and went on to other businesses. Within twenty years, Spinoth Nicholas was in the meatpacking business, successful, and rich.He married, had three children, and became one of the most prominent men in Greece.During those years, Demiris patiently stood aside, allowing Nicholas to build his small empire.When he was sure that Nicholas had reached the pinnacle of success and happiness he could, Demiris fought back.

Now that the business is thriving, Nicholas is considering buying a farm where he can raise his own livestock and open a chain of retail stores.This requires huge sums of money.Nicholas did business with a bank owned by Constantin Demiris, which encouraged him to borrow money to expand his business at low interest rates.Nicholas couldn't stand this temptation, so he did something drastic.Just as he was in the process of expanding his business, the bank suddenly wanted to withdraw his funds.Perplexed, he protested that he could not pay the money.The bank then immediately proceeded to foreclose on his mortgage through the legal process.Demiris's newspaper ran the story on the front page, and other creditors began foreclosing on him.He went to other banks and credit agencies for help, but he couldn't figure out why they refused to support him.The day after being driven out of business, Nicholas committed suicide. Demiris' sense of justice is like a double-edged sword.Just as he never forgives an injury done to him, so he never forgets a favor done to him.When he was young, a woman had fed and clothed him, but he was too poor to pay.Then, suddenly, the woman found herself the landlord of an apartment complex with no idea who had bought it for her.A young girl once let the penniless young Demiris live with her, and later she did not know who gave her a villa and deposited a considerable amount of monthly payments in the bank for her. lifetime living allowance.Those who had been associated with this ambitious Greek youth forty years ago would never have guessed that such a casual association with him would have such an effect on their lives.Young and canny, Demiris needed help from bankers, lawyers, shipowners, unions, politicians and financiers.Some people encourage him and help him; some people neglect him and deceive him.In the heart of the proud Greek kept a record of every such transaction.His wife Melina once accused him of trying to be God. “Everyone is playing God,” Demiris told her, “but some of us are more qualified to play that role than others.” "But it's wrong to ruin someone's life, Constance." "There's nothing wrong with that. It's justice." "revenge." "Sometimes it's the same thing as justice. Most people do bad things and get away with it. I can make them pay for it, and that's justice." He took pleasure in trying to lay a trap for his adversary.He often studies his victims carefully, analyzing their characters, estimating their strengths and weaknesses. Having owned three cargo ships, Demiris needed a loan to expand his fleet and turned to a Swiss banker in Basel.The banker not only turned him down, but called his friends in the banking world to persuade them not to lend money to the young Greek.Demiris finally managed to borrow money in Turkey. Demiris bides his time.He concluded that the banker's Achilles' heel was his greed.Demiris negotiated with a sheikh in Arabia to secure a lease on a newly discovered oil field.The lease will bring Demiris' company hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. He directed one of his agents to break the news to the Swiss banker that the deal was imminent.If the banker puts up five million dollars in cash to buy the stock of this enterprise, he can join the new company and own 25 percent of the shares.After this transaction is successful, the five million dollars will become fifty million dollars.Bankers quickly checked the transaction and confirmed its authenticity.As he did not personally own such a large sum of money, he quietly withdrew it from the bank and said nothing to anyone, because he did not want anyone else to share in the windfall.The deal would be done every other week, when he would be able to pay back the money he had withdrawn. When Demiris got the banker's check, he announced to the press that the deal with Arabia had been cancelled.The stock price plummeted.The banker was unable to hide his losses, and his corruption was discovered.Demiris bought up the banker's stock at a rate of pennies to the dollar before moving on to the oil deal.The stock price suddenly soared.The banker was convicted of embezzlement and served twenty years in prison. In the games Demiris has played, he has yet to draw with a few opponents, but he is in no rush.He expects revenge, plans revenge, executes revenge, and takes pleasure in it.It was like playing chess, and Demiris was a master chess player.Lately, he has made no new enemies, since no one can be his enemy, so his vengeance is limited to those who have stood in his way in the past. This was the man who showed up at Noelle Page's Sunday social gathering this afternoon.He was passing through Paris on his way to Cairo and was going to be in Paris for a few hours.He went to see a female sculptor who suggested they go to this salon.As soon as Demiris saw Noelle, he thought he wanted her. In Noelle's mind, Constantine Demiris was probably the most regal man, except that he had no real throne.But the throne is simply out of reach for the daughter of a Maasai fishmonger.On the third day after she saw him, Noelle left the theater without informing anyone, packed her clothes into a suitcase, and went to Greece to join Constantine Demiris. ※※※ Because of their respective positions of prominence, Noelle Page and Constantine Demiris' relationship attracted worldwide attention and widespread criticism.Photographers and journalists often want to interview Demiris' wife, but, if she's a little restless, she doesn't show it.Melina's only comment to the press was that her husband had many good friends all over the world, and she couldn't see anything escaping from his relationship with Noelle.She told her furious parents privately that Constantine had had affairs before, and that this romance, like all previous ones, would cool down on its own.Her husband traveled extensively on business affairs, and she often saw pictures of him and Noelle together in the newspapers, taken in Constantinople, Tokyo, or Rome.Melina Demiris is a proud woman, but she is determined to endure the shame because she loves her husband with all her heart. For Demiris, there was nothing new about women anymore.But Noelle attracted him because she often surprised him.He likes to solve problems.To him she was an enigma, a mystery to him.He had never met anyone like her.She accepted the wonderful presents he gave her, but she was just as happy when he didn't.He was buying her a luxurious villa overlooking a beautiful horseshoe-shaped blue bay, but he knew that buying her a small apartment in the old part of Praga, Athens, would not be a good idea for her. What a difference. Throughout his life, Demiris had encountered many women who attempted to manipulate him in some way through their feminine beauty.Noelle never asked for anything from him.Some women came to him to share in his glory, but in Noelle's case, of the two of them, she was the one who attracted the journalists and photographers.She is a star with her own identity.For a while, Demiris thought, maybe she loved him for who he was, but he was practical after all, and he didn't have this illusion for long. In the beginning, Demiris had tried to win Noelle's heart, to conquer her heart, to make her heart his own.However, he failed in every respect.She was a wonder, often displaying her new talents for his admiration.Noelle was a good cook, and her culinary skills were comparable to the chefs he hired for a lot of money.She is also very good at art, compared with the art manager who collects famous paintings and sculpture treasures for him, and he pays huge annual remuneration in advance, no less.He liked to hear them talk about art with Noelle, and it delighted him when they expressed their astonishment at her breadth of knowledge. Demiris recently bought a Rembrandt painting.Noelle happened to be there when the painting arrived on the summer island.Also present was a young art conservator who had found the painting for Demiris. "This is one of the greatest works of this master." The curator said when he lifted the tulle covering the painting. This is a beautiful painting of a mother and her daughter.Noelle sat in a chair, drinking ouzo, and watched quietly. "That's a beautiful painting," Demiris agreed, turning to Noelle. "What do you think of this painting?" "It's lovely," she said. "Where did you find this painting?" Noelle asked the conservator. "I tracked it down to a private art dealer in Brussels," he replied proudly, "and persuaded him to sell me the painting." "How much did you pay for this painting?" Noelle asked. "Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds." "It's cheap," Demiris asserted. Noelle picked up a cigarette, and the young man hurried over to light it for her. "Thank you," she said.She looked at Demiris. "Constance, it would be cheaper if he bought the painting directly from the owner." "I don't understand," Demiris said. The superintendent looked at her strangely. "If the painting is real," Noelle explained. "Then it is from the domain of the Duke of Toledo in Spain." She turned to the steward. "Right?" she asked. His face became very pale. "I—I don't know," he stammered, "the merchant didn't tell me." "Oh, then listen to me," she reprimanded, "you mean you bought a picture for such a sum without finding out where it came from? That's hard to believe. On that duke's estate , the painting was listed for £175,000. Someone got scammed out of £75,000." It turned out that her judgment was correct.The conservator and the art dealer were convicted of fraud and sent to jail.Demiris returned the painting to its original owner. Looking back on the incident, he felt that Noelle's honesty had impressed him more than her insight.If she wanted, she could have called the manager aside, blackmailed him, and split the money with him privately.And yet she publicly questioned him, in front of Demiris, with no selfish motives.As a token of appreciation, he bought her a very expensive emerald necklace.She just thanked her casually when she took the necklace, as if she had received a lighter.Demiris made sure to take Noelle with him wherever he went.In business matters he trusted no one and had to make every decision by himself.He found it helpful to discuss business matters with Noelle.It's just astonishing how well-savvy she is about business.It was easier for Demiris to make decisions when he had someone to talk to sometimes.With the possible exception of his lawyer and accountant, Noelle knew more about the affairs of his business than anyone else.In the past, Demiris always had several mistresses at once, but now that Noelle had everything he needed, he dropped the others one by one.They held no grudges about it, because Demiris was always generous. He owns a 135-foot yacht equipped with four General Motors diesel engines.The yacht carried a seaplane, a crew of twenty-four, two speedboats, and a freshwater swimming pool.There were twelve very richly furnished suites for guests, and he himself had a large suite full of famous pictures and antiques. When Demiris entertained guests on the yacht, the hostess was Noelle.When Demiris flew or boated to his private island, he took Noelle with him.Melina stayed at home.He was careful not to let the two of them touch each other, but of course he knew that his wife knew of her existence. Noelle was treated like royalty wherever she went.But that's just what she deserves.The little girl from Marseilles stood in her room and watched her fleet through the dirty windows, but now she has the largest fleet in the world.It wasn't Demiris' wealth and prestige that impressed Noelle, but his intelligence and strength.He had the mind and will of a giant, and he made other men seem so indecisive by comparison.She was aware of the terribly murderous quality of his character, but in a way it made him all the more exciting because she had it too. Noelle was often offered to star in plays and movies, but she wasn't interested.She's playing the lead role in the story of her own life, which is more enthralling than any writer's screenplay.She dined with the king, the prime minister, and the ambassadors, and they all had to cater to her because they knew Demiris listened to her.They hinted at their demands in subtle ways, and promised to pay her dearly if she would help. Yet Noelle had everything she needed.She often lay in bed with Demiris and told him what each of them wanted.Demiris uses this intelligence to judge their needs, their strengths and their weaknesses.Then he applies just the right amount of pressure so that more money pours into his already overflowing coffers. ※※※ Demiris' private island brought him great joy.He bought a deserted island and built it into a paradise.There is a magnificent villa on the island, built on the top of the hill, which is his own residence.There are also twelve charming cottages for guests, a hunting area, an artificial freshwater lake, a dock for cruise ships, and an airfield for planes to land on. ※※※ The island is equipped with eighty servants, and there are armed guards to prevent outsiders from coming to the island without authorization.Noelle loved the isolation of the island, especially when there were no other guests on the island, she was very happy.Constantin Demiris was flattered, thinking it was because Noelle preferred to be alone with him.It would have amazed him to know how she was preoccupied with another man, whom he did not even know existed. At this time Larry Douglas was half a world away from Noelle, and he was engaged in secret battles on secret islands, and yet she knew more about him than his wife, although he regularly talked to him. The wife maintains correspondence.Noelle went to Paris at least once a month to see Christian Barbey, the short, bald, short-sighted detective, who always had an up-to-date report ready for her. The first time Noelle went back to Paris to see Barbey leave, she had trouble checking her passport for going abroad.She was forced to wait at the customs office for five hours before she finally got permission to call Konstantin Demiris.Ten minutes after she spoke to Demiris, a German military officer hurried in to offer her repeated apologies on behalf of the German government.They issued her a special passport and she has not been stopped since. The little detective always looked forward to a visit from Noelle.He was charging her money, and his well-trained sense of smell told him there was more money to be made.He was very pleased with her new relationship with Constantine Demiris.He felt that it would certainly benefit him greatly financially.First, he had to prove that Demiris didn't know that his mistress was interested in Larry Douglas, and then he had to know how valuable that information was to Demiris.Or how much money could he get from Nori?If he keeps silent.He is about to make a fortune, but he has to be careful when playing cards.The information Barbey was able to glean about Larry was of great value, because Barbey was able to pay big bucks for the information. ※※※ Larry's wife was reading the letter, from an unnamed military post office. Meanwhile, Christian Barbey was reporting to Noelle: "He's flying the 48th Fighter Squadron, 14th Fighter Squadron." The letter Catherine read read: "...I can only tell you that I am somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, dear..." But Christian Barbey was saying to Noelle, "They're here, then go to Guam." "...I miss you so much, Cathy. Things are getting better here. I can't tell you the details, but we finally have something better than the Japanese Zero..." "Your friends are flying P-38s, P-40s and P-50s." "... I'm glad you've been working hard in Washington. Be true to me, dear. All is well here. I'll give you a little news when I see you..." "Your friend has been awarded the Air Hero Medal and has been promoted to lieutenant colonel." While Catherine was thinking about her husband and praying for his safe return, Noelle watched Larry's every move and prayed for his safe return.The war will soon be over, and Larry Douglas will be back soon.Back to both of them.

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