The Greek Tycoon's Secret Heir Read Free

is really my son, and you denied me.”
    “Because I wanted your trust.”
    “Once a liar.”
    “That’s not fair, I apologized for those lies. I was young and thought you wouldn’t want a girl from my background.”
    “Your very poor background,” he said. “What better way to make sure you never had to go back to that trailer park than to bear the son of a Theakis.”
    She shook her head, trembling all the way to her soul from his words. “It wasn’t like that.”
    “You can explain it to me another time. Right now you have two choices, Ava.”
    She still liked the way her name sounded on his tongue. Which really ticked her off, because she wanted to slug him for being a jerk about the past. She’d made mistakes, yes, but what was it about this stubborn Greek that wouldn’t let him look beyond them? “What are they?”
    “You can relinquish your rights to Theo and give him over to me to be raised as a Theakis.”
    “Why would I do that?” He had to be crazy if he thought she was going to give up her son.
    “It is his right to be raised in our family. And you have had him to yourself for the last four years.”
    “You gave those years away,” she said, and the past flashed through her mind. She knew the exact moment when she’d become pregnant. Remembered with clarity the way Christos’s face had tightened with a mixture of lust and anger when she’d declined to stay in Greece and become his mistress.
    He’d kissed her hard and soon anger had melted to lust and they’d made love in his study. The encounter hadn’t been a sweet seduction; they’d both been so hungry for each other, knowing it was the last time they’d be in each other’s arms.
    She’d clung to his shoulders and he’d held her so tightly. He’d cradled her on his lap, and she’d realized that they’d forgotten to use protection. That he’d pulled out at the last moment.
    He hadn’t said anything and neither had she. Then a few days later everything had fallen apart with Nikki’s accusations about her and Stavros. And Christos had sided with his sister-in-law.
    “Maybe. But not anymore. I want Theo. I’ve taken over Theakis Shipping,” he said, turning away from her and looking out over the lushly landscaped gardens of the school. “I’m becoming the heir I never had to be and I must look to future generations.”
    “Now you need an heir,” she said. She was saddened to think that that was the only reason he was here. Not because he’d finally wanted to acknowledge he had a son and had been desperate to see him.
    Oh, God, she couldn’t let Christos hurt Theo. Wouldn’t let Theo come to love a man who had ice in his veins. A man who could make love to a woman and hold her so close, as if he’d never let her go, then calmly accuse her of infidelity.
    “The Theakis family needs Theo,” he said.
    This isn’t about you, she reminded herself. But it was.
    “You mentioned two choices.”
    “Yes, I did. If you are interested in remaining in your son’s life, then I’m willing to marry you.”

Two
    T he house he’d rented overlooking the Atlantic Ocean was large and lush but empty. Even with the staff of five he’d hired, it still felt so empty. Christos leaned deeper into the leather office chair, snagging the phone as it rang.
    “How’d it go today?” Tristan Sabina asked.
    Tristan was one of Christos’s two best friends. The other was Guillermo de la Cruz. They’d formed an odd little triad of mischief makers and playboys for more than half their lives. They’d met at an exclusive boarding school in Switzerland and had bonded through their troublemaking antics.
    The three of them had been tabloid fodder for longer than he could remember, moving through life as if the world was their oyster. They’d started a business together in their twenties, a string of nightclubs located in posh hotspots all over the globe. The exclusive clubs, called Seconds, were the place to see and be seen the world over, and