Pretending with the Greek Billionaire

by Kira Archer

  “Stanzia, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how—”

  “Of course you know how,” she said, fury replacing the pain in her face. “This is all your fault, it must be. You swore up and down that no one knew where we were. No one knew about that place. There was no way we were followed. So if all that’s true, then you are the only one who could have tipped off the press. You’re the one with everything to gain from this.”

  “Gain? What can I possibly gain from this?”

  “Are you serious?” she asked, nearly shrieking. “You were the one worried that people might think we were a sham. You were the one wanting a way to prove to everyone we were the real deal. Well, there you have it, proof that you really were screwing me.”

  He flinched. “I never wanted this. I would never have condoned someone taking pictures of us in our private moments.”

  “That’s all you’ve done since the day I met you. Tried to figure out ways to orchestrate being photographed in our private moments, and you are the only one who could have orchestrated this!”

  “I didn’t,” he said, trying not to shout, trying to rein in his anger and panic enough to convince her of the truth. She was slipping from his fingers right before his eyes and he didn’t think there was any way he could stop it.

  “You aren’t the only one spread out naked for the whole world to see, Stanzia. I’m on that bike with you. I’m on that beach, too. Yes, I wanted the world to believe we were truly engaged, but the reason I needed that was to convince my father that I had changed and could be an asset to the company. Do you really think splashing around naked pictures of myself making love to you would be the way to accomplish that?”

  “Why not? Look at the articles,” she said, jabbing her finger at the screen. “I’m the tramp, you’re the stud. Our engagement looks real and you come out the winner, like you always do. Is there even one woman on your father’s board? I guarantee the only thing the men will do is high five you. Once again, you claim to despise what the media is doing but you reap all the benefits.”

  He jammed his fingers through his hair, the effort to keep from screaming overwhelming. “What benefits? I don’t care about my father’s company or what the board thinks or anything else. All I care about is you and all this has done is made you hate me.”

  She threw her hands up. “It’s easy to say that now when you’ve already gotten everything you wanted. You might say you don’t like your privacy being invaded, but this won’t actively hurt you. Don’t you get that?” Her chest heaved with the force of her words and the tears that she had kept at bay until that moment slipped down her cheeks. He wanted to take her in his arms, brush them away.

  “This,” she said again, waving her hand to encompass all the media on his desk. “In the long run, this won’t hurt you. You have definitive proof we were together.”

  The “were” hit him like a fist to the gut, but she wasn’t done yet.

  “You’re a man. You’re a hero, a stud, someone to be congratulated, not mocked and scorned. Even if this doesn’t help you with your career, it won’t hurt you. But for me…I take care of my girls. I have to report to the church.” A sob escaped her throat and she slapped a hand over her mouth as the tears flowed.

  “I might lose them all. Do you realize that? They might take my girls from me because of this, and they’ll never let me adopt Elena now. It was a long shot before, but even if I wasn’t married or rich, I still showed exemplary character. No one could reproach my actions, but now…now I might lose everything. Whether you tipped them off or not, you invited them in. You made them a part of our relationship to make yourself look better. We only had a relationship for the press. And it worked for you so don’t tell me that this affects you, too. Don’t stand there and act like this will hurt you. You dragged me into this circus with you and you’ve destroyed my life.”

  Every word she flung at him chipped another piece from his heart. The bitch of it was, she wasn’t wrong. Every one of the articles had praised him for his virility, even those that shook a finger at him, even as they’d slammed her. Shamed her. Mocked her.

  “I won’t let you lose the girls,” he said, at a loss for what he could say to make this better, but wanting to do something to assure her.

  She shook her head and wiped her eyes. “Money doesn’t fix everything, Luca.”

  He looked at her, his chest aching like his heart was being squeezed in a vice. “I didn’t know you wanted to adopt Elena.”

  “What difference does that make now?”

  She shook her head again and took off her ring, laying it on his desk. Then she turned toward the door.

  “Stanzia…” he called, his hand stretched out to stop her.

  “Don’t follow me, Luca. You’ve done enough.”

  He dropped his hand and watched her walk away.

  The front door closed and he slumped into the chair behind his desk.

  The house was silent. He was alone, with nothing but a stack of pictures to show that she’d been in his life at all.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Sir?” Joe poked his head in the door and Luca dragged his attention away from the picture he held.

  “What is it, Joe?”

  He entered the room and clasped his hands behind his back. “I have discovered who has been leaking your whereabouts and personal information, sir.”

  Luca’s gaze shot to Joe’s. “What? Who?”

  Joe straightened his shoulders like he was preparing for a fight. “Before I tell you, I’d ask that you hear her out. Obviously, what she did was grievously wrong, but there were extenuating circumstances, one could say…”

  Luca stood, his hold on his anger tenuous at best. Whoever the leak was had cost him Constance. Forgiveness wasn’t foremost in his mind, and neither was patience. “Joe.”

  That one word held all his frustration and anger and grief and Joe knew it. He nodded his head and went to the door.

  Mrs. Lasko walked in, her hands clutched so tightly together they were turning white.

  Luca was so stunned he dropped back into his chair. “What’s going on here?”

  Mrs. Lasko looked up at Joe. He gave her a small nod and then turned to Luca. “Mrs. Lasko is your leak.”

  “I gathered that.” He looked at the woman he’d trusted with his life, and love. “Why?” he said, his voice not much more than a whisper and all the more terrifying for it if the sudden blanching of Mrs. Lasko’s face was any indication.

  “My granddaughter,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “I thought you had hurt my granddaughter. I was so angry that you would do such a thing. So I thought, I can’t do much, but…”

  Luca held up his hand. “I’ve never met your granddaughter, Mrs. Lasko, and I’d certainly never hurt her.”

  She glanced up at Joe and he patted her shoulder and took over. “Mrs. Lasko’s granddaughter is Maria, the maid that comes in to clean twice a week.”

  A twinge of shame squirmed through Luca at the realization that he hadn’t even known the name of the woman he’d seen coming in with Mrs. Lasko to clean, let alone that she was the granddaughter of his trusted housekeeper.

  “Maria fell in love with, as she told her grandmother, her employer.”

  Luca’s eyebrows rose in surprise but Joe hurried on before he could speak. “She also told Mrs. Lasko that her employer had returned her love, but then had left her brokenhearted. She naturally assumed it had been you.”

  Luca snorted. “Naturally.”

  “But…it was, in fact…” Joe cleared his throat and…was that a blush on his cheeks? Luca sat forward, starting to enjoy the little show taking place before him.

  “It was me, sir.”

  “Joe? You devil.”

  Mrs. Lasko looked between the two of them probably much as Luca had. Torn between laughing, crying, and wanting to hit someone in the head with a nice heavy object.

  “So, let me get this straight,” Luca said, sitting forward to clasp his hands on his des
k. “Joe here was dating your granddaughter, broke up with her, and broke her heart, and when she told you it had been her employer, you assumed it was me. So to get revenge, you were the one leaking all the personal stuff to the press.”

  Mrs. Lasko nodded her head. “I’m so very sorry, Mr. Luca, but I love my granddaughter. And I thought…”

  He held up his hand again. “I understand. It’s all right, Mrs. Lasko. You may go.”

  A tear trailed down the old woman’s face and she nodded her head. “I’ll gather my things.”

  “You misunderstand me,” Luca said. “You may go back to your duties. I’d like to talk with Joe for a minute.”

  She looked up at him, stunned. He was rather surprised himself, but the old woman had been with him for years. He couldn’t imagine his home without her, and he couldn’t particularly blame her for the misunderstanding or how she’d handled it.

  “Yes, sir,” she squeaked out with a smile.

  “If one more thing gets leaked to the press…”

  “No, no, no, sir. No more. I know it wasn’t you now.” She turned a not-so-friendly glance on Joe and then hurried out the door.

  Luca sat back and shook his head. “Well, well. What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into?”

  Joe actually looked embarrassed. Luca couldn’t remember a time when Joe had ever been less than totally put together and in control of the situation. He hated to admit how much he was enjoying their positions being reversed for once.

  “I apologize that my personal issues have affected your life.”

  Luca nodded. “That they have. Can I ask why you broke up with the young lady?”

  Joe grimaced. “I’m sorry to say it was because I didn’t want to leave you.”

  Luca’s eyebrows hit his hairline. “What have I got to do with all this?”

  Joe pointed at the chair across from the desk and Luca nodded his permission. “She started hinting at wanting to get married.”

  “And you didn’t want to?”

  “On the contrary, I’d consider myself the luckiest man in the world to marry her.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “I live here, sir. I work for you, sometimes twenty-four hours a day. I couldn’t do that if I had a wife. We’d have to find our own place and…”

  “Why?” Luca asked.

  “Sir?”

  “I’ll agree that you wouldn’t be able to work for me twenty-four hours a day if you were married. It wouldn’t be fair to your wife. But then working that much for me isn’t all that fair to you, either, is it?”

  “I enjoy working for you, sir.”

  “Glad to hear it. I hope you continue to work for me for a long time to come. However, that does not mean you can’t have your own life. The guesthouse in the back is empty. It’s yours if you want it.”

  Joe’s jaw dropped. “Sir…I couldn’t…”

  “Of course you can. You live on the property anyway. Now you’ll just have a little more space. Plenty, I should think, to bring along a wife.”

  “Yes, plenty, sir.”

  “And I’ll work on needing you a little less.”

  Joe laughed at that. “I’ll believe that when I see it, sir.”

  Luca snorted again. “I said I’d try.”

  Mrs. Lasko knocked on the door again and entered with a package. “This just came for you, sir.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Lasko.” She nodded and went out, her steps light, a hum on her lips. Well, at least someone was happy because he was pretty sure his day was about to go from bad to seven circles of hell worse.

  He took the package and opened it, his heart already sinking. Another gift for Constance returned. This one he’d been sure she’d keep. He’d chosen it with special care and she’d just sent it right back. He couldn’t even tell if she’d opened it and seen what it was. He slammed the diamond locket in its velvet box into the trash with a curse. Joe fished it out and calmly laid it on his desk. It made Luca want to throw it away again.

  “I don’t know what the damn woman wants!” he shouted, shoving his hand through his hair and nearly pulling out a few stands in his frustration.

  “I don’t think Miss Constance wants anything, sir.”

  Luca scowled. “I know that. I just meant I don’t know what will make her happy. I’ve apologized, over and over. I’ve sent her flowers, jewelry, even first edition books from that god-awful author she loves so much. I’ve shown up on her doorstep and begged. Nothing works. She’s sent me away and returned everything I’ve sent. What’s it going to take?”

  “To make her happy? Or to make her forgive you?” Joe asked.

  Luca stopped pacing and stared at him. He’d hit the nail on the head, as usual. Luca dropped into his chair. He’d waited a whole two days before he’d started his campaign to win Constance back. That had been a month ago and she hadn’t caved one inch. She’d refused to see him, and standing on her porch begging her to talk to him upset her, which upset the children, so he’d stopped showing up in person. But she’d sent back every gift he’d sent, wouldn’t answer his texts or emails. He’d even resorted to sending an actual letter through the mail. It had been returned unopened.

  “I don’t know what to do, Joe. I know I should probably let it go, leave her alone like she’s asked. But I…can’t. I need her…maybe it really is too late.”

  Joe watched him for a minute and then sat down in the chair in front of the desk. Luca glanced at him, startled. He couldn’t remember the last time Joe had sat without Luca forcing him to.

  “May I speak frankly?”

  Luca nodded. “Of course.”

  “You’ve been trying to win Miss Constance back by doing what you’d like. Or what other women in your past have wanted. Miss Constance isn’t like anyone else.”

  A hint of a smile touched Luca’s lips. “No, she’s not.”

  “She didn’t love you because of your money.”

  Luca’s gaze shot up again. “You think she loved me?”

  Joe gave him an indulgent smile, the type a father would give a son who’d finally figured out how to tie his own shoes. “Yes, sir. She did. I think she still does, but you won’t win her back by throwing money at her. She doesn’t care about your money. She never did.”

  Luca frowned and rubbed his chin, thinking. No. She’d had fun with some of the things his money provided, but it wasn’t what she’d cared about.

  “If I want to show her I love her, I need to show her I care about the things she loves.”

  Joe nodded. Luca rubbed at his eyes, despair filling him. “Maybe it won’t even matter. Even if she forgives me, she won’t come back and I can’t blame her for that. I can’t make the vultures stop swarming. They’ll always be there, taking pictures, hounding her and the kids. What kind of life would I be asking them to share? No matter what I can give her, how much I love her, it’s not worth it. She and the girls deserve a better man than me. I’m not what they need.”

  “I think you sell yourself short, sir.”

  Luca snorted and shook his head. “Not something I’m often accused of.”

  Joe gave him a sad smile. “An unfortunate shortcoming in your life, sir. You’re a good man. A little misguided, perhaps. Immature at times. Impetuous. Arrogant. A bit spoiled.”

  Luca cocked an eyebrow. “Where are you going with this, Joe?”

  Joe cocked his head. “Miss Constance and her girls need a good man who loves them. That’s all. Everything else will work itself out. And whatever else you are, sir, you are a good man. Who loves them.”

  Luca pulled the jewelry box toward him and opened it. Inside lay a diamond and platinum locket. He popped it open and gazed at the picture of Constance and Elena he’d had placed inside. He rubbed a thumb across their images.

  “Will it be enough?” he asked quietly.

  “I think those seven special ladies need someone to love them more than anything, sir. If you love them, it will be enough.”

  Luca stood, ho
pe flickering in his heart again. Faintly, but it was enough.

  “What’s the plan, sir?”

  Luca grinned at Joe. “I’m going to show her that I care about the things she cares about, that my life can be about more than photographers and fame. I’m going to do what I can to make my world a safe place for her and the girls, and then I’m going to win her back.”

  …

  Constance fiddled with the embroidery on her dress while she waited for the Reverend Mother to come in. It had been three months since she’d sat in that office waiting to see if Luca would show up. She flinched away from using his name, even in her head. After all these months, she’d hoped life would return to normal, that she’d forget him, or at the very least that the memories would have faded so the mere mention of him didn’t strike her like a stab to her heart.

  But they hadn’t faded. She still dreamed of him almost every night. She still woke in the morning, her heart and body aching from missing him. He’d done what he promised; he hadn’t let her lose her girls. Constance didn’t know how much he’d donated to the organization, but it was enough for them to overlook anything that had occurred and keep her on as a House Mother.

  It wasn’t enough to erase those images from the internet. But he’d been right. After a while, other scandals had risen to take their place. They’d never go completely away. Some idiot would post one every now and then. But for the most part, it was as if Luca had never been in her life.

  After several shots of her without her engagement ring, they’d finally gotten the hint that she and Luca were no longer together. She’d kept close to home, only venturing out when necessary. Eventually, the press had decided she was boring and no longer relevant and had left her alone.

  The odd thing was that Luca had also apparently dropped off the face of the earth. She knew he’d been in London and New York. There’d been shots of him, looking heartbreakingly handsome in a tailored suit, going into his father’s office building. A few of him buying coffee. Walking down the street glowering at the cameras. But no parties. No clubs. No women hanging on his arm.