“This happened yesterday. I’ve been building up my courage to call and tell you.”
“Because I’m oh so ferocious,” Alexa snapped.
“You are where Aaron and the boys are concerned, love.”
Glaring down at her shoes because they were in her line of fire where her mother wasn’t, Alexa eventually relented with a sigh. “Any warning is sufficient, I guess. Why did they visit you? Or did you see them when you were on your travels?”
“No, they came to the house. I fear they got what they came for, darling. The invite.”
“They?”
“Yes. Loukas and Leon were with him.”
Her worst nightmare was confirmed. It didn’t come as a shock, but still, a woman could live in hope. “Oh God. I didn’t think this could get much worse.” Once upon a time, those three names spoken together would have had arousal pooling in her belly. Now, they sent shivers of horror down her spine.
They’d been the three who had gotten away. Make that run away. At eighteen, she’d shared her fledgling desires with Aaron, and he’d called her perverted. From close friends—all four of their mothers were still, to this day, in each other’s pockets—to nothing. Nada. All three of them had left her alone ever since, tarring and feathering her for her disgusting lustful thoughts. Hypocrites, the lot of them.
Their disapproval had been a key factor in building this place. She had thumbed her nose at their prudish ways, silently told them that they had no control over her life or her desires and that she could do whatever the hell she wanted.
Of course, all of this had been transmitted silently.
She’d had no contact with Aaron, Loukas, or Leon since that day. Save for weddings and family get-togethers, where they’d avoided her like she was one bad case of chlamydia. So, what was changing? Why were they actively seeking her out now?
“Did they mention why they wanted an invitation?”
“We were talking about how it was your twenty-eighth birthday in a few weeks, or, should I say, Aaron was asking questions about it.”
She frowned. “Why would that interest him?”
“He asked about your grandpapa’s trust.”
“What about it?”
Agathe sighed. “The Clause.”
Alexa rolled her eyes. The Clause needed no explanation between mother and daughter. It had been a badly worded, misguided attempt by her papou—grandfather—to force her to behave until she earned her trust fund. Her aunt Xanthe had been a wild child. Once she’d hit her twenty-first birthday and had earned her trust fund, she’d gone her own way and done her own thing. That had led to a drug overdose…an act that had killed her hours before she was due to turn twenty-eight.
That age had stuck in her grandfather’s mind. He’d set her trust for her twenty-eighth year, and one of the clauses was that if any act of indiscretion led to gossip about her partying ways, the trust was null and void. One hundred million dollars down the drain because her grandfather didn’t want her to tread the same path as her aunt had.
It was fortunate for Alexa that she was not a party girl. The Clause had never been an issue for her. She hadn’t felt constrained by it or had any reason to fear it. Opening the Corsakis was the most risqué thing she’d ever done in her life, but because it all worked on word of mouth, there was never anything outright mentioned anywhere in the media or in the press. It was a well-kept open secret that the Corsakis was for couples in ménage relationships, and a well-kept open secret it would remain.
“I’m not sure why he’d ask about that.”
“I have an idea,” Agathe mumbled on a sigh. “I’ve never told your father, but I’ve known for a long time that you cater to those…triads because you want to be in one yourself.” Alexa felt foolish blushing when her mother was on the end of the phone and not there in person, but still, her cheeks were hot with her discomfort as Agathe stumbled on, “I know that’s why you four all fell out.”
“It wasn’t a falling-out,” Alexa spat, her discomfort ebbing away with the injustice of her being cast out of a circle of friends she’d had nearly all her life. “They chucked me away like I was diseased or something.”
“Maybe, just maybe, they were protecting you.”
“What do you mean?”
“For God’s sake, Alexa, you’re one of the most astute women I’ve ever known, yet where those three are concerned, you’re as blind as a bat. Your hormones take charge and turn you into an idiotic adolescent.”
“Less of the insults, Mother, just spit it out, please!”
“Well, it’s obvious, darling. They’ve been waiting for you to get your trust fund.”
Aghast, Alexa bit out, “Well, that’s just wonderful!”
“Don’t be ridiculous—it has nothing to do with the money. Aaron’s trust fund was twice the size of yours, and he’s already created a fortune for himself in that little business of his.”
Alexa rolled her eyes—Aaron was a goldsmith. His name was turning golden, too. His works were at a premium—not that she would ever admit to anyone how she knew that.
“Loukas and Leon are filthy rich, too. Loukas with his grandfather’s shipping company, and Leon with his art. They’re coming after you, darling. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”
Alexa blinked. “This is a very surreal conversation, Mama. Are you sure you aren’t uncomfortable talking about it?”
“Alexa, I’m fifty-four years old, not dead. I know what sex is, you know. I had to do it to get you! And that wasn’t the first or the last time, either.”
Grimacing, and imagining her mother primping her hair like an irritated bird ruffled its feathers, she mumbled, “All right, all right, I get the picture. But still, sex is one thing. Thinking about your daughter having it off with no less than three men…that’s a different kettle of fish.”
“When those three men look like Aaron, Loukas, and Leon, I’d have to be blind not to understand the appeal, darling.”
Alexa’s cheeks bloomed with heat. “Do you really think they’re coming for me? That the reason they stayed away was because of the Clause?”
“I really do.”
She blew out a breath. “Is it pathetic that I hope you’re right?”
“No, it means you’re as in love with them as you ever were. No matter how hard you tried to convince yourself, you could never convince me that you hated them.”
Swallowing, Alexa whispered, “Thank you for the warning, Mama. I’ll be on the lookout.”
“God knows when they’ll come, Alexa. It could be after your party,” she sighed. “Who knows.”
“I love you, Mama.”
“I love you, baby. And let’s not mention any of this to your papa, eh?”
She snorted. “Hard to keep it from him if this all goes right.”
“We can deal with that particular battle when we cross it.”
“True. Speak later, Mama.”
When Agathe ended the call, Alexa sat back on the chaise lounge and stared dazedly over reception once more. This time, her thoughts were nowhere near focused on her spot check. They were thoroughly centered on the three men who had shaped her desires for a ménage.
She stared blindly ahead, then realizing carrying on with the spot check was useless, headed toward the elevators. Seeking the calming haven of her rooms, she locked herself in and tried not to get her hopes up.
The men could be visiting for another reason entirely.
As damaging as it was to her pride, what use was pride in matters of the heart? Because God, how she prayed her mother was right... She truly hoped they were coming for her, and if they weren't, it would hurt worse than being abandoned by them ten years ago.
Chapter Two
The next day
“Alexa.”
Just that, her name, and she knew who was on the other end of the line.
Feeling her heart start to race, and her stomach start to churn, she wasn’t sure whether she ought to play the seductress or be herself,
wasn’t sure which one would attract him.
It irritated her, that even after his rejection, something she’d endured for close to ten years, he still had this effect on her. He still made her question herself, doubt herself. And it wasn’t just Aaron that had exiled her. Loukas and Leon had played along, snubbing her at every turn, as well.
That was Aaron’s fault. The three had always been thicker than thieves, and he’d always been the ringleader. Because of this man, she’d lost people she’d considered family.
That she could feel anything but hate for him disturbed her. But she was too honest with herself to fail to see why…She loved more than she loathed. And the chance to be back inside the inner circle, to once again be a part of their lives, was more tempting than the apple had been to Eve.
Or maybe, in this, she was a true descendant of the first woman to roam the world.
Since she’d never be able to play the role of seductress, even if she wished she could, she was brisk when she said, “Long time no hear, Aaron.”
“You’re bitter,” came the surprising retort. She’d expected him to whitewash over their estrangement rather than come out with it immediately.
“You’re damn right I am,” she snapped. “Wouldn’t you be?”
She heard him pull in a breath. “Yes. I would.”
“Well then, why so shocked?”
“I was hoping you’d be a bigger person than me.”
Eyes widening at that audacious comment, she blustered, “You dare to call me, after years of snubbing me, and tell me that I should be a bigger person? That I should turn the other bloody cheek? You were my closest friend, Aaron. You, Loukas, and Leon…all of you, dammit! You took that away from me, and for what? Harmless comments I made, for God’s sake. Maybe I should be relieved you showed me your true colors before I gave you more of an opportunity to hurt me more.”
He hissed, “Hurting you was never the intention, Alexa. Protecting you was.”
“I didn’t want your protection…not of my name, anyway. And after you grilled Mama on the terms of my trust fund, I can only assume that was what mattered to you most. I wanted you, Aaron. You. The man. Not the Stephanos heir. I wanted Loukas and Leon, not their respective surnames.”
Silence throbbed down the line, and his voice, the tone, hurt her, so sibilant was his anger. “Don’t you think we knew that? For God’s sake, Alexa, what do you think this was all about? For ten years we did without you, ten. Now you’re close to your birthday and you’re close to freedom. I made a dying man a promise, and I’ve stuck to it, Loukas and Leon, too.”
“What dying man?” She shook her head, glaring down at Felix, her cat, who meowed at her in offense at her barked words. “My granddad?”
Aaron snorted. “Who else?”
“What did Papou have to do with you three discarding me like I was trash?”
“You see it as discarding. I see it as defending. I was doing as I was told, like the good Greek boy I am.” The sneer in his tone was aimed inwardly, and she winced at the sound. “He used that. He used my nature against me. But no longer. Not now you’re free and clear.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
The inconsistency of his breathing, the rough patina told her he was the same Aaron as she’d always known…quick to anger, quick to snap. A firebrand, her papa had called him once. “Antonis, he loved you too much, Alexa. He couldn’t let you go, and if he had to, then it would be on his terms.”
“You’re talking, but you’re not explaining anything to me.”
“It’s hard, Alexa. Dammit, do you think it’s easy? Explaining why we had to do what we did? He threatened to arrange a marriage between you and Georgos Sacca if we didn’t stay away from you. He said unless we backed off until you were old enough to know better, old enough to know what your choice meant, that the threat would be there.”
Alexa shook her head. “You can’t be serious. Granddad never mentioned anything like that to me.”
“Well, he wouldn’t, would he? He wasn’t threatening you.”
“Why would he threaten anybody? For God’s sake, he liked you! Why would he warn you off?”
“He overheard us that day in the garden, Alexa. He heard you talking, heard you explaining how you liked me and how you felt the same way for Loukas and Leon.”
Blanching, Alexa whispered, “He didn’t. Did he?”
“Yeah, he did. And he was furious.”
“He never said anything to me.”
“No, well, he wouldn’t. You were his innocent granddaughter, his eggoni’. He was warning me—I was blamed for corrupting you. It was my fault. He didn’t even blame Loukas and Leon, just me. The ails of the world were my fault according to your grandfather.”
His bitterness stung her, but if he was telling the truth, then she could understand. The sick thing was, she could see her papou doing that. Trying to protect her from herself, even if it meant pushing away the three men who meant more to her than any other guy had.
And in this instance, who could blame him?
His eighteen-year-old eggoni’ had been in the garden of his Athens home, talking to a boy whose family he’d known for decades about being with him and his two other friends.
What papou wouldn’t try to control the damage? Try to protect his granddaughter’s chastity? Her innocence?
And he wouldn’t have dreamed of talking about anything like that with her. Nothing to do with sex would cross his lips. Not in her vicinity.
She was just shocked that she hadn’t already found herself shepherded off to another good Greek boy, a boy like Georgos Sacca. But then, Antonis had always jealously protected his relationship with Alexa, and marrying her off would have defeated that purpose. If it had been such a big deal, he could have integrated the ruling into her trust fund, but he hadn’t.
“What are you thinking?” Aaron’s voice came down the line, a soft whisper sinuously winding his way around her senses.
“I’m thinking why now? Why not when he died? We could have been together. In secret.”
He blew out a breath. “I wish I could see you, face-to-face, when we talk about this.”
“I know Mama invited you over to the hotel.”
“Is that an invitation seconded by you? I wouldn’t have come over without your agreement. That’s why I’m calling today. Because I want to see you in person. Loukas and Leon do too.”
She scowled down at her lap. “As easy as that? Why? Because I’m about to inherit?”
Aaron’s snort rather than his snap confirmed his reasoning easily. Just like her mother had declared, Aaron wasn’t interested in her finances. “If there’s one crime that no one can lay at my door regarding you, Alexa, going after you for your fortune is it. I have one of my own, thankfully.”
“All right then, so why wait until now? Why not come to me after Papou died?”
“Because I promised him, Alexa. Just before he died, he called me, told me to gather the Two Stooges—he meant Leon and Loukas—and to come visit him in Larnaca.”
“Right at the end, then,” she whispered, tears pricking her eyes at how hideous that time had been. He’d been in the hospital, and when he’d known he was dying, the doctors had told him there was nothing they could do for him, Antonis had refused to stay another day in the morgue, as he’d called it. As much of a morgue as one of the best suites in one of the best hospitals in Athens could be. It had taken days to travel back to Cyprus, but they’d made it three days before he died. One last time to see the island of his birth.
Just the memory was enough to make her throat feel overfull with emotion. Enough so, she had to clear it before even contemplating talking.
“Yeah. He died the next day,” Aaron murmured softly. “He made us promise to leave you alone until you understood the ramifications of your desires, aka when your trust fund came into effect. And that’s why I’m calling, Alexa. Are you?”
“Am I what?”
“Old enough to know bette
r, or do you still want us?”
Chapter Three
Three weeks later
With a flourish, Alexa signed the papers her lawyers and her trust fund executors laid in front of her. The endless reams of documents were tedious to sign, and her wrist was actually starting to ache so thick was the docket.
She’d had the terms of the trust fund read to her, had learned how much the fund actually was, and what her monthly stipend would be.
It was an impressive amount, not to be sniffed at, but Alexa probably wouldn’t use it. She was intending, within the next few months, to actually create a trust fund of her own. One that would plow her grandfather’s money back into another fund that would be for any children she was lucky enough to have. Or any other heirs she might gain over the years.
Funny how the thought of a family seemed a surety now, where a month ago, it felt like it would never happen. Since that first of many phone calls between her and Aaron, she’d started to realize that there could be a future for them all, if she was brave enough to embrace it.
The Corsakis was a profitable enterprise, and the loans she’d made with her papa to get the business off the ground had long since been paid. Even he’d been surprised by how successful her venture was. Everyone had been, save for Agathe. Her mother had a shocking amount of faith in Alexa, and it was that, she felt sure, that always gave her the strength to go after whatever it was she wanted. Knowing her mother was always at her back made her feel like she could vanquish any foe.
It was a reassuring sentiment. Especially for the days ahead. Now The Clause was over and done with, she’d need her mother’s love and support more than ever.
“How many more papers are there, Adrian?” Alexa groaned when he handed her more dockets to sign.
“You’re talking about a fortune that’s close to one-hundred-and-seventy-five million euros, Alexa. What did you expect? A single sheet to sign?”
She snorted. “I wish. This isn’t how I’d imagined spending my birthday morning.”
“It’s some birthday present, Alexandra,” Adrian chided, making her cross her eyes at his back. He always enjoyed making her feel like a foolish child.
Old Enough to Know Better [The Corsakis Hotel 2] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) Page 2
