But he had disappointed, Alex knew. His vision blurred with more tears. He’d been such a stupid, proud fool. He’d let his pride blind him to the truth. He’d trusted his family—family that had been systematically trying to get rid of her for….
Theo. The scene played out again in Alex’s mind but this time he saw the kiss in the suite for what it was. A sham. A violation. Alex pictured Lauren’s face and the mortification at being violated in such a way. Rage filled him and he dropped the journal back into the trunk as if the book had suddenly burned his fingers.
Alex jumped to his feet and closed the trunk. He didn’t have a moment to lose.
He kissed his mother’s forehead. “Thank you,” he said as he rushed by her. “I love you a great deal and I promise to call you later and explain everything.”
He knew he wouldn’t break that promise, either. He took the stairs two at a time down to the first floor landing and, as he flew past the butler and out the front door, he fished his cell phone out of his pocket. “Stay where you are, Theo,” he said when his cousin answered. “I need to talk to you.”
Twenty minutes later the limo pulled up at the office. Alex found Theo in his office. His cousin hung up the phone as he entered, and Theo stood and buttoned his suit coat.
“Plotting against me?” Alex asked. He had no fear of his cousin, but instead saw him for the man he truly was.
“What are you talking about?”
Alex remained standing, ignoring Theo’s gesture to sit. “What have I done to you that has garnered such dislike and disrespect?”
Theo sputtered a little. “Alex, you’re talking crazy. What’s gotten into you?”
“Soul searching,” Alex answered honestly. He edged closer. “I visited my father today. He said something that shook me. He said Nick was my son.”
“Ridiculous.” Theo’s indignation was quick.
“Truth.” Alex watched Theo’s expression turn into shock. Then he rallied.
“Is she telling you more lies? She was in your brother’s bed. She lived with him. Alex, she’s poisoning you.”
“I have proof.”
Theo frowned. “You did DNA?”
“No, but I’m sure that would be conclusive as well. Do you remember how we used to tease Christopher about his journals?”
“He was always writing in them…” Theo’s face blanched. “He wrote about it?”
“He wrote quite a few things that I don’t think he thought anyone would ever read. He never slept with Lauren. Nick is mine.”
“All the more reason to marry her and get those shares,” Theo said.
“He also wrote that you threatened her.”
“More lies.”
“My brother had no reason to lie. He was going to marry Lauren and raise my son as his and all because you’d threatened her. What did you do Theo? This time so help me tell the truth!”
“My father suggested that since you could keep it in your pants that I persuade Lauren to leave.”
“Is this before or after you had my secretary forget to let Lauren know my schedule?”
“That was all Spiro,” Theo admitted.
Alex clenched his fist. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t flatten you on the pavement.”
Theo drew himself up. “Look at you, Alex. The heir. The ruler of the kingdom. Do you know what it’s like to see you run things just because of your birthright? I’m older than you, but you control things because of some antiquated tradition. I am married to a boring brood mare while my heart belongs to someone I can only install in an apartment on the Upper West Side. I want what is mine. I want the money and the power. I’m tired of being your lackey.”
“And that’s what this takeover would have given you. A way to oust me.” Alex saw the entire picture clearly. “You almost won, Theo. But you won’t. And if you ever come near Lauren again, you will deal with me.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
Alex could see the false bravado in Theo’s eyes. “Keep telling yourself that and maybe you’ll believe it.”
He turned and left the office, ignoring Theo’s hurled insults. He needed to get home and straighten things out with Lauren. But first, one last piece of business. He finished it quickly.
He should have bothered. When he returned to the suite, Lauren and Nick were gone.
*****
Chapter Thirteen
Lauren looked out the window as the Amtrak passenger train pulled into Kirkwood, Missouri, the next rail stop west of St. Louis. From her vantage point she could see City Hall, some trees and little else. The view of the train station was on the opposite side of the car.
She’d been on the train since leaving New York two afternoons ago. Uncertain as to Theo’s next moves, especially since he expected her at a wedding she didn’t attend, she’d simply chosen to vanish. This time she used all cash, and had turned off her cell phone.
She’d spent the yesterday in a Chicago hotel, and then, after deciding not to stay in the Windy City, she had caught the early train out. Now almost three-thirty in the afternoon, she’d spent the day weaving though the alternating patches of wooded countryside, farmland, and rural towns as she let the sound of the train wheels be a bitter balm to her soul. She had no real destination in mind.
When she’d left for Central Mexico, she’d not expected the danger or how far Theo would go. Now she knew. She understood. He wouldn’t rest.
Alex couldn’t protect her, especially if he was in Greece, not that he’d believe her anyway. He’d be too busy trying to do his job, too busy stamping out fires that were set to create smokescreens.
She continued to gaze the window, watching the few people who milled by City Hall as they watched the train. She glanced down at Nick. He was happily asleep in his car seat.
Passengers began to board and Lauren ignored them. They came and went: sometimes the train was full, others times she shared her car with only a few others.
The train whistle blew and the car began to lurch slowly forward. As Lauren continued to stare out the window, someone sat across the aisle to her right. Ahead she could see a small park with children playing. They stopped and waved. She waved back and then the she saw nothing but high wooden retaining walls as the train dropped below the surrounding landscape.
“I thought you’d like to know that someone at the station said that if you want to see the view of the Missouri River, you’re sitting on the wrong side of the train.”
Lauren practically jumped out of her seat and she turned her head sharply. “Alex!”
“Hello Lauren,” he said, but there was only tiredness, not amusement or anger in his tone. “How are you? Please tell me that you and Nick are okay.”
“We are. But you,” her throat constricted. “Look at you.”
He appeared to have aged, as if he’d spent a sleepless past two nights. Dark circles graced the smooth skin under his tired eyes and lines she’d never seen before creased his brow.
“Ignore my condition,” he said impatiently. “I don’t matter. All that does is that you’re fine. The baby is fine. And that you really mean you’re fine. Nothing’s wrong.”
“No,” she said, the conversation seemingly surreal. “Nick’s perfectly normal and healthy. We’re starting to get tired of traveling, but otherwise both of us are in perfect shape.”
“Good.” He leaned back against the seat and for a moment closed his eyes. “I’ve been very worried about you. I returned to the hotel and you were gone.”
The baby stirred in his car seat beside her and Lauren gave him back his pacifier. Nick sucked happily and his eyes remained closed.
“You made it clear you wanted me out of your life. You were going to Greece, and I decided that I wasn’t marrying a man who wouldn’t be around.”
“I know what Theo did.” He opened his eyes and turned to look at her, the side of his head resting against the cloth seat.
“I know the truth, Lauren. Not everything, perhaps, but enough to finall
y realize the difference between what’s real and what’s not. I can’t forgive myself for not believing you. I hate myself that you couldn’t turn to me, and that I took Theo’s word over yours. I failed you and failed Nick.”
“I’ve been trained to survive. I did what I needed to do. I have a son to take care of.”
“We have a son to take care of,” Alex corrected. “He’s mine, Lauren. I read Christopher’s journals. They were at my mother’s house. He’s mine. My son. You never lied. I’m the one who has been the stupid, stubborn fool. I let circumstantial evidence sway my scared heart.”
The powerful emotions flowing through her weakened her voice to a whisper. “I never betrayed you, Alex. I never touched Christopher. Or Theo.”
“I know.” His voice was equally quiet. “Theo’s nose will need some permanent reconstruction and that’s only the beginning of his penance. But the blame falls wholly on me. It is my fault, Lauren. I failed.”
He seemed so dejected and Lauren’s heart shattered. “He thought I was a distraction. I wasn’t Greek. He told me you would have a mistress. He insinuated that’s where you were every time you were late. He offered me money to leave.”
Alex reached over and gently touched her lips with the pads of his first two fingers. “Say no more. I believe. You were the only woman for me and because of my pride, I threw our chance at love away.”
“Alex, I…”
“Let me finish.” His words came out a forceful rush. “You’ve always been the only woman for me. I love you, you and only you. There’s been no one else ever since I met you, not even that tabloid was right. It was just a picture.”
The countryside flew by. The train was now passing the remains of what was once an automotive plant and later would run parallel to Interstate 44. Silence fell and Nick slept on.
“So what do we do now?” Lauren asked.
“It’s your decision,” Alex said. “I’ve got a car waiting for us at the Washington station and my plane is at the city airport. I’d like you to return home with me. I want us to be a family. I want to marry you, be your husband and be a father to my son.”
“I can’t handle the business. I can’t take the drama.”
Alex shook his head. “It won’t be like that. I sold all my shares yesterday to Damien Favazza. It was time. The merger will go ahead and I will step into a vice presidential role. Theo and Spiro have been ousted from the new company. They can take their stock and…I don’t care what they do with it. Our relationship is severed.”
She couldn’t have heard him correctly. He’d cut ties? “You sold your family company?”
“It was a noose around my neck. It took these last few months to make me realize why Christopher never wanted to join the family business. The business took me away from the one thing I care about. Theo was right when he said you were a distraction.”
“Alex.”
But Alex wouldn’t heed her interruption. “No company is worth losing you. Nothing is worth losing my son. I love you. I refused to lose you a third time, but already I fear that it may be much too late. I’ve failed in the one thing that I truly cared about. I deserve to be punished.”
The whistle blew and Lauren leaned forward slightly. Out the window to her right she could see the Missouri River. They were pulling into the Washington station.
Alex held her gaze and Lauren could see pure pain in those deep black pools, pain only she could cure.
“This is my stop,” he said as he rose to his feet. “You are safe, Lauren. No one from the Pappas family will bother you again. I can at least give you that.”
She stood so fast that she collided into him in the small aisle. A fusion of heat traveled between them.
“This is my stop also,” she said quickly. “Nick and I are getting off here. He’s tired of riding the train, you see, and this looks like a lovely place to disembark. Right, Nick?”
The baby slept on, but Lauren saw the glimmer of hope in his father.
“Your stop?” Alex asked.
“Of course,” Lauren said with an urgent nod. “We’re going with you. That is if you will still have us. I love you Alex. I’ve only ever wanted to be with you. Nothing more.”
Joy lit Alex’s face. “Agapimeni mou! Of course I will have you. I want nothing more. You are my love and my family.”
“Disembarking?” the conductor asked as he approached them.
“Yes,” Lauren said. She leaned over and retrieved the car seat containing her sleeping son while Alex retrieved her luggage from the overhead bin. “Yes, I’m getting off here.”
Alex turned to her the moment they stepped off the train into the sunshine. Lauren could see the hired limo waiting in the parking lot, a few interested children pointing at it.
“That’s our car,” Alex said as he followed her gaze. “So tell me, where do you wish to go? The world is ours, zoi mou.”
He paused and smiled so warmly at her that she felt his love all the way down in the tips of her toes.
“You don’t know what that Greek means, do you? I’ve never called you that before. Zoi mou. It means my love. My life. For you are, Lauren, you must know that. And if you don’t, I will spend every day from this point forward proving it to you. And that means living anywhere you wish. I know how the city cages you in.”
Where they lived didn’t matter. Home was with him. She reached out her hand and he took it. “It’s no cage if I’m with you,” she said. “No cage at all.”
*****
Epilogue
They wasted no time but flew straight to Las Vegas, Nevada, and found a chapel that didn’t have a wait.
“We’ll have to have another ceremony, a proper family one complete with a Greek Orthodox priest,” Alex told her, “but right now I’m not waiting another minute to make you my legal wife.”
They flew next to New York where they together disposed of Nick’s shares, selling them to Damien Favazza and then reinvesting the money and placing it in trust for when Nick turned twenty-five. Nick’s mother approved.
Afterwards they went to Alex’s native Greece, renting a villa on a private island where they could honeymoon as a family for at least a month.
One month turned to two, and Alex gave Lauren the island as a wedding gift. They called their home Tanos, which in Greek meant strength in an unbreakable, rigid yet beautiful way. Tanos described their love.
It was there on their island that they were married next to the sea in a small private ceremony attended only by Alex’s mother and father and few close friends. It was in Greece that they conceived their second child and that their son Nick first rolled from his back to his stomach.
They returned to New York in late December, in time for the Christmas holidays. But before they met Maria at her house for dinner, they had an important stop to make. It was bitterly cold, so they left a sleeping Nick in the warmth of the chauffeured limo. His parents held gloved hands as they made the short trek across the frozen ground.
Once at their destination, Lauren leaned down and placed the poinsettias she’d brought on Christopher’s gravesite. “Thank you,” she said simply. “You’ll be happy to know we’re fine.”
She turned to the strong man beside her. He still hid many of his emotions while in public, but the corner of his cheek twitched and Lauren knew this moment had a powerful impact on him. He loved true, for he was her vrahas, and she his.
She reached for her husband’s hand and they began to slowly walk away. She paused and turned one last time to look at the protruding gray stone.
“Do you think he knows it’s a girl?” she asked. She and Alex were having a girl, the first Pappas girl in three generations. Maria was already stocking up on pink and declaring that they really needed to move out of the hotel and into a house. Finding somewhere to live was their New Year’s resolution.
Alex paused a minute as if reading the answer on the brisk winter wind. “I think Christopher knows,” he said simply. “And if I know my brother, I’d say he pul
led some strings upstairs to make it that way.”
Lauren smiled. “You’re right. He would.”
And then together they walked off, hand and hand, united for the rest of their days.
The Greek Billionaire's Secret Baby (Contemporary Romance) Page 13
