The Greek Billionaire's Secret Baby (Contemporary Romance) (16 page)

The right corner of his lip lifted, and Lauren could almost hear him tell her that frankly, he didn’t give a damn. Instead, he ran a hand through his hair and said, “I can and I will. I have no desire to remain on the same continent as you. I don’t know what is real anymore. Nothing I seem to do is right.”

“Alex, you must listen…”

He shook his head. “Theo can run the business.”

“Don’t you see that’s what he wants? Why he’s done all this? He wants half of everything. He feels slighted.”

Alex ignored her. “The baby will be legitimized. My duty will be done the moment I marry you.” He stepped toward Nick, then turned and moved toward the door. “I am going out. I will meet you tomorrow at the judge’s chambers.”

“We need to talk or I won’t be there.”

“No, we don’t and you will. We only need to be married, Lauren, and then we can say goodbye. Hell you can keep the damn shares. I want none of this.”

With that, Alex picked up the briefcase he’d dropped and left the suite.

*****

Chapter Twelve

“You can go in now.” The nurse in traditional white smiled through the protective glass at Alex and he remembered to be polite.

His personal grief did not need to be shared or a burden to others. After he’d left Lauren, he’d had the chauffer drive him around. Finally, he’d gone to see his father. When Alex left for Greece tomorrow afternoon, it would be a long time before he saw his father again. Luckily his father would never know how much he’d failed.

The nurse buzzed him into the long-term care ward, and he followed her down the sterile white hallway.

“You’ll find your father surprisingly lucid today,” the nurse said as they walked along the corridor. “You picked a great time to visit as he has much of his memory. Your mother was in earlier. She comes every day. Today she brought pictures of your son. He’s a beautiful little boy. She talks about Nick constantly.”

A lump formed in Alex’s throat at hearing Nick mentioned as his son. His mother would believe Lauren’s lies. The two had become thick as thieves. The nurse stopped outside of his father’s long-term care room.

“He’s watching TV,” she said. “He loves
Wheel of Fortune
. It’s his favorite show.”

Alex into the room, and the heavy door closed behind him. “Hello
Patera
,” he said, using the Greek word for father.

Hearing a voice, Costa Pappas turned around. He’d withered from the strong man Alex had once known. Once six foot and over two hundred pounds, Costa had shrunk to barely over a hundred. Besides his onset of full-blown Alzheimer’s, Costa had also developed emphysema from years of smoking.

Even though he’d quit, his body struggled to breathe and his voice came out in between sharp wheezes. Alex wondered if his father should go to Greece with him, perhaps see it one more time.

“Alex!” A warm smile spread across Costa’s face and despite his melancholy, Alex smiled back. Today his father recognized him. That hadn’t happened in a while.

“Alex!” His father lifted spindly arms and Alex gave his father a hug. His father’s arms felt bony and they quickly dropped away.

“An H!” his father said suddenly as he yelled at the contestant on the television game show. He pointed at the TV. “Can’t you see that the letter you need is an H?”

The woman guessed a P and Costa waved his hand in disgust as the next person spun the wheel. “I should be on that show,” he said.

“You should,” Alex agreed, trying not to let his sadness show.

Costa moved over and patted the side of his bed. “So you came to watch the show with me? Normally your mother does, but she came by earlier. Don’t buy the vowel! Guess an H!” Costa turned back to Alex and blinked. “Did you say something?”

Alex sighed. He’d find out very quickly if his father could comprehend today. “I am leaving for Greece tomorrow and wanted to say goodbye.”

“Ah. Honeymoon. Maria mentioned it. I always liked Lauren. Not Greek, but she’s the next best thing. Full of spirit. You have a beautiful son. Maria brought me pictures.”

Costa reached over and with a shaking hand pointed to a framed picture of Nick that sat on a nightstand.

“He looks just like you at that age. I know my memory isn’t like it used to be, but I know how you looked back then.”

Alex stared at the picture. There was a likeness, but then again he and Christopher had looked identical as babies. “Nick is Christopher’s son.”

Costa shook his head, the game show puzzle forgotten. “No. Maria says he’s your son. He looks just like you. Don’t try to confuse me. I remember things today.”

“I don’t have a son,” Alex said patiently. “I’m raising Christopher’s. Maybe that’s what Mother meant.”

Costa’s face grew confused. “I’m not wrong,” he insisted, frowning. “Christopher told me he never wanted to have children. He was punishing me for paying off Shakira.”

Costa brightened suddenly as if remembering something else. “You should read Christopher’s journal. That’s how I found out he was seeing Shakira.”

“That was fourteen years ago,” Alex said. His father was stuck in the past.

“He always writes in his journals,” Costa said. “Even to this day. You have a wonderful son. Looks just like you at that age. I remember it well, just like it was yesterday.”

His father was flitting in and out of the present and Alex knew he had very little time left before his father again turned his attention back to the television show.

Alex took a deep breath. “
Patera
.”

The nurse appeared in the doorway, a cup of medicine in her hand. Alex nodded his understanding. He knew he’d come late and visiting hours were nearly over.

“I need to go,” he told Costa. “I’ll visit again. Tomorrow before I leave.”

Pain sliced his gut as he rose to his feet.

“Give your wife my love,” his father said.

Alex leaned over and gave his father a kiss on his forehead.

“Kiss your son for me. He’s a beautiful boy. Looks just like you.”

A pang filled Alex’s heart. Perhaps it was lucky that Christopher had never lived to see the toll the disease had had on their father. Perhaps it was lucky that his brother had never known how badly Alex could fail.

“I love you,” he whispered to his father.

“A P! Now you needed a P!” his father said. “You would have won $25,000!” He looked at Alex. “Are you here to watch with me?”

The nurse gave Alex a sympathetic smile. He blinked back a tear and exited the room.

He walked down the corridor and someone at the nurses’ station buzzed him out. His driver waited in the parking lot, and seeing Alex, opened the door and Alex climbed in.

Alex checked his cell phone but there were no new messages. Even Theo had been mercifully silent. Alex exhaled a sharp breath, attempting to expel the frustration he felt. No amount of Pappas money could cure his father. No amount of money could erase Lauren’s betrayals and lies.

Alex leaned forward and rapped on the privacy glass. His driver lowered it. It was time to straighten out one more matter. “Take me to my mother’s.”

The driver quickly masked his surprised expression and made a fast U-turn.

His mother was watching the news when he arrived. He startled her with his arrival. “Why do you lie to my father?” he asked.

Maria fingered the afghan that she always covered herself with no matter the season. “I don’t.”

“You told him Nick is my son.”

“He is.” Her eyes flickered once, but she didn’t waver.

Alex took another blow to the gut. “And no one has thought to tell me this truth?”

“Would you have believed me or Lauren?” his mother asked, her chin high.

Alex sank into a chair. He felt as if he’d aged ten years. “I don’t understand.”

“Do you think so little of your brother to believe that he would have slept with her? She’s never betrayed you. She’s not your enemy.”

“Than who is?” Alex asked.

“Maybe the family you try to protect so much. Greed does things to people.”

“I’ve made them all rich.”

“Maybe they want to be richer. Maybe they don’t want anything but the payout. Your father broke his back for us and hated freeloaders. Yet he wasn’t strong enough to stand firm when it counted.”

“This cannot be true.” Alex jumped to his feet and paced. “You are telling me that everything I’ve believed to be true is a lie, and that every lie that’s been told has been true and that I didn’t know it because I can’t see the truth! Where is the proof?”

“Actually, I found some the other day when I was cleaning. It’s upstairs. In the attic. In Christopher’s journals.”

His father had mentioned those. “You have them.”

“They were with his personal effects that the IBF shipped up from Mexico. They’re in a trunk. Alex, you’re loyal and true. It’s your greatest strength but it’s also your greatest weakness. Your loyalty can be misplaced. Don’t be stubborn. Go read for yourself. Let the dead have their say.”

Alex went to the attic, opened the heavy wooden door and turned on the light. No one had pushed the trunk far. He tossed the lid open and found the journals at the top, as if his mother had read all of them.

Alex reached for the first journal and thumbed through it. High school/start of college. Too early. This one would have been about Shakira, the forbidden older woman who was the classic gold digger.

He thumbed through a few more, finally finding the one he wanted. He turned the pages, his gaze searching for the truth—the only truth he could trust, that which was to be found in the black ink scrawl etched onto the plain bound paper.

He took a deep breath, and found the date that was permanently etched in his memory, and began.

Alex found Lauren in my bed today. I’ve never seen my older brother so angry. His black eyes bulged and even after all the fights and scrapes we got into as kids, I’ve never seen them do that before. She’d told me that they’d been having problems before, but when two people love each other as much as they do, they should be able to get past it. Neither of them trusts each other
.

Couldn’t Alex see that she was fully dressed? We were hanging out like we did in college. Doesn’t my brother know that I would never betray him? Lauren loves him. Hell, I wish I could find that kind of love. He’s a lucky man. Although he doesn’t deserve her. She’s had it rough lately. He has no idea of what she’s gone through, or what Theo has done. My father’s illness has blinded him to truth
.

Theo’s name glared off the page and Alex read the words again: w
hat Theo has done
. He felt a fist close around his heart. What else had he, Alex, missed?

“She didn’t betray me,” he said aloud.

“Of course not,” his mother said from behind him, her tone relieved. “And neither did your brother.”

“Then what she said is true.” His fingers fumbled with the pages as the daunting realization that he’d been wrong washed over him. He read on.

Lauren’s on her way to Mexico. Tomorrow I’ll be able give her a hug. I know she’s been suffering too much alone
.

I can’t deny that I’m slightly elated. I’m going to be a father. I don’t know if I’m up for the challenge, but even I know that there are no illegitimate children in my family and I’ll have to step into Alex’s shoes. There are times I wish I hadn’t sworn to keep Lauren’s secret. She should tell Alex the truth, or at least I should. I owe that to Alex; he loves her so
.

But I know in my heart that she’s right. Theo has played a deadly hand, and Lauren’s afraid. Alex refuses to listen to her and he won’t believe that Theo….

Alex stopped reading. Guilt smacked him like a baseball bat. Lauren had broached the subject once, and Alex hadn’t believed. He’d been so stupid, so blind. And had Christopher said that the baby…. Cursing himself, he read on. He could almost hear his brother’s voice, picture him at that desk in that Central Mexican office where Alex had found Lauren. He found the last entry, dated two days before the accident. The words in the middle jumped out at him.

I write you this promise, Alex, that I will raise and protect your child until the time comes that you can know the truth, until the day that perhaps you find Lauren again and rediscover the love you once shared, the love that created a life. I never coveted what was yours but I will care for it as if it was mine….

Hot tears blinded Alex’s eyes as reality hit him fully. He’d listened to Theo, and not the woman he loved.

“Nick is my son,” he said aloud, as if testing the truth and daring his mother to deny it. 

“Of course he is,” his mother confirmed. “He looks just like you did at that age. Only a fool could not see it.”

“I am that fool,” Alex said. His gaze flew next over the words outlining Christopher’s excited joy of feeling Lauren’s stomach when the baby first kicked. It’s a boy, Christopher had written later.
The Pappas family always has boys. They have for generations. My brother didn’t disappoint
.