The Renegade Billionaire

For the next little while, Stavros explained everything. But at the mention of PanHellenic Tours, Leon made a strange sound in his throat. “Wait just a minute. This Andrea is the blonde American woman who has Mother and Tina Lasso in fits? She speaks Greek like a native. I would never have guessed.”

“Try a dozen languages she’s mastered. Brains and beauty.”

“Despinis Linford is a knockout, all right. But she’s also one of the reasons I flew here to see you tonight.”

“I figured you had some bad news for me or you wouldn’t have come.”

“It’s serious, I’m afraid. Dad’s in a rage.”

“That’s old news. He knew I was forming my own company. My resignation was inevitable. My company is already a week into production.”

“I know, but it’s not just that, Stav. He expects you to do the right thing for Tina now that she’s pregnant.”

“If I’d ever loved Tina, I would have married her long ago. She’s bluffing, Leon. But in any case, I never slept with her, so it couldn’t be mine.”

“You and I both know that, but our father is beyond listening to reason. I came here to warn you. I overheard him tell Mother that if you don’t marry Tina, he’s going to prevent any more sales of the marble waste from our quarries to be sold to you.”

“He what?” A pain stabbed him to the depths. His own father would really do that?

“Are you serious?”

“I’m afraid so. He’ll try to shut you down in order to get his own way.”

“Leon—what kind of man does such a thing to his son?”

“I’m sorry, Stav.”

Tears filled Stavros’s eyes, unbidden. “Father really hates me to consider betraying me like this. It’s one blow I could never have anticipated.” He thought back to his earlier conversation with Andrea about his father. If his father was willing to go that far, it could impact Stavros’s relationship with her. Stavros didn’t want this touching Andrea and would go to any lengths to keep her in his life.

Leon put a hand on his shoulder. “He doesn’t hate you, Stav. If you want to know my opinion, Tina’s father has put the squeeze on our father. He may even have threatened to take away the shipping services he has provided all these years.”

“So I’m supposed to do the right thing by Tina?”

“It’s the only way to solve the problem.”

He looked in Leon’s eyes. “Are you asking me to do it?”

“Hell, no. I couldn’t marry a woman I didn’t love. I wouldn’t! To my way of thinking, this is pure sabotage on Nasso’s part and he’s railroading our father. You need to confirm the facts of Tina’s so-called pregnancy first.”

“She might be pregnant, Leon, but doing a DNA before the baby is born could prove dangerous to the fetus. I’d have to wait until after it’s delivered before the test could be done to prove it’s not mine.”

His brother frowned. “That could mean six months or longer. Can you keep your new business afloat that long without suffering?”

Stavros nodded. “There are other quarries, but I’ll be forced to do some fast negotiating to provide backup when the need comes. Orders are pouring in.”

“Then get better and do it! I’d help you if I could.”

“You already have by giving me a heads-up. I owe you. Anyway, I know your hands are tied. Tell you what, Leon. Tina’s father can plot till doomsday, but he and Father aren’t going to put me out of business,” Stavros said icily.

“There’s more.”

He stared at his brother. “How could there be more?”

“Mother believes you’re involved with—”

“Andrea?” Stavros supplied the name. “She’d be dead-on right.”

Leon blinked. “You mean...?”