The Renegade Billionaire

“Just be in my corner like you’ve always been.”

“Stav—I don’t like the idea of you being in your hideaway all alone. Why don’t you come to my house and stay with us and the kids. I’ll go with you when it’s time to see the judge.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m not fit company for anyone.”

“If you need me, call anytime, day or night. I mean that.”

“I know. Talk to you soon.”

The depression he’d lived with before Andrea had come into his life had descended on him like a paralyzing, impenetrable darkness.

* * *

Andrea had been home from work for only a few minutes on Wednesday evening when she heard a knock on the apartment door.

“Andrea?” a familiar voice called out.

“Dad!” She couldn’t believe he was here.

He opened the door with his own key. “Hi, honey. I decided to surprise you.”

She flew into his arms and hugged him so hard, he laughed. “What’s going on?” When she lifted her tearstained face, he frowned. “I thought you were happy to see me, but you look like the Wreck of the Hesperus.”

That was a playful expression of her father’s he often used to make her laugh when she was upset. But she was in too much pain since leaving Stavros to respond.

He wiped the moisture from her cheeks. “Hey—this is serious. It’s a good thing I was able to finish up my work early and get home to you.”

“Do you mean you’re through at the mine? Literally?”

“Yes, honey. I told my superior I needed to help my daughter get ready for our move to Brazil.” There was more gray in his dark blond hair, but she hadn’t noticed until he cocked his head. “How come I’ve walked in to find you in tears? Is this still about Ferrante?”

She shook her head.

“Do you enjoy your job so much it’s going to be hard to leave?”

“That’s not it, Dad, although I’ll miss Sakis.”

“Okay. I’ll stop playing twenty questions. For you to be in this kind of shape, your problem has to do with a man.”

“Yes.”

“He wouldn’t by any chance be the mastermind behind that plant, would he?”

“Yes.”

Her father was so smart he could always divine what was wrong with her. “Those pictures you sent were pretty impressive. Come on. Out with it.” He put his arm around her shoulders and walked her over to the couch. Then he sat down in the chair near the coffee table.

“I don’t know where to start.”

He leaned forward. “The beginning is always a good place. What’s his name?”

“Stavros Konstantinos.”

“You’re talking the Konstantinos Marble Corporation, of course.”

“That’s the one, except that he no longer works for the family. He has started his own company.” Her father had opened the floodgate and it all came spilling out. Everything about the time she’d spent with him, the search for Darren, the problems with his parents, the hearing before the judge because she had been named codefendant.

“Unfortunately, having a name like Konstantinos and all the money that goes with it makes him a living target. Has he asked you to marry him, honey?”