by Sienna Snow
Anger flared in Adrian's eyes, and through gritted teeth, he said, "I am loyal to my mother. She just happens to be my sister, not the woman who gave birth to me."
"You ungrateful boy. Just wait until the money runs out. Don't come crying to me."
"Calm down, Dara." Trey held on to Dara's arm as if he was preparing for her to jump up again. "This session is being recorded as per the board’s request."
She jerked her hand free. "I don't give a fuck. I've put up with these brats for too long. Sign the papers, and we can be rid of each other."
"Isn't your sale contingent on the new lucrative contract with PSK Distilleries?" I asked.
All the color drained from Dara's face, and she glanced at Trey. She must have forgotten that I owned PSK and she had to play nice to get what she wanted.
“The details of the deal are privileged information. You are going off of rumors. You know nothing.”
"I know a lot of things." I smiled, pulling out my own stack of papers from my shoulder bag. "You see this?" I pushed the documents toward Dara. "This is Papa's last will and testament. The one you conveniently forgot to make public. The one Papa made right before his death. Keeping one’s children in the dark about their inheritance is definitely not the actions of a morally superior woman. Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Ritchman?"
Dara remained quiet, trying to mask her shock.
"It is a fraud. Jacob Kipos made no such revised will. I was his legal counsel for over fifteen years." Trey spoke in an angry voice, looking as if he wanted to strangle me.
Yes, asshole. You've been found out.
"I beg to differ, Mr. Ritchman," Carter interjected. "My father was Jacob Kipos's attorney on record at the time of his death. In fact, this will is very valid and filed with the proper channels."
"This means nothing. I'll fight it in court."
"With whose money?" Hagen spoke. "Adrian, don't you have something to show your genetic donor?"
I furrowed my brow. Okay, this was not part of the plan. What the hell was Adrian going to show everyone, and why was Hagen in on it and not me?
I glared at the two men, but they ignored me, keeping their focus on Dara.
"Mother—" Adrian addressed her with a tinge of venom in his voice, "—I have a video to show you. Our friend Josef Petrov gave this to the Lykaioses as payment for the inconvenience your friend Erin Kapok caused them in their hotel. I think you’ll find it very interesting. It seems Erin liked to record your time together."
Adrian started the video.
My hands began to shake. It revealed Kapok and Dara making detailed plans on the various ways to get rid of Papa.
I had been right all along.
Oh, Papa. Nausea filled my stomach, and before I knew it, Hagen had me in his arms and was carrying me out of the room and into an empty office.
"I need to see it. I have to see it," I cried as I banged on his chest.
"No, baby, you don't. The authorities will be in there soon to arrest Dara."
"How could you keep this from me? I trusted you."
"It was for your protection."
I couldn't listen to him say that. Protection wasn't letting me walk into a situation like the one that just happened.
"No, dammit. You made the bargain with me, not Adrian. You were supposed to be the one thing in my life that was truly mine. But I was just fooling myself."
"Starlight. Listen to me."
"No." I pushed out of his hold and rushed to the door. "I can't be around any of you right now."
CHAPTER TWENTY
Penny
* * *
"COME HERE, BABY GIRL." Amelia Nephus Thanos wrapped her arms around me moments after I landed on the airstrip of her private island an hour off the coast of mainland Greece.
Immediately after I left Kipos headquarters, I called Amelia, giving her a play-by-play of what had happened in my life over the past few weeks. She sent one of her pilots for me, and now a day later I was in Greece. I felt like a wimp for running away, but I couldn't look at either Hagen or Adrian at the moment. They'd conspired to keep me in the dark about Papa's death. Logically I knew their intentions had been to protect me, but I didn't need to be protected all the fucking time.
Adrian had wanted me to trust him, to let him take the lead, but it felt like he hadn't trusted me. And Hagen. He was another story. He had to have known I'd be upset. Maybe I was just fooling myself into thinking there could be more to my relationship with him than sex. I knew he wanted me, but he'd never told me he loved me. Was I fooling myself with the hope there could be more?
I refused to be in a relationship where I wasn't his equal.
"Stop it. I don't think you ran away from your life to brood the whole time you're here." Amelia released me, tucked her arm in mine, and dragged me to a waiting car.
"No, I want to forget for a little while. PSK is covered on the business end, and Ana has the lab handled. So I guess you could say I'm free to do whatever."
A grin touched Amelia's face. "Over the next few days, I'm going to show you how the Widow Thanos spends her days. Maybe after I get your ass into shape, we can give the tabloids something to write about."
"I'm more worried about training than clubbing. You should get me in a cage with one of your prizefighters."
"That's a distinct possibility. Besides, it’s good for your health, and you need to set a good example for your godson."
"Speaking of. How is he doing? Did he like his birthday gift from his Theia Penny?"
She gave me the side-eye. "Did you really have to send a ten-year-old boy a high-end drum kit? There is nothing but nonstop banging in the house."
"Hey, you should be happy I hired a teacher too. Otherwise, it could be worse."
"True, true."
Penny
* * *
"I CAN'T BELIEVE you did this. I would have been fine sitting at your house drinking wine and eating myself into a coma,” I said as Amelia and I stepped out of her Mercedes and into the evening heat along the shores of Ibiza, Spain.
"Calm down. It's not like it was around the world. It was a short flight from the island with a ten-minute drive once we landed. And, it’s not like we haven’t done this before. Besides, I need this as much as you do."
My heart ached for Amelia. In spite of all her talk about tabloids, she was as conservative as they came. And the only person I'd ever known her to let loose with was her deceased husband, Stavros. I'd envied their relationship for so many years. He was the Greek billionaire who'd swept the girl from the world of hard knocks off her feet after her devastating breakup with Pierce.
It wasn't until years later that I learned their marriage had been a deal. Though they had been the best of friends and loved each other dearly, they hadn't been in love. Then, after Stavros's unexpected death in a boating accident almost two years ago, Amelia had floundered. Stavros had grounded Amelia, and her anchor was gone.
She'd all but gone into hiding, focusing solely on her son and the business she'd inherited from Stavros.
Only in the last few months had she come back into the world. I had the feeling tonight was as much about her letting loose as it was for me.
We walked up to the club on the beach Amelia had promised was the "it" place to go in Ibiza.
"You have got to be kidding me." I released a sigh as I read the sign of the club. Did everything have to remind me of him? He'd orchestrated everything to keep Dara from winning, but he had no idea that all I wanted was him and to feel his equal.
"What?" Amelia asked. "The Luz de las Estrellas is the best club on the island. It means—"
"Starlight," I said, cutting her off.
"Hey, isn't that your middle name?" she said with a twinkle in her eyes.
She knew very well it was my name. "Yes."
Amelia laughed. "It's not so bad. At least you weren't saddled with Moonbeam or something even more hippyish."
"Come on, show me this nightlife Ibiza is known for."
&nb
sp; She took my hand and led me straight to a section closed off by ropes. We approached a group of bouncers who smiled at Amelia.
"Hello, Carlos," she said to a big, burly man who looked like a sumo wrestler.
He leaned down, kissing both of Amelia's cheeks. "Buenas noches, Amelia."
"We are here for a fun night to forget all our woes. Is my table ready?" she asked in Spanish.
"Of course. I arranged it personally when I heard my manager was coming to see me." He winked.
"Don't think I'll tell Gustav to take it easy on you later this week."
"I wouldn't dare." He smirked and then turned in my direction. "Who do you have with you…" He trailed off and then stared at me like I had two heads.
"What? Is there something wrong with me?" I said to Carlos.
"You speak Spanish? I thought you were Indian."
I lifted a brow as if that was a dumb question since my answers were in Spanish. "Yes, I speak Spanish. And English, Greek, Hindi, and Dutch. I'm a migas, as Amelia likes to call me in Greek."
His cheeks reddened, revealing his embarrassment at his reaction to me.
After a few moments, he shook his head as if to clear his mind, glanced at the other bouncers behind him who seemed as stunned, and then asked, "Are you alone?" as he looked behind me, scanning the area.
"Is there a problem?" A twinge of annoyance flared to life.
"No. It's nothing. Please go in." Carlos gestured to the door. "Go right in."
I lifted a brow at Amelia, mouthing the words "what the fuck?"
She smirked and shrugged her shoulders. "I have absolutely no idea what the hell that was about."
Why'd I get the feeling she knew exactly what was going on?
"Come on." She pulled me into the crowd of thrashing bodies and rolling hips.
We danced our way through the horde of people intoxicated by the heady energy of music and sex, giving off the very image of what Ibiza was known for. A server stepped in our path as we reached the lounge area, offering us long-stem champagne glasses, and once we took them in our hands, she added a splash of Firewater into them.
"Girl, places like this are making you so rich that you're going to give the Lykaios brothers a run for their money."
Immediately, Amelia realized what she'd said and touched my arm. "I'm sorry, babe. I was trying to keep your mind off him, and here I go mentioning the brothers."
"It's okay." I released a breath and moved toward a group of tables. "The sad part is, if it wasn't for Hagen, I wouldn't have half as much as I currently do."
Now it looked like all the top clubs were following his example and using Firewater as a draw for high-end patrons.
“The world knows you two were an item. Especially after the tabloids posted those recent pictures of you and him walking into the ballroom during the opening at Ida. The photos looked innocent enough, with his arm around your waist, but I have a feeling the flush on your face had a story."
The image of Hagen's mouth on me as I held on to the railing of the balcony caused my core to clench. Thank God, they only got the picture of afterward, not during.
"Who knows if that will happen again. I'm not sure if there is a future there. No matter how much I want one."
"Does he know this? From what I've seen, he looks like a man determined to keep you." Amelia sat down on a long, plush blood-red couch. It was a sharp contrast to the stark white of the club’s interior.
"I need more than the intense sex. He's never once said he loves me. Hell, he's never told me how he feels at all about me, and I don't have the time or inclination to wait for him to come to terms with his feelings."
"Liar. You'd wait in hell for him. What you can't handle is not having control of the situation."
"I am not a control freak. I had to learn not to have any while working under Dara at Kipos."
"Speaking of Kipos, what are you going to do with the company?"
"We're selling it. Most of the paperwork is already complete and executed. The next steps are to plan the transitions. In the meantime, we have a team running the company. They’re probably the only reason the company has any working capital."
"Let me guess. Hagen found the buyers."
"It was actually Zack."
"Interesting."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Amelia handed me another drink. "Just think about it. It probably wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for Hagen. The man is screaming how he feels about you without saying it."
Ignoring the truth of what she said, I drank down half of the glass and glared at Amelia. "I need the words."
"Why, when his actions say it to everyone? You are one of my closest friends, so I'm going to say this. You are a stubborn idiot. Not all men have the ability to say the words. They show it through actions. Hell, the words mean nothing unless there is follow-through."
I closed my eyes.
"Penny, he bent over backward to find out the truth about your Papa. Yeah, he kept you in the dark and then dropped a bombshell on you, but he’s a dumb guy. He thought he was protecting you. There is no cure for being a typical man and he will probably fuck up again.
“Forgive him. He stopped your evil stepmother from destroying your father's legacy. He watches after your brother so you don't have to. He designed clubs around a product you created. And most of all, he hasn't really asked for anything in return. Hell, from what you tell me, I think he believes he doesn't deserve you. That man loves you."
I wiped my face as a tear slid down my cheek.
My God. He had been saying he loved me. His possessive words were his way of shielding himself from the false belief he wasn't worthy.
I looked up at Amelia's knowing face and said, "I have to go home."
"Spend tonight with me and then I'll have the jet ready for you to leave by eight in the morning."
"Does Christopher know his mom is a hopeless romantic?"
Her smile wavered. "At least one of us gets a happy ending with a Lykaios brother."
"Are you ever going to tell Pierce that Christopher is his son?"
The startled expression she gave me said she hadn't realized I'd figured it out.
"Not if I can help it. I won't taint Stavros's memory."
I nodded.
"How long have you known?"
"Since Christopher was three. You have to remember, I grew up with the brothers. He’s an exact copy of Pierce. Well, except the pouty lips. Those are all yours."
Amelia gaped at me. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because Stavros was an amazing father and you loved him."
"Thank you." Her lips trembled. "Are you going to tell Hagen?"
"No. I know you have your reasons. Nothing’s simple when it comes to the Lykaios brothers. Besides, you're my ride or die, and we've always kept each other's secrets."
"Isn't that the truth?" She picked up her drink, downing it in a few swallows.
I decided it was time to change the subject and stood, offering Amelia my hand. "Let's go. Time to shake our tail feathers."
Amelia set her glass on the table and rose. Before we could get out of the lounge area, a gorgeous Adonis walked up to Amelia and asked her to dance. She gave him a bright smile and nodded. Within seconds, she disappeared into the crowd.
I made my way to the dance floor. I caught a glimpse of Amelia. She laughed at something the guy said, with the melancholy of a few minutes ago gone.
I had a feeling she'd have to deal with an avalanche of chaos when Pierce found out about Christopher, but at least she could let her hair down now.
Taking my cue from her, I engulfed myself in the music and began to dance. There were too many people to feel alone. The problem was that everywhere I looked something would remind me of Hagen. From the serpent patterns around the columns of the club that resembled the one etched on Hagen's arm to the white decor splashed with red, giving the illusion of fire.
Hagen was everything this club represented, high e
nd, indulgence, and a heady mix of sex.
Sadness filled my heart. I could still see the resignation in his eyes when I'd left. He'd done all of it for me, and I hadn't wanted to see past the shock of what had happened.
Amelia was right. He'd been telling me over and over how he felt, and I'd ignored it. In a few hours, I'd leave and try to fix this. I could only imagine how hurt he must have been when he discovered I'd disappeared. He’d probably tried to tear Vegas apart, especially since I hadn't let any of my girls know I was leaving.
Oh well, I couldn't do anything about it now.
I scanned the club, watching all the beautiful people of Ibiza enjoying the nightlife. It was an eclectic mix of people dancing, laughing, and enjoying the celebrity DJ's mixes.
An attractive blond with the physique of one of Amelia’s fighters came up to me and began to dance. I glanced in her direction. She gave me a big smile, and I knew she'd sent this handsome man in my direction.
I hesitated for a second and then I decided to enjoy myself. It wasn't as if I planned to go home with him. It was just a dance. Hagen couldn't possibly get jealous of a dance.
Who was I kidding? Hagen would probably lose his mind if he found out about this, but then again, who was going to tell him?
I stepped toward the guy and offered my hand. "I'm Penny."
"I'm David. Amelia said you'd enjoy some company."
That was the extent of our discussion as the music changed to a unique mix of trance, hip-hop, and EDM.
He pulled me toward him. I almost hesitated but then decided I could let go for a few minutes. We began to dance, and I gave myself up to the grinding rhythm.
By the end of two sets, I was dripping in sweat from the summer heat and the exertion of the dancing. I decided to take a break. There was only so long I could pretend it was Hagen who held me and moved against my body. Though the energy around me made me feel like he was there.
Pulling free of David, I turned and slammed straight into a broad chest I was very intimately familiar with.