‘No? What am I missing?’
He ground his teeth together. ‘Does it not occur to you that there are risks to you, to her, in being connected to someone like me?’
She blinked, and something tapped the back of her mind, something she’d seen on an Internet search. Only she’d tried not to look too deeply at his life, his past—she’d felt dirty enough having to look him up on the internet to find the name of this boat.
‘No one needs to know.’
His laugh was a mocking snort. ‘That’s simplistic and naïve. The tabloid press probably already has paparazzi on your trail. That’s before you show up to this—one of the most hotly photographed events of the year—heavily pregnant and asking to see me.’
‘I am not heavily pregnant,’ she said, and then clamped her mouth shut in frustration and the sheer irrelevancy of that. ‘And so what? Who cares? Lots of people have illegitimate children. There’ll be a rumour. We’ll say nothing, and then it will die down.’
‘You are missing my point,’ he insisted darkly. ‘From the minute this news hits the public domain, you will become a part of my world, and so will she, whether you want to be or not. Thinking you can just hide away from that is unrealistic.’
‘So?’ she said, though she hadn’t considered this, and didn’t particularly like the way it made her feel. ‘I’ll cope.’
‘As a bare minimum, you will find yourself and your every move open to speculation in the gossip papers, and our daughter will be photographed and written about even when doing the most mundane things. You will want my protection from this, Hannah, and she will certainly deserve it.’
‘I’d rather find my own way to protect her,’ Hannah said crisply. ‘I can handle a few photographers, and as for the stories, I just won’t read them.’
His smile was a grim flicker of his lips. ‘Sure, give that a go.’ It was pure sarcasm.
‘In any event, it is not,’ he continued, ‘the photographers that I am concerned with.’
She waited, holding a hand protectively over her stomach without realising it.
‘I was married once,’ he said, finally, the words like steel.
She remembered. Oh, it had been buried deep inside her mind, but as soon as he said it she recalled reading that, somewhere, at some time.
‘And my wife was murdered.’
Hannah sucked in a gasp, sympathy pushing every other emotion from her mind.
‘As was my two-year-old son.’
Hannah was hot and cold, sorrow and pain shooting through her. She almost felt as though she might faint.
‘They were murdered as a vendetta against my father.’ The words were strained and urgent. ‘They lost their lives to hurt him and punish him. They were killed because of who they were to Dion Stathakis, and to me. I will not let that happen again. I will not let that happen to our daughter.’
Hannah’s chest hurt. She’d known she was pregnant for a few weeks and already she knew she would give her life for this baby. She couldn’t imagine the desperate agony of losing a toddler, of knowing a toddler to have met such a violent end.
‘I’m so sorry.’ The words were thick with tears. ‘That must have been unbearable.’ She swallowed, but the tears she was so adept at fighting filled her eyes.
He didn’t respond—what could he say?
‘But isn’t that even more reason for me to hide away? To let me move far away from you and your world?’
‘You cannot hide her. Not from men like him.’
A shiver ran down Hannah’s spine.
‘Only I can protect you both.’
Fear made Hannah tactless. ‘I beg to differ, given the past...’
His expression cracked with pain and she winced.
‘I’m so sorry. That was an awful thing to say. It’s just...’
‘No, you’re right.’ He held up a hand to stall her. ‘I did not appreciate the danger to Amy and Brax. I failed them.’ His voice was deep and her heart ached. ‘I had no idea they were being watched, nor that a madman would use them to seek revenge on my father. His conviction did much damage to our business, and my brother and I worked tirelessly to make amends there, to return Stathakis Corp to its position of global prominence. That was my focus.
‘I failed them, my wife and child, and I will never forget that, nor forgive myself.’
He straightened, his expression like iron. ‘I will not make that mistake with her.’
He moved closer to Hannah, and she held her breath.
His hands curved over her stomach and she felt so much in that moment. It was as though a piece of string were wrapping from him to her, binding them, tying them together. If this had been a wedding ceremony it would have felt like a lesser commitment.
He focussed all his attention on Hannah. ‘I will put everything I am into protecting you both, into ensuring men like that cannot get you. I cannot let you get on with your life as though this is simply an aberration when there may very well be a target over her head. Or yours, just because you happened to make the regrettable decision of sleeping with me one night.’
‘You were the one who regretted it,’ she pointed out and then shook her head, because that didn’t matter any more. Panic was surging inside her; she felt as though she were falling back into a well only there was no light at the top of it.
She sucked in a breath but it burned through her lungs. ‘Leonidas,’ she groaned. ‘I don’t want anything to happen to her.’
‘I won’t let it,’ he promised, lifting his hands to her face, holding her steady for his inspection. ‘I promise you that.’
‘How can you stop it?’
His eyes roamed her face intently. ‘I will protect you and our daughter with my dying breath, that is how.’
She shook her head, the madness of this incongruous with the sounds of revelry beyond the room. Fear had her forgetting everything they were to one another, the brevity of their affair, his quickness to leave her, the fact he’d intended for them never to see one another again—and she’d agreed to that. In that moment, he was her lifeline, and she lifted a hand to his chest to take hold of it.
‘Do you really think we’re in danger?’
His eyes held hers and she felt the battle raging within him—a desire to reassure and placate her and a need to be honest.
‘I will make sure you are not. But you must do what I say, and trust me to know what is right for you, for her, for our family.’
Family.
The word seemed to tear through both of them in different ways, each reacting to the emotion of that word, the harsh implications of such a term.
He looked stricken and Hannah felt completely shocked. She hadn’t had a family in a long time. And even though this had been foisted on both of them, the word felt warm and loaded with promise. She swallowed past a lump in her throat and shook her head, nothing making sense.
‘How? What? Tell me, Leonidas. I need to know she’ll be okay.’
‘Marry me,’ he said simply, the words like rocks dropping into the boat.
‘What?’
‘Marry me, as soon as is legally possible.’
She sucked in a breath, his words doing strange things to her. In a thousand years, she hadn’t expected this, and she had no way of processing how she felt. Marriage? To Leonidas Stathakis?
‘How the heck is that going to help?’
‘You’ll be my wife, under my protection, living in my home. We will be raising our child together.’
The picture he painted was so seductive. Hannah took a fortifying breath, trying to disentangle the irrational desire to make sure her daughter didn’t suffer the same miserable upbringing as she had from what was actually the right decision. It was impossible to think clearly.
Hannah shook her head slowly. ‘It would never work between us.’
�
�What is there to “work”?’ he asked simply. ‘You love our child, do you not?’
Hannah’s eyes sparked with his. ‘With all my heart.’
‘And you want to do what is best for her?’
Hannah’s chin tilted in silent agreement.
‘So trust me. Trust me to protect you both, to ensure her safety. I will never let anything happen to either of you.’
She nodded, listening to his words, hearing the intent in them.
‘I cannot have my daughter raised anywhere but in my home,’ he murmured, clearing his throat. She jerked her gaze to his and the depth of feeling in his eyes almost tore her in two. ‘I need to know she is safe. That you are safe.’ He turned away from her, stalking towards the table. He placed his palms on it, staring straight ahead, out into the water. The party raged outside their doors, but inside this room, it was deathly silent.
‘We don’t really even know each other,’ she said quietly, even as her heart was shifting, and her mind was moving three steps ahead to her inevitable acceptance.
Two main points were working on her to accept. Whatever threat he perceived, there was enough of a basis in fact for Hannah to be seriously concerned. His wife and child had been murdered. His father was in the mob. These threats did not simply disappear—she was in danger, and so was their daughter.
And even if it weren’t for that, there were other considerations. Hannah’s parents had died unexpectedly and her whole world had imploded. She’d been moved to her aunt and uncle’s—who she’d barely known—and been left to their dubious care. She’d been miserable and alone.
There were no guarantees in life, but weren’t two parents better than one wherever possible? Wasn’t it more of an insurance policy for their daughter to know both her mother and father? What if Hannah insisted on raising her alone, with Leonidas as a ‘bit player’ in their lives, and then something happened to Hannah? And what if by then he’d married someone else, and their child was an outsider?
As Hannah had been.
She expelled a soft breath, the reality of that like a punch in the gut. Because marrying Leonidas would mean she’d always be on the edge, that she’d never find that one thing she knew she really wanted, deep down: a true family of her own. A family to which she belonged. People who adored and wanted her.
But this wasn’t about her; it wasn’t about her wants and desires. All that mattered was their baby.
With resignation in her turbulent green eyes, she lifted her head a little, partway to nodding.
He saw it, and his eyes narrowed then he straightened, relief in his features. ‘We will fly to the island today. My lawyer will take care of the paperwork.’
But it was all so rushed. Hannah spun away from him, lifting her water bottle from the table’s edge and sipping it.
‘I have a job, Leonidas.’
‘Quit.’
There were only two weeks left of her maternity contract. It wasn’t the worst thing to do, though she hated the idea of leaving her boss in the lurch. She dropped her hand to her stomach and thought of their baby and nothing else seemed to matter.
For her? She’d do anything.
‘You will be safe on the island,’ he insisted, as though he could read her thoughts and knew exactly which buttons to press to get her to agree.
‘On Chrysá Vráchia?’ she asked distractedly.
‘No.’ His expression took on a contemplative look. ‘My island.’
‘You have your own island?’ Disbelief filled the tone of her words.
‘Yes. Not far from Chrysá.’ He moved closer, his eyes scanning her face. ‘It is beautiful. You’ll like it.’
She was sure she would, but it was all happening so fast. Even knowing she would agree—that she had agreed—she heard herself say softly, ‘This is crazy.’
And perhaps he thought she was going to change her mind, because he crossed the room and caught her arms, holding her close to him, his gaze locked to hers.
‘You have to see that I cannot let our child be raised away from me. And, following that logic, that it is best for us to be married, to at least try to present our child with a sense of family, even when we know it to be a lie.’
Her heart squeezed tight, her lungs expelled air in a rush. Because it was exactly what she wanted, exactly what she’d just been thinking. Still, cynicism was quick to follow relief. ‘You really think we can fool our child into believing we’re a normal couple?’
His lips were a grim slash and she had the strongest impression that he couldn’t have been less impressed if she’d suggested he set fire to this beautiful, enormous yacht.
‘I think we owe it to our child to try.’
CHAPTER FIVE
HIS STATE-OF-THE-ART HELICOPTER flew them from the yacht to the airport, where his private jet was waiting.
It was the kind of plane Hannah had flown to Italy aboard, the kind that commercial airlines used, only it bore the name ‘Leonidas Stathakis’ in gold down the side. When she stepped on board it was exactly like walking into a plush hotel.
As with the yacht, everything was white or beige, and incredibly comfortable. Enormous seats, like armchairs, chandeliers made of crystal, and, deeper into the plane, a boardroom, a cinema and four bedrooms.
‘Have a seat.’ Leonidas indicated a bank of chairs, and as she did she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was more like a job interview than anything else.
For the hundredth time since leaving his yacht, since lifting up into the sky and hovering over the picture-perfect Capri marina, Hannah questioned the wisdom of what she was doing.
But every time doubt reared its head and begged her to reconsider, she heard his words anew. ‘My wife was murdered. As was my two-year-old son.’ And a frisson of terror sprinted down her spine and she knew she would do anything to avoid that same fate befalling their daughter.
Every primal, maternal instinct she possessed roared to life. She wouldn’t allow their child to be harmed.
And nor would he.
She’d felt that promise from him and trusted him, had known he would lay down his own life if necessary to protect hers, to protect their child’s.
And suddenly, the world seemed frightening and huge, and Hannah knew that if she walked away from Leonidas now, she would be alone, with unknown dangers lurking, with threats to their child she couldn’t possibly appreciate, let alone avoid.
‘The usual month-long notification period for weddings will be waived,’ he explained, sitting opposite her, his long legs encroaching on her space so that if she wasn’t very careful, they would be touching and the little fires still buzzing beneath her skin would arc into full-blown wildfires once more.
It took her a moment to collect her mind from the fears that were circulating and bring herself back to the present. ‘Why?’
‘What do you mean?’
Her sea-green eyes showed confusion. ‘Well, isn’t that the law? Why would that be changed for us?’
He lifted a brow and comprehension dawned.
‘Because you asked for it to be, and you’re Leonidas Stathakis.’
He shrugged. ‘Yes.’
‘And you get whatever you want?’
His eyes were like coal once more. ‘No.’
Her heart twisted because of course he didn’t. He’d just told her he’d lost his family—clearly his life wasn’t that of a charmed man.
‘Why rush, though, Leonidas?’
All of his attention was on her and she trembled for a different reason now, as the heat of his gaze touched something deep in her soul, stirring the remnants of their passion and desire anew. She swallowed, her throat dry, her cheeks blushing pink.
‘Because there is no point in delay. Because I want you to be protected from this day, this moment. I will take no risks with our daughter’s life,’ he said firmly. ‘Nor with
yours. You should not have been brought into this.’
She opened her mouth to confront him, but he continued. ‘Having sex with you was a moment of weakness, a stupid, selfish decision that I regretted instantly. Believe me, Hannah, if I could take that back, if I could have never met you...’ He shook his head, looking away, as the plane began to move on the runway.
‘I am sorry to have drawn you into my world. I am sorry that we must marry, sorry that we are having a child together. It is my fault, all of it. I cannot change that night, what happened between us, but I can do my damned best to ensure no further harm befalls you.’
‘Harm?’ she repeated, the word just a croak. ‘You think of this pregnancy as harm?’
‘I think it is a mistake,’ he muttered. ‘But one we must live with.’
Her temper spiked, disbelief at his callous words making her chest hurt. ‘How can you talk about our baby like that?’ she found herself whispering, even though that ‘baby’ was still very much inside her.
‘You said as much yourself,’ he pointed out logically. ‘You didn’t want this.’
‘I didn’t plan on it happening,’ she corrected caustically. ‘I’m twenty-three years old; I thought children would be way off in the future.’
He dipped his head in silent concession.
‘But, Leonidas, almost as soon as I learned of this pregnancy, I have loved this baby, and I have wanted our daughter, and I have known I would put this child first. For ever and always.’
He digested her words, his expression giving little away, and then he nodded, as the plane hurtled faster down the runway before lifting into the sky.
‘And in marrying me, I understand you are doing just that—putting our baby first. You do not wish for this marriage, and nor do I.’ He ground his teeth together. ‘And yet, for this child, here we are.’ He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, not seeing the way her face paled at his harshly delivered words. ‘I have some questions for you. My lawyer emailed them across.’
‘Questions?’ It was a rapid change of subject, one that made her head spin. ‘What for?’
‘The marriage licence. The prenuptial agreement. Setting up your bank accounts and the family trust.’
The Greek's Billion-Dollar Baby Page 5