The Greek Billionaire's Secret Baby (Contemporary Romance) Read Online Free Page A

he’d caught Lauren and Christopher watching TV in bed they’d done for years in college.
    They’d always been platonic friends, and despite their pajama-clothed state, when Alex had seen Christopher draw her into his arms for a hug, Alex had immediately assumed the worst. He’d thought she and Christopher….
    Alex’s jealousy had been a seed Theo had planted and nurtured, like Iago in Othello , and trusting his cousin, Alex hadn’t believed the truth that Christopher and Lauren’s friendship was only platonic. Theo had told him they’d been lovers for years.
    Alex’s misguided outrage and distrust had been the final straw, and the ensuing fight she’d had with Alex had been the catalyst for Lauren’s escape to freedom.
    When she’d discovered the pregnancy test had two lines, the IBF had already come through and transferred her to Mexico , to Christopher. Ironic, that Christopher had planned on marrying her and fulfilling his older brother’s role, just as Alex was ready to do now.
    Christopher had been her best friend, a compatriot. He’d avoided the family business himself and believed Lauren when she’d told him about the money Theo had offered, and the threats that had followed when she’d turned him down. Christopher had believed, unlike Alex, who had blatantly refused to listen to a foul word against his beloved cousin.
    Finally, Christopher had understood why Lauren couldn’t return to New York , why she couldn’t tell Alex and make things right. She needed her freedom. Babies needed to be raised in a loving environment, not a political dynasty.
    Despite Christopher’s strong reservations, he’d agreed to help her, even though it meant perpetuating the affair falsehood Alex believed to be true. After all, either way her baby was a Pappas.
    But Lauren didn’t carry Christopher’s baby. She carried the Pappas heir. The first-born son of the first-born son. The one the entire family estate would settle on. The baby she carried was Alex’s.
    *****
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
    “You look sucker punched.”
    “It’s hotter than Hades outside.” As Alex stepped into cool confines of the small hotel’s finest suite, he sidestepped Theo’s unspoken question. Alex reached for the ice-cold bottle of water that his forty-year old cousin handed him. “Thanks. It’s been a long and tiring trip.”
    “I can’t believe Christopher ever came to this place,” Theo said. His proud face darkened suddenly. “When he told us eighteen months ago that he was returning here, we shouldn’t have let him. He should have taken his place in the family business, not come to this,” Theo gestured erratically, “this place. What good was he here when we needed him on our side when the Favazza family tried to move into our territory? What did coming to this infernal place get your brother? Nothing but an early grave.”
    Alex strode to the sliding doors. The boutique hotel sat high on a hill, and from his windows and balcony, he had a spectacular view of the village below. The IBF had been in the village the past twenty years, and the hotel had been built a few years back when a reality TV show had spent six months filming nearby.
    From Alex’s current vantage point, he could see why Christopher had stayed. There was a sense of peace to the small town, a serenity long missing from the hurry-hurry, get rich world of New York City that Christopher had always despised. Lauren had also hated the city. She’d grown up all over the world, and despite the high ceilings of his two thousand square foot apartment, she’d been a bird in a cage.
    Alex turned and faced Theo. “What’s past is past. As much as even I’d like otherwise, the past can’t be undone. Christopher came here, and he was happy.”
    “My apologies.” Theo humbled himself and backed away slightly, deferring to Alex’s family stature. “I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead. The bus accident was a terrible tragedy. You lost a brother and I lost