Bride Behind The Billion-Dollar Veil (Crazy Rich Greek Weddings Book 2) Read online

  ‘No. It is a simple matter. He has something I want; I intend to buy it back today.’

  The words were clipped, his expression business-like.

  ‘I anticipate the meeting will conclude quickly enough.’

  ‘Fine.’ Alice checked everything was in order and without looking in Thanos’s direction—perhaps out of fear that she might not easily be able to look away again—she returned to her own desk.

  Not five minutes later, the lift doors pinged open and a man emerged. Older than Alice had expected, with a lined face and a kind smile, his hair was greying, his body a little stooped, dressed in a suit that looked bespoke with expensive leather shoes.

  ‘Stathakis?’ he said as he approached Alice’s desk.

  ‘This way, sir.’ She stood, gesturing towards Thanos’s office. At the door, she knocked twice and then pushed it inwards, stepping back to allow the older Greek man to precede her.

  From her vantage point, she saw the way Thanos’s body momentarily tensed and the determination she’d observed moments earlier was back, a palpable force in the room.

  Kosta spoke first, in Greek, and Thanos returned the greeting in their native tongue before switching to English.

  ‘Alice, my assistant, doesn’t speak Greek.’

  Kosta threw a look over his shoulder and then shrugged. ‘Perhaps you can tell me why I have been summoned here?’

  Even that was a telling statement. Thanos Stathakis had the power to summon just about anyone to his office, and it was a power he had flexed this morning.

  ‘You don’t know?’

  Kosta shrugged his shoulders. ‘I presume it has something to do with P & A?’

  Thanos’s stare was direct. ‘Yes.’ He gestured towards the table. ‘Please, take a seat.’

  The old man hesitated for a moment and then did as he’d been bid, moving to a chair on one side of the table and settling himself into it. Alice watched as he lifted the coffee to his lips, sipping it, then returning the cup to the saucer at the same time Thanos took a seat at the head of the table.

  ‘You’ve received my offer?’ That confidence was back, brimming and blinding. Alice stared covertly at Thanos as she settled herself at the end of the boardroom table, flipping her laptop open and pulling up a blank Word document to take notes.

  ‘My lawyer advised me of it,’ the older man remarked with another shrug of his shoulders, in what Alice was recognising as a trademark gesture.

  ‘And?’

  Kosta expelled a soft breath. ‘Did my silence not answer your question?’

  Alice jerked her gaze to Thanos on autopilot. He didn’t visibly react to Kosta’s question. ‘Silence can mean many things.’

  Kosta’s lips compressed. ‘Not in this instance.’

  ‘You want to sell.’ It was a question and yet Thanos delivered it more as a statement, one that was laced with iron.

  ‘To the right buyer, yes.’ Kosta took another sip of his coffee.

  Alice hovered her hands over the keyboard.

  ‘You are aware that your business contains part of my business?’

  Kosta’s eyes narrowed. ‘I bought Petó from you and your brother many years ago. Whatever claim you had to it transferred to me on that day.’

  From where Alice was sitting, she had a full view of the table. She saw the way Thanos moved his hand to beneath the table, and the way he squeezed his fist so tight his knuckles glowed white.

  ‘But you must dispose of your business,’ Thanos said slowly, carefully, with no hint of emotion in the words.

  ‘Why must I?’

  ‘Because you are not married, you have no children, no grandchildren, and because P & A is a family company. You will not list it publicly, nor would you wish it to be broken up and sold off after your death.’

  Alice bit down on her lip, sympathy for the older man rushing through her. How strange it must be to have someone refer to your mortality in such a cavalier fashion!

  ‘The fate of my company is not your concern.’

  Thanos’s eyes narrowed and Alice’s heart gave a little lurch. As handsome as he was at any time, like this—formidable and businesslike—he was impossibly fascinating.

  Thanos held Kosta’s gaze for a long moment, a muscle jerking in his jaw that only Alice was in a position to see. ‘Your profit has been down these past two years.’

  ‘It’s a tough economy.’

  ‘No, it isn’t,’ Thanos pushed ruthlessly. ‘You’re losing market share and you don’t know how to get it back.’

  Kosta’s eyes glinted. ‘You think I came here to be lectured?’

  Thanos didn’t apologise, nor did he back down. ‘I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. If you do not act now, your once great business will fade away into insignificance. Thousands of people will lose their jobs. All because you are too stubborn to see what you must do.’

  Kosta’s rejection of that assertion was obvious. ‘My business. My problem.’

  At this, Thanos straightened in his chair, his expression like flint. ‘I might have agreed to sell Petó to you, but I never stopped thinking of it as mine. You rolled it into your business, which means I care about your business too. Sell me P & A and I will ensure your legacy is safe.’

  Kosta let out a laugh of disbelief that had Alice slipping her gaze to focus on the older man’s face. ‘You think I would trust you with my company?’

  ‘Why should you not?’ It was a banal enough question, but Alice heard the undertone of steel and looked to Thanos once more. A tight smile was cracking his face but waves of anger were shifting off his frame.

  ‘Because you are your father’s son, and I will not have my family’s legacy dragged through the mud.’

  Alice sucked in a sharp breath, surprised at how offended she was by the scathing indictment. Thanos turned to face her, the noise apparently drawing his attention, and when their eyes locked, sympathy exploded inside her.

  ‘I know you are not like him,’ Kosta hastened to add, an apology inherent in the words. ‘You are different. But the potential for scandal is the same.’

  Thanos dipped his head forward, so Alice couldn’t see how he reacted to this explanation.

  ‘I cannot open my paper without seeing your photo,’ Kosta continued. ‘You drink too much, party too much, sleep with any woman who moves. Your reputation as the playboy prince of Europe is almost too mild for your excessive lifestyle.’

  Thanos lifted his head, his face like a mask of iron. ‘And what is my lifestyle to do with this? Do you think it affects my ability to run your company?’

  ‘I think there is no one better than you,’ Kosta contradicted. ‘You have a head for business that I have always admired. Even when you were still a boy, following after your grandfather, watching him as though he were an idol brought to life, you had more nous than he and I in our little fingers.’

  Alice wondered if Thanos felt pride then, if the compliment did anything to soften his response.

  ‘I learned from the best,’ Thanos conceded, finally.

  ‘Yes. Nicholas was one of the best men I have ever known.’ Kosta leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the table. ‘I always respected him. Liked him. What your father did—’

  That same muscle twisted in Thanos’s cheek as he ground his teeth together. ‘Is not relevant. I made my peace with it a long time ago.’

  ‘Did you?’ Kosta’s look showed disbelief, but he didn’t pursue that line of questioning. He sipped his coffee.

  ‘Your grandfather and I were from a different generation. Things were different. Our parents, and us, we valued family. Old-fashioned morals. We liked things to be respectable. A handshake was as good as a contract.’ Kosta shook his head and Alice saw a spark of longing in his eyes. ‘The world is different now. Perhaps I am a relic, with no place in it.’ His eyes nar
rowed. ‘But if you think I’m going to see my company fall into the hands of a man who regards womanising as a sport, then you know nothing about what this business means.’

  Thanos held Kosta’s gaze across the table. Neither man faltered and Alice felt as if she was intruding on a deeply personal moment.

  ‘No one will work harder for P & A than I will,’ Thanos promised, at length.

  ‘That may be so,’ Kosta agreed. ‘But I will not sell it to you.’

  Alice swept her eyes shut for a moment, more invested in the outcome of this meeting than she would have thought possible.

  ‘I don’t intend to take no for an answer.’

  ‘You don’t like to hear no from anyone. It’s part of why you’ve been so successful in repairing the damage your father did. But that does not change my answer. I will not sell P & A to a man like you, Thanos Stathakis. Not for twice what you’re offering; not for anything. Not until you’ve grown up.’

  * * *

  Alice flicked through the pile of bills, a half-eaten sandwich to her left. Her credit card had very little available cash on it—it wouldn’t come close to paying off her mother’s latest hospitalisation.

  Her heart squeezed as she remembered the sight of her mother being rushed through the corridors, the blood clot threatening her life, panic surging through Alice as she knew how close they were to the end.

  But Jane Smart had defied all odds and survived—she remained in a coma, but she remained.

  Alice flipped over to another bill, nausea filling her. It was too much. How could she ever manage to cover this?

  She was so engrossed in her finances that she didn’t hear the door to Thanos’s office click open, nor did she hear his approach until he was practically on top of her.

  Self-consciously, she laid her hand over the bills, aware that it barely covered the bright red paper demanding immediate payment.

  ‘Did you need something, sir?’

  He didn’t correct her use of the formal title now. He was brooding. Thinking. Even more determined since Kosta had walked out of the office. ‘What did you think of Kosta Carinedes?’

  Alice was surprised by the question. She sat back in her chair a little, momentarily forgetting about her bills, and her lunch. ‘In what way?’

  ‘In any way. Did you perceive he was serious in his reasons for not wanting to sell to me?’

  Alice captured her lower lip with her teeth, gnawing on it thoughtfully. ‘I can’t see why he would lie,’ she said finally.

  ‘No, nor can I. After all, the price I’ve offered is above the market rate of the company. He’s a fool to walk away from it.’

  ‘Perhaps he doesn’t really want to sell?’

  ‘He knows he must.’ He shook his head, dragging a hand through his hair, throwing it into even greater disarray. ‘He’s just being stubborn.’

  Alice nodded, turning back to her desk thoughtfully. After all, the older man had raised a valid point. Thanos had a reputation for seducing women left, right and centre. He was rarely without a date on his arm, and it didn’t seem to be the same woman for long. He partied non-stop, but what did that matter? Everything he touched in a commercial sense turned to gold. Surely that was more important when it came to handing a business over?

  ‘Maybe he’ll change his mind,’ she offered, lifting her gaze back to his face. He was staring out of the window, his expression unreadable.

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘Then you’ll just have to change it for him,’ she said quietly, turning back to the bills, flicking to the next one with a frown on her face, unaware of the way his eyes swivelled to follow her.

  * * *

  Thanos regarded this mild-mannered assistant thoughtfully. She was plain-spoken and unaffected. Unlike most of the women he dealt with, she wasn’t going out of her way to flatter and please him. She was acting as though she barely noticed he was a man. It was unusual for him to come across a woman who didn’t respond in a certain way.

  And it was fascinating.

  She was pretty, he supposed, in an understated way—though she also went to very little effort with her appearance. Her suit was old and boxy, hiding any curves she might have beneath too much fabric. Her hair was silky and luscious, long, he suspected, though it was impossible to know as she wore it pinned in a sensible, low bun at the nape of her neck. In fact, everything about her was sensible. Plain. Businesslike.

  His eyes dropped lower, to hands that were sorting through a pile of papers—red, with OVERDUE marked at the top. And despite his own monumental problems, curiosity lifted inside him.

  ‘What are you doing?’ he asked.

  She looked at him with a slight frown on her face, almost as though she thought he might have left.

  ‘I’m catching up on some personal business. It’s my lunch break.’

  He looked at his watch. ‘It’s the end of the day.’

  ‘I didn’t have time to have it any earlier.’ She said it as though she was worried he might be cross with her, as if she feared recriminations. That was unnecessary. Though she was only a temp, and he hadn’t been to the New York office for almost a year, Thanos knew that Alice worked harder than most of the permanent executive support team. Her security card was frequently the last one swiped out at the end of the evening, and oftentimes the first one to appear on the staff list.

  She worked long hours and, though his workload was nothing if not exhausting, she’d somehow managed to keep his business and personal life running like a well-oiled machine.

  If he needed his jet fuelled up, he emailed Alice. Gifts organised, Alice. Anything done with his apartments? Alice. She oversaw all aspects of his life and yet they were only today meeting for the first time.

  And he knew nothing about her.

  Why did that bother him? He couldn’t have said. Stathakis Corp employed thirty thousand people globally. One woman shouldn’t have interested him like this.

  And yet, he found himself propping his hip on the edge of her desk, and looking at the bills with more interest. She shuffled them self-consciously.

  So he knew one thing about her.

  She was a poor money manager. She had to be, given what the temp rates were for an executive assistant at this level. Sure, there was agency commission to come out of her salary packet, but regardless of that, her rate was generous.

  ‘Did you need anything else, sir?’

  She spoke without looking at him, but he detected a faint tremble in her fingertips as she filed the bills under some other papers, pointedly reaching for her sandwich.

  He straightened, with a frown. ‘No.’ As he moved towards the door, his frown didn’t ease.

  ‘How long do you expect to be in New York?’

  Her question caught him off-guard. Thanos never liked to be anywhere for long. He’d arrived in Manhattan a day earlier anticipating his business here would be wrapped up within twenty-four hours. Now he paused, with no idea when he’d be able to get out of town.

  ‘I have no idea.’

  Silence for a moment and then, ‘So I’ll see you tomorrow?’

  He turned back to face her, and there was no warmth in her expression. In fact, he couldn’t have said if she’d asked the question with curiosity or apprehension, but both sparked a ridiculous urge to laugh.

  Instead, he nodded stiffly. ‘Yes. Goodnight, Alice.’

  CHAPTER TWO

  ‘WHAT YOU NEED is to get married, Thanos.’

  Leonidas’s words came to Thanos as if through a thousand galaxies—crackly and distant. He jerked out of bed, completely naked, and strode through his penthouse apartment.

  His brother’s statement was exploding through his brain, like stardust and gold. He reached for the crystal decanter of Scotch and poured himself a generous measure, moving towards the grand piano and tapping a key lightly. Manhattan
glistened beneath him, all shimmering lights and elaborate dreams.

  This was the first time in years he’d been alone in this city. Usually, he called one of his past lovers—of which there were many here in the city—and enjoyed a night of unbridled, no-strings passion.

  But the meeting with Kosta had left him inexplicably dissatisfied.

  Thanos was a master at keeping his personal life separate from his private life. The fact he had a well-documented and active bachelor lifestyle was neither here nor there. He knew he was, unequivocally, the right person to take over P & A.

  And beyond that, Petó deserved to come home.

  ‘I know it’s out of left field but have you actually passed out?’ Leonidas’s words were filled with humour.

  Thanos sipped his Scotch slowly, his eyes moving from one high rise to another. When he eventually spoke, it was with a sardonic drawl. ‘I understand that you’re in the heady bliss of being a newly-wed but I think we can safely say marriage is the last thing on my mind.’ In fact, the very idea turned his blood cold. One week after his mother had dumped him on Dion Stathakis’s doorstep, throwing a traumatised little boy into the home as one might a cat into a flock of pigeons, Thanos had sworn to Leonidas that he’d never be stupid enough to fall in love or get married.

  He’d been eight and miserable, his heart broken, his soul crushed—looking back, he could see now that he’d also been terrified. His mother, the woman who’d raised him, the only family he’d ever known, had told him she couldn’t ‘do this’ any more, and dropped him like a sack of potatoes.

  His father had made it abundantly clear he didn’t want Thanos, that he was raising him out of duty. When Dion’s own marriage had crumbled because of Thanos’s unexpected arrival, a large part of Thanos’s heart had been sealed closed—he knew it would never open again.

  Was it any wonder Thanos viewed relationships and commitment as something best avoided?

  ‘I don’t mean a real marriage,’ Leonidas explained with mock simplicity.

  Beyond the window, dusk was falling, the night sky turning an inky black, no stars to be seen in the brightness cast by the vibrant city. Thanos cradled his drink in the palm of his hand.