The Greek Tycoon Box Set: The Complete Serial: Books 1-10 (24 page)

“She did not want Dios!”

“She pretended she did not want Dios because she was terrified of you,” said Nikolas. “If I had known what kind of man you were I would have never gone into business with you.”

Atreus strode over to the window and stared out over Dubai’s towering skyline.

“You know, Nikolas, Serene attempted to kiss me on Little Ekali. She told me she had no interest in being with you. Do you realize how you’re being played? She’s a heartless manipulator who is just using you to get what she wants.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Nikolas. “Serene and I are meant to be together.”

“Then why did she ask me to take her back?”

Nikolas shot to his feet.

“Liar!”

“I wish,” Atreus said. “Who do you think told me you were coming to Dubai?”

Nikolas said nothing.

“If you destroy my reputation, if you oust me from the business, whatever you do, the business will fall down with it,” Atreus said. “It’s all one.”

“You think you’re
that
important?” Nikolas scoffed. “Please. My business does not need you anymore.”

“
Your
business?” Atreus growled. “That’s not what’s on the shareholders’ agreement.”

“Screw the shareholders’ agreement,” said Nikolas. “Now get out of my office.”

“You can’t be serious.”

Nikolas sat back down and stared down at the paperwork.

“Goodbye, Atreus.”

Atreus strode over to the doorway. He knew Nikolas had no legal power to take over at this point but he wasn’t going to wait idly by. It was time to go on the offensive.

“This was a bad move, Nikolas.”

“Get out.”

*****

It was hard to believe anything could go wrong. Carla stretched out on a sun lounger on the suite’s private balcony, basking in the midmorning sun. Though the conflict with Serene and Nikolas tugged at the back of her mind, the comfortable warmth and kind manner of the staff went a long way toward relaxing her. The sound of Hanna’s comforting voice and Dios’ happy squeals coming from inside made her feel at ease.

Soon her eyelids were drooping and before she knew it she was awakened by Atreus. His hands were placed on her belly, and the cotton of her sundress bunched under his palms as he gently stroked back and forth.

“Hello, little baby,” he whispered.

Carla smiled.

“Our baby,” she said. “How did it go at the office?”

“Not great,” he said, “but we’ll get through it. Our legal team is strong. I know they can deal with whatever Nikolas throws at them. And deliver a bit of their own back to him, for that matter.”
 

“Did you see Serene?”
 

“No, she wasn’t there,” he said. “Thank goodness. Anyway, enough about them. Let’s talk about this little one.”

“Yes,” said Carla. “That’s a much better use of our time.”

Atreus nodded.

“So… do you think we’re having a boy or a girl?”

“I think a girl,” she said.
 

She sat up and wound her arms around his neck.

“Me too!” he said.
 

“What about names?” she said. “I’ve always like the name Anastasia.”

“I like that too,” he said. He leaned in and kissed her on the lips. “It works in Greek and English.”

She nuzzled into his neck.

“And it means resurrection, which is sort of like redemption, I guess,” she explained.

“Like Redemption Island,” he said.
 

“Exactly,” she agreed, smiling as she leaned back on the sun lounger again. “What other names do you like?”

“Sophia,” he said. “Emmanuel, for a boy.”

“Ooh, I like Emmanuel,” she said.

“Okay,” he said.
 

He picked up her hands in his and looked into her eyes.

“How about Anastasia Sophia for a girl, and Emmanuel…”

“Charles!” she said. “After my grandfather. Anastasia Sophia and Emmanuel Charles.”

“Emmanuel Charles Kostas,” he said. “I love it.”

Carla looked down at her belly, which had not yet begun to swell.
 

“I wish my parents were here,” she said quietly.

Atreus pulled her into a hug.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered into her ear.

Tears began to blur her vision as she imagined her mother holding their tiny son or daughter close. She heard her voice saying ‘aww’ in the way she always did when she looked at new babies. She had always loved little ones.
 

Her father would stand behind and look up at Carla, beaming. ‘She’s smashing,’ he would say. ‘Well done, girl.’

Carla’s tears spilled onto Atreus’ shoulder and absorbed into his shirt.

Someone cleared their throat and they both looked up. Hanna stood, holding Dios.
 

“Just a moment,” she said, handing Dios over to Atreus. “Nature calls.”

“Of course,” said Atreus, squashing Dios’ cheek with a powerful kiss. “Hey, buddy.”

Carla leaned back in the sun lounger and wiped her eyes.

“Mama’s a little bit sad just now,” Atreus said to Dios. “But we’ll just keep on showing her how much we love her until she feels better. Now, reach out and touch Mama’s belly.”

Atreus took Dios’ chubby hand in his own and pressed it down onto Carla’s stomach.

“There’s a baby inside there,” he explained. “A little boy or girl, but right now they’re very, very tiny. That means you’re going to be a big brother.”

Although Carla knew no one could replace her parents, she felt as loved in that moment as she ever could. Atreus proved in his every action that he loved her, adored her, even. He adored Dios. He adored the new baby.
 

She wiped her eyes again and sat up, finding a smile that bloomed from somewhere deep inside. She had everything she needed.

*****

“What?!”

Atreus’ tone was suddenly filled with anger. Carla looked up from her place with Dios in the baby pool to see Atreus wrapping his towel around his waist with one hand, his phone glued to his ear. As he strode away from the poolside a palm frond caught him on his back and he thrust it away violently.

“That scheming bastard,” he said as he turned around.
 

His voice was low but Carla could still hear him.

She scrambled up, hoisting Dios onto her hip and hurried over to him, dodging Angelique and Andria’s sun loungers. By then everyone was pretending not to listen.

When Carla reached him he widened his eyes and pointed to his cell. She nodded and waited.
 

“Now?” he said into the phone. “
Now
?! Hell.”

He hung up and stared into Carla’s eyes, breathing heavily. He plunged his palm through his hair and tugged in frustration.

Aggressive nausea ripped through Carla’s gut.
 

“What is it?”

“Not here,” said Atreus. “Upstairs.”

Carla, sensing it was serious business, passed Dios over to Andria and wrapped a towel around herself. She and Atreus hurried back into the lobby. He bounced on his toes all through the interminable elevator ride and plowed through the doors of the suite once they reached their floor. The butlers read his expression and immediately excused themselves.

“Darling, what on earth is going on?” Carla asked.

“One of the board members, it seems the only one who really knows me, as the rest have kept their mouths shut, has told me what’s going on with Nikolas. He’s using an old document we drafted up ages ago and never even used to say I violated some shareholding agreement. Some stupid agreement that never even existed. He said Nikolas is trying to get all my shares revoked back to him.”

“He can’t do that,” said Carla.

“I don’t know about that,” said Atreus. “If anyone knows how to get around legalities and loopholes, it’s him. I’ll lose everything if he follows through with it. Every last cent.”

“So what can we do?”

Atreus strode over to the window and turned his head toward it, though his eyes were glazed over with fury.

“We can sell my shares before he can do anything. My colleague told me to sell right now, this minute.”

“How do you do that?”
 

“It’s easy, I can log on to the NASDAQ on my phone,” he said. “But we only have twenty minutes. Trading closes at 2pm.”
 

Despite the urgency of his words, his tone was flat and dull. He barely even moved.

Carla put her arm around him.

“You don’t want to do this, do you?”

“Kostas Shipping is all I know,” he confessed, then laughed bitterly. “Everything else I touched before that was a failure. I can’t just… give it up.”

“But you’ll still have the money from it, won’t you?”

He took off toward the other side of the room, seemingly just to get away from her, and his voice had an edge.

“It’s not about the money.”

Carla’s heart ached.

“Sorry, darling, I didn’t mean to—”

He spun around.

“It’s about
me
,” he said. “It’s about failure, success. How can I just leave with my tail between my legs? To cut and run like a coward?”

*****

Chapter 3

“But it’s not with your tail between your legs, my love!” Carla said.
 

She reached out to smooth the wrinkle that formed above his forehead as he frowned.
 

“You’re leaving with your head held high.”

“It’s just running away,” Atreus said, but the look in his eyes pleaded with her to contradict him.

“No,” she said. “It’s leaving when the time is right. It’s refusing to get drawn into other people’s drama.”

Atreus took a deep breath and gently pushed her hand away.
 

“I’m sorry, baby, I just need a moment to think.”
 

He paced the lounge for a while, then locked into eye contact with her, his eyes intense even from across the room.
 

“And you’ll still love me?” he asked. “You know, if I’m not rich?”

“Of course!” Carla said. “Don’t you know I’ll love you forever, no matter what?”

“Yes, somehow I
do
know that,” he said.

He slumped back on the sofa and stared at his palms.

“But what will I do?” he considered.

Carla crossed the room to sit down next to him.

“You could do
anything
,” she said. “Or you could do
nothing
. You can spend time with me and Dios and the new baby. You could retire and play golf.”

Atreus visibly shuddered.

“No thanks.”

“You could go into a new business then,” she offered.

“I don’t know,” he said, getting up again. “I just don’t know, Carla.”

“What other choice do you have?” she said. “Keep the shares and wait until Nikolas ruins you?”

Atreus threw his hands in the air.

“Argh! I hate him having this power. Like he’s the big guy calling the shots and he can do whatever he wants.”

“Sell then,” she said. “Then he has no power over you. Over us.”

“Yes,” said Atreus.

He looked at her like she had said something entirely new.
 

“Yes!” he repeated, scrambling for his phone in his pocket.

“You can do this,” Carla said. “Just a few seconds and we’re free from them forever!”

“Yes,” Atreus said again.

The next few moments were so quiet that Carla could hear his fingers tap against the glass screen of his smartphone. Eventually he looked up, his eyes wide with fear. He blew out slowly.

“Am I doing the right thing?”

“You know you are,” she confirmed.

He nodded, then winced as he pressed a button. After a long moment he spoke.

“Sold,” he said flatly. “140 million dollars.”

She smiled.

“Goodbye, Nikolas. Goodbye, Serene.”

“And good riddance,” he added, a little shakily.

It tugged at Carla’s heart to see Atreus so unsure of himself. She stalked across the room toward him and wound her arms around his neck. Pushing herself against him, her towel came loose. She let it fall to the ground, revealing her toned, bronzed body in her white lace-look bikini, then leaned in to whisper in his ear.
 

“You are a powerful, successful man,” she said. “No one can take that away from you.”

“And you will be my wife,” he whispered.

“Forever,” she whispered back as she pulled the towel from around his waist and tossed it away from him.

He kissed her and she pulled him closer.