An Heir for Alexandros: The Greek Billionaire's Baby (5 page)

She recalled how, a few weeks before graduation, her internship had become a part-time job. She talked about her first few assignments, and all the times people had slammed doors in her face. She laughed about all the crazy things she’d had to do to get stories, and smiled when she remembered meeting Beth for the first time. Alexandros was listening with interest, smiling genuinely for the first time that day, when Kally came to a sudden halt. She had come to the part in her story where Alexandros destroyed everything.

“I’m afraid I’ve been rambling,” Kally said, forcing down a rush of anger. Talking about it all again made her suddenly long for her desk at the
Republic
, and the company of her friends. Her chest ached with a sense of loss, almost as if he had taken it away from her all over again. It was hard to look at the man before her, but she managed it somehow, forcing herself to wear her plastic smile.

“I enjoyed it,” Alexandros replied.

“I’m glad you did,” returned Kally, though she was nothing of the sort. “I’ve heard rumors that you plan to launch a charity organization in addition to your other plans?”

“That is true. It will launch once the memoir is published. I hope that the book will help to promote the charity.”

“I hope so, too. When did you realize it was time to turn over a new leaf? Was it after you realized the truth about what was happening in the mines?”

Again there was silence, and the Greek sadly shook his head. “It was my daughter,” he said slowly. “My daughter, Stefania.”

“The accident? Kally asked cautiously.

“This isn't public knowledge, but it wasn’t an accident,” he replied quietly. “We told the press the driver lost control of the car. What really happened was that an assassin put a bullet through his brain. He died instantly. The car swerved, and the second shot, the one meant for me, went off course and hit my daughter instead.”

“She was murdered?” Kally breathed, horror-struck.

His face tightening, Alexandros nodded. “And every day I wish they had shot me instead. She did nothing!” he cried. “She died because of my mistakes. Just like the children in the mines…”

“What mistake?” Kally nearly whispered. “Who are these people?”

“They call themselves The Army of the Nine,” Alexandros said. “There was a village near my hometown, where my father built a chemical storage facility. When I took over Kerzoil, the people who lived there petitioned me to either move the facility, or make it safe. I did neither, thinking that both options would waste valuable time and company resources. Eventually, inevitably, there was an explosion, when a natural gas pipeline ruptured. Nine children died in the explosion, and the resulting fire burned up much of the village. When the people asked me to do something, I reminded them that natural gas pipelines were controlled by the government; that it wasn’t my responsibility to sink money into trying to rescue people.”

“You did nothing while the people of the village suffered?”

“Nothing,” replied the Greek with obvious regret. “The villagers never forgot it, either. The air was thick with noxious smoke for days. The river became polluted, and toxins seeped into their crops. All the people knew was grief and anger, and no one was helping them, least of all me. So they formed a group. They swore to hunt me down, wherever I go. They took Stefania a year ago,” he said, indicating the picture. “She's the only person I ever truly loved.”

“What about her mother?”

“I barely knew her. We had sex a few times, but there was no relationship. I never had the time to commit to a person; I barely even knew how. The way I was raised, caring for other people was not a skill I acquired. I only knew she'd got pregnant when she abandoned the child on my door, just wrapped her in a blanket and pinned a note to her clothes. She said she wanted nothing to do with the child, and that I shouldn't try to find her again. So I took her in, and suddenly, I could commit to someone. I loved her instantly and deeply, something I'd never felt before. But she is gone now, all because I failed to fix my mistakes.”

Kally’s heart was in her throat as she looked at Alexandros – a billionaire, a titan of industry – struggling not to cry. There was no denying he'd done terrible things in the past, but it was clear now that he was truly repentant. And no punishment anyone could conceive would be worse than the one he was suffering: losing the only person he had loved. She couldn’t do it; there was no way she could hand him over to Don.

A worry began licking at her bones. Don Lewis Jr. was not a person who took the word “no” lying down. He had a pack of lawyers ready to be summoned at any minute, as well as a plethora of unsavory connections. Over the years he’d been accused of corporate espionage, character assassination, sabotage, insider trading, and patent infringement. No one had yet found a way to make the charges stick, but Kally had covered many of the cases during her tenure at the
Republic
, and after reviewing the evidence, it was hard for her to doubt his guilt. She would have to handle the man with tact, or she could end up in trouble.

EIGHT

Suddenly an earsplitting whine tore through the room, causing Alexandros to sit bolt upright in his chair. Kally was shaken out of her reverie, and her heart suddenly felt as if someone were squeezing it as hard as they could.

“What the hell is that?” Kally said, startled.

“A security alarm,” Alexandros answered her calmly. It's probably nothing.“

Seconds later, the office door burst open. Eight security guards poured into the room dressed in full riot gear. One of them ran to Alexandros and hurriedly began whispering something in his ear. The Greek’s face visibly soured the more he heard.

“Speak of the devil,” Alexandros murmured to himself. “Seal the building,” he ordered calmly, “and sweep the premises.”

“What's going on?” Kally asked, her panic mounting.

“It’s probably a false alarm,” Alexandros said, “but you’d better follow me, just in case.”

Kally’s heart started to beat faster as she took Alexandros’ hand and followed his lead. He walked over to the far wall, and pressed his hand to the wallpaper. A blue beam, clearly a scanner, panned across it, and part of the wall slid aside to reveal a concealed staircase.

Even in her growing terror, Kally marveled at the secret door, which looked as though it belonged in Wayne Manor.

“We’ll be safe downstairs,” he said, leading her through the door and away from the screeching of the alarm.

The stairwell was narrow and dimly lit. Alexandros walked in front of Kally, who was now shivering with fear. Terrorists. Real live terrorists might be trying to break in to the house. She had, of course, covered similar events as part of her old job, and spoken face-to-face with dozens of experts, victims, and perpetrators, but she had never seen a person hell-bent on murder up close before, and she wasn’t in any mood to meet one now. She looked ahead of her, wondering how Alexandros could be so calm. After all, the killers were here for him.

After going down for four flights of stairs, they came to a huge door that looked like it belonged in a bank vault. Alexandros opened it using another security scanner, and led Kally into a sparsely-furnished room. There was a couch, a door that led to a small bathroom, a well-stocked bar, and nothing else. The heavy door swung shut, sealing them in, and Alexandros went to the bar. Grabbing a couple of tumblers and a bottle Kally didn't recognize, he swiftly poured them a round of drinks.

“Vodka; you look like you need this,” he said, offering a glass to Kally.

“Thank you, Mr. Stratos,” she replied, taking it with a shaky hand.

“Terrorists are trying to break into my home and kill me. I think it’s safe for you to call me Alexandros now,” the Greek remarked.

Kally laughed weakly, and took a long drink. “Okay then, Alexandros,” she intoned. “I guess it’s safe for you to call me Kally now.”

Kally took a moment to take in her surroundings. It certainly wasn’t the Batcave she had expected after fleeing through the hidden passageway. Whoever had stocked the panic room had forgotten to pack in anything in the way of entertainment. Kally could see neither books nor magazines. There was no television, but the bar, by contrast, looked fully stocked.

“It looks like someone has their priorities straight,” she quipped, shaking her head.

Alexandros kept himself busy tending bar, and Kally launched into one of her many
Republic-
related stories. In a few moments, she was slaying Alexandros with the one about the April Fools’ Day story arranger.

“So my best friend thought up this crazy idea of mocking up an April Fools’ edition of the newspaper. When she told me what she was planning to do, I was sure she had lost her mind. She sneaked in after closing, and switched the draft copy for her version. Everyone comes in the next day and gets to work. I heard a scream two minutes later, so I looked at the front page. I couldn’t see straight for five minutes. We nearly went to press with a picture of our editor in her underwear at the Christmas party, and a lead story about a hiccuping baby and his adventures in our break room. That was nearly national news!” Kally was crying she was laughing so hard. “The editor stormed out of her office with an expression that said “set phasers to kill”, and for the next three hours, we all went through the Spanish Inquisition.”

“And she didn’t get fired?” Alexandros asked when he could breathe again.

“I thought she would be for sure, but somehow, Beth managed to keep her job. To this day, I can’t figure out how. Our editor was so mad she was turning purple.”

Alexandros poured out more drinks, and the sharing continued. After a while, Alexandros started talking about his daughter. He admitted to spoiling her rotten because he wanted her to have the sort of life his father had denied him. Despite that, Stefania had turned out to be a sweet and loving girl who loved poetry. He tried to recite a poem she'd written, but he was starting to slur when he spoke.

“I’ll try again when I'm sober,” the Greek said, draining his glass.

“S’okay,” Kally replied, swaying slightly in her seat on the bed. “She sounds like a really special girl, Alexandros.”

“The best,” he agreed. “Always full of ideas. She wanted me to build a school for girls in India.”

“And will you?”

“It opens next fall,” Alexandros replied, sitting down beside her. “Unless the board has its way. They seem really interested in teaching too. Just last week, they taught me how many four letter words you can cram into one sentence,” he laughed. “Stefania was ambitious for a six year-old. She wanted me to teach the girls to paint,” he continued. “Her dream was to teach them skills so that they could get in school and out of poverty.”

The talking and drinking continued for another hour or so, Kally tipsily considering that this man had been her enemy only that morning. Now it seemed nearly impossible to her that she had ever found anything to dislike about him. He was handsome, deep, and caring, with plans to change the world for the better.

She pushed herself into a standing position, and shuffled over to the bar, where she took hold of the vodka bottle, and tried to steady herself for the task ahead. At that moment, her phone started ringing, but she barely heard it through the fog of alcohol. She told herself it wasn’t important, probably Layla checking in on her again, and continued pouring drinks.

Alexandros was more proactive, fishing the phone out of Kally's purse before heaving himself off of the couch. He staggered over to the bar and was about to hand the chirping phone to Kally when he glanced at the name on the screen. Even through the liquor, he could feel suspicion rising.

“It’s Don Lewis Jr.,” he said, placing the phone beside her. “I don’t know why he would be trying to call you, though.”

“Oh, he'll be wanting to know what I've found out about you,” Kally laughed, slurring badly, not thinking about what she was saying. “He called me a few days ago with this whole macho Wild West attitude, offering me a big-ass pile of money just to get some dirt on you. Says he’s been trying to get the drop on you for years.”

“And you’ve been feeding him information from our interviews, is that it?”

“Well, I’d planned to, but then I found out you’re not the asshole I thought you were. You’re a nice guy, actually, so I’ve been stalling. Only an idiot says “no” to Don.”

Alexandros' eyes widened in shock. “I trusted you, Kally. I brought you into my home. I’ve told you things I wouldn’t share with my own brothers! What possessed you to consider betraying my trust?” he asked, his voice rising in anger.

“Hey! I needed the money!” Kally slurred defensively. “
You’re
the one who bought the
Republic
and took it apart, remember? You come rolling in and poof, there goes my job. And not another one to be had in the whole damn city. Had to come all the way out here. And do you know how much that shoebox I live in costs to rent?”

Alexandros went quiet. Even if he were sober, he doubted he could have remembered buying out the
Republic
. To him it had been only one of dozens of assets he’d acquired to diversify his investments. He had never thought of the people that worked there, all the people Kally had been telling him about. With a sudden pang of horror, he remembered Beth Matthews. He had shoved a mother and her two month old into the street. He took a hard, unsteady look at Kally Jones, and realized that he had been responsible for ruining her life.

“I’m so sorry,” he said suddenly, looking earnestly into Kally’s unfocused eyes. “I didn’t realize…” he faltered, unable to continue. His grief at ruining yet another life was inexpressible, but Kally saw it in the lines of his face.

Obeying a sudden instinct, Kally reached out and cradled his face in her hands. “You are the most beautiful, complex, and frustrating man I have ever met,” she breathed, staring into his eyes.

She pulled him to her and they began to kiss each other passionately, basking in the heat that radiated from their skin. They struggled to move around the bar that was between them, and when they at last succeeded, they fell to the floor in a heap.

***