The Greek Tycoon Box Set: The Complete Serial: Books 1-10 (18 page)

Already unable to stand his pining after only the first few minutes, Carla excused herself and ducked into the bathroom for a short respite.
 

Once safely out of Brian’s reach and for no other reason than to waste time, she decided to take the pregnancy test she’d purchased earlier. She wasn’t even sure what made her buy it in the first place, but, whatever the cause, here she was—on a plane with her ex-boyfriend, headed to meet her fiancé and wondering if she may be pregnant..

With her past sitting out in the main cabin, her mind wandered to the future. Was this
really
the life she would come to know? Private jets? Luxury hotels? Island retreats?

She was awoken from her daydream when she heard Brian calling her name from outside the door. As she stood up to leave, she realized she’d been holding the pregnancy test, waiting for its result to show up, when she drifted off. And she nearly landed right back down on the toilet when her knees went weak at the site of the double blue line on the end of the test strip.

She was pregnant with Atreus’ baby.

The End
(of Book 4)

Continue on to read Book 5…

THE GREEK TYCOON

Book 5:
 
Back In His Arms

By Kay Brody

Chapter 1

Carla stared down at the pregnancy test, her heart in her throat. She had always been so careful about protection in the past but the passion that had overwhelmed her when Atreus gazed deep in her eyes, as if into her very soul, had left the world and its rules and logic and reason long forgotten. And now she was pregnant with his baby.

She peered into the bathroom mirror and worried about how she looked, fiddling with her blonde waves and trying, unsuccessfully, to tease them into submission. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, but after the events of the previous day she could not muster up enough feeling for her appearance to really care.
 

What did it matter, anyway, when Atreus truly loved her? What did it matter when she was carrying his child?

She leaned against the sink and drifted away into happy imaginings. First, Atreus stroked her cheek as they gazed down at their perfect newborn. Dios leaned over and gave the baby a loving, big-brotherly kiss. Then they were by the pool at their Greek villa, Carla and Atreus basking in the golden heat as Dios played with the baby on the grass under the shade of a parasol.
 

“I love you, Atreus,” she would say.

“And I love you, Carla,” he would reply, sliding his shades onto his head to gaze into her eyes. “More than you will ever know.”

All was blissful in their family union until Brian crept out from behind a bush and snatched both their babies away.

No, it was not safe at the villa. That was the reason she was on the private plane on her way to Atreus’ private Bahamian paradise in the first place.

She lifted up the blind and looked out of the window to see if she could spot the sand and turquoise water and lush greenery of the Caribbean islands but saw only the ocean, overlaid with the wet white wisps of cloud they flew through. She figured they must still be flying over the Atlantic.

She stared at the ocean for a moment before closing the blind, a blend of fear and awe and respect rising in her. It was so vast, so powerful. She laid her hands on her belly, which was still flat but held the promise of life, and felt the same way. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought of having a whole new life within her, a life it was her responsibility to keep safe and happy.
 

Carla did not find it a good omen that she had found out about her pregnancy when she was stuck on a flight with the man who made her feel the most unsafe. It was only the threat of his knife piercing through her flesh that forced her to allow him to follow her to the airport, pretend to be her brother and get on the plane with her.

She wished she could stay locked up in the bathroom for the rest of the flight and not have to look at him, but she was desperate for something to drink. She even considered drinking out of the bathroom tap but the sign with a drawing of a cup and a big red X slashed through it was enough to convince her otherwise.

The pregnancy test safely tucked back into her purse, she unlocked the bathroom door and headed back to her seat. Much to her relief, Brian was asleep when she returned.

She watched him as she sipped her water and wondered with revulsion how she had ever loved him. Her eyes wandered to his half-eaten dinner on the table in front of him, the heavy silver cutlery askew on the plate.

It flashed through her mind that she could pick up the knife and ram it right into his heart. After all, he had kidnapped Dios, he had threatened her life so many times she had lost count, he had pursued her at every turn when all she wanted was to move on and live her life without him. Clearly he still had plans to make her life miserable until he got what he wanted:
 
her. She dreaded what would happen when they arrived on Atreus’ Bahamian island, finally bringing Brian and Atreus face to face.

Yet she could not bring herself to lean over and feel the silver in her palm. She turned on the widescreen TV, put on the headphones and scanned through the movie list. Miss Congeniality jumped out at her. She needed something light and fluffy to loosen her up.

Brian did not stir until a staffer came to inform them that they were due to land and cleared his dinner things away.

“Thanks, love,” he said, ogling her breasts when she leaned over to pick up his plate.

His gaze shifted to her buttocks when she turned and wiggled away in her pencil skirt. Carla watched the trajectory of his eyes the entire time and felt sick.

Yeah, you love me alright,
she thought.

“I’ve never been to the Caribbean before,” Brian announced, then put on a terrible Caribbean accent. “Ye mon, me is rasta mon!
 
I be drinking dat rum on di beach!”

“Shut up, Brian,” Carla admonished.

She had been friendly with a Rastafarian girl at school and his ignorance got under her skin.
 

“Rastafari is a serious faith, just like Christianity or Islam or any other. It’s about reclaiming—”

“Ah, don’t get your knickers in a twist,” sighed Brian. “And I don’t want an RE lesson, babe, thanks very much. That is, unless you want to be the sexy teacher and I’ll be the naughty schoolboy who didn’t do his homework.”

“You make me sick.”

“I make you wet and you know it.”

Fury flashed through her.

“For God’s sake, what the hell is wrong with you?!”

She put her headphones back on, even though the staffer had told her to take them off when she had prepped them for landing. She cranked the movie up to full volume until all of the characters were yelling. She couldn’t think straight, but she didn’t mind. At least Brian was drowned out.

The landing was smooth and uneventful, but Carla’s anxiety mounted as the plane slowed. She looked out of the window at the rich, green landscape with majestic palms jutting above all else, weaving their trunks up into the intensely blue sky and jutting out in emerald explosions. But she couldn’t enjoy it. Brian could turn this paradise into the seventh circle of hell within seconds, she was sure of it.
 

If only she’d had a way to at least warn Atreus that he was with her. Now it was too late.

She removed her headphones and prayed to whatever God might exist in the universe, that He, She or It would protect her and her new family - Atreus, Dios and the baby - from the monster who sat beside her.

“I’ll get you back,” Brian whispered as the plane came to a stop. “I’ll prove to you that I’m more man than he is.”

Carla pretended not to hear. Her heart was beating so fiercely that it thumped in her temples and thudded in her face. She shot up from her seat as soon as the plane stairs opened onto the runway. She expected Brian to stop her but he didn’t.

“Thank you,” she said hurriedly to the crew, then stepped out onto the top stair and collided with a wall of hot air.

“Carla!”

Atreus’ voice called out a joy from the depths of her. She looked left and right for him, silent tears of relief streaming down her face. “Atreus?”

He sprinted around the side of the plane, Dios in his arms, his face full of light and love. Carla rushed down the steps and launched herself into his arms.
 

“Atreus! Dios!” she cried, her eyes welling up. “Atreus, Dios.” She could not help but repeat their names over and over again. They sounded so beautiful to her. “Atreus. Dios.”

Atreus squeezed her tight and tears sparkled on his lash line. She could see the rainbow in them.

“My darling,” he said. “My darling. Welcome to Little Ekali.”

“It’s so beautiful.”

“Mama!” Dios squealed, full of joy.

He was too small to understand the danger they were in and his innocent happiness made Atreus and Carla laugh through their tears.

Carla reveled in their fierce affection for the short moment she knew it would last, unable to speak the words she should have. Finally, the gasp came that she had been waiting for. Atreus’ eyes were wide with horror as he stepped away from her and saw Brian at the top of the plane’s steps. Carla could not bring herself to look at Brian, already knowing the self-satisfied smirk that would play about the corners of his lips.

She had failed, she told herself.

“He told me he would kill me if I didn’t let him come on the plane,” she explained to Atreus, her eyes on the ground.

Atreus handed Dios to her, his face like stone.

“Stand back by the palm tree over there, my darling.” He took a radio from his trousers and pressed the button. “Linus, please come.”

Carla kissed him on the cheek and did as he instructed, bouncing Dios on her hip as he grizzled. She leaned against the trunk of the palm and watched them, squinting her eyes against the glare of the sun reflecting off the runway and taking deep, intentional breaths to calm herself.

“Calling security, are we?” Brian laughed. “Not man enough to handle me alone?
 
Didn’t I tell you, Carla?”

A mammoth Bahamian man in a security uniform came into sight as he walked from the other side of the plane toward Carla.

“I’m here, boss,” he announced, reading the situation immediately. “I’ll take care of this.”

“No, thank you,” Atreus replied. “This is a one-on-one situation. But would you please stand by the palm tree with Carla and Dios.”

Linus followed Atreus’ orders and shook Carla’s free hand as he approached.

“I’m Linus,” he said, smiling. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“Hello,” Carla croaked, her voice trapped in her throat.

She felt a little more comforted with Linus there to help Atreus, if needed. Brian was not small by any means but Linus was at least twice his size.

Brian swaggered down the steps like a gun slinging cowboy into a saloon.

“I’ll take you anytime, any place.”

“Then let’s end this now,” Atreus declared.

“No weapons, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,” said Brian. “Just me and you, right here on this runway.”

“And if I win, you’ll give up, go back to England and leave us alone,” Atreus proposed.

“And if
I
win,” Brian returned, “you’ll admit to Carla that you’re not worth the fancy shirt you’ve got on your back. You’ll tell her that I’m the superior man and that she should go with me for a better life.”

Carla felt sick at the thought of it.

“Fine,” agreed Atreus.
 

“But on one condition,” added Brian. “I know Carla can be pretty stubborn at times and she doesn’t like to listen, so when you tell her that I’m the best man for her, she might disagree and want to stay with you.”

At that moment the pilot appeared at the door. “I’m looking for Mr Kostas.”

“That’s me,” Atreus answered.

“Do you require our services for a return flight, sir?” the pilot asked.

“Not just yet,” Atreus said. “Please wait inside until we have sorted this out.”

The pilot obliged, disappearing into the plane, confused by the apparent showdown.

Atreus turned back to Brian.

“So what do you want?”

“If you lose, you have to get a restraining order against Carla,” Brian explained, “so that
legally
she is not allowed on this island or anywhere else you may be. I don’t want her near your posh Greek house, near you, near your family or near that…
kid
.”

“I can’t agree to that,” Atreus dismissed. “Carla makes her own choices in life.”

Brian’s eyes flashed with sick pleasure, like he had cornered his prey.

“You scared you’re gonna lose?”

“Fine,” Atreus agreed. “You have a deal. But if you lose, we never see you again. Got it?”

“
Got it
,” Brian replied, mockingly.

He turned away as if to go back into the plane, then lunged at Atreus.