Pretending with the Greek Billionaire (16 page)

“Mrs. Ballas,” she said, trying to hold her temper, but the panic rising in her throat was making that more difficult by the second. What could be so bad that Luca would want to take her away? “Please just tell me what is going on.”

Mrs. Ballas frowned, but she nodded. “Not right, you not knowing. Mrs. Lasko showed me this morning. There are pictures today. All over. Of…well…you and Mr. Vasilakis…” Her face flamed red and Constance’s stomach dropped.

Either some enterprising photographer had managed to get a picture of them in their bedroom or…or there had been one at Luca’s supposedly secret bungalow. The one no one knew about where they would be perfectly safe and private, and free to make love on the private beach and on the private porch bed.

She’d been such a colossal fool. He had to have set it up. No one could have followed him with his crazy antics and backtracking on that motorcycle. Oh God. What if they’d gotten pictures of them on the motorcycle in front of the bungalow? Why would he do that? He had more than enough images of them together. Why set her up like that? Let the vultures take pictures of their most intimate moments just to prove that their relationship was real? What a joke! Even she’d started to believe it. No wonder he wanted to whisk her away on a yacht where she wouldn’t see any newspapers or magazines, where internet connections would be spotty and she’d be too busy basking in the lap of luxury to pay attention to what was going on in the outside world.

His distance that morning made sense now. He’d finally gotten what he wanted, undeniable proof that they had a full relationship in every way. His father had questioned it and now he could see for himself.

She swallowed hard against the tears that choked her. She wouldn’t cry over him. He wasn’t worth her tears. “Mrs. Ballas,” she said, glad when her voice came out steady and calm. “Please get the girls ready to leave. We’ll be going back to our own home. I’d like to leave as soon as you can manage.”

Mrs. Ballas nodded, thankfully not questioning their sudden change of plans. “They were already packed for the trip. I’ll have them gather the rest of their belongings.”

“Thank you. Please get everything loaded into the van. I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

The old woman patted her kindly on the arm. “You deserve better, my dear.”

Constance had no response for that so she merely nodded.

Did she deserve better? She’d gone into this crazy relationship knowing full well what it was. She’d slept with him of her own free will. He hadn’t coerced her into it, unless you counted being inhumanely sexy as coercion. He’d never told her he loved her. Perhaps she’d read too much into all the lingering glances, soft kisses, and sweet, tender lovemaking. Maybe all it boiled down to was a man who was really good in bed and a woman who was too lonely and desperate to realize good sex was all it was.

He had no right to splash intimate images of them all over the world. She covered her face, tears burning her eyes at the sudden realization her father would see those photos. The Reverend Mother would see. Would they take the children from her? Yes, the world thought she and Luca were engaged, but they weren’t yet married. There were some things even someone as tolerant as the Reverend Mother couldn’t overlook.

How could he do this to her? Why?

Chapter Eighteen

Luca paced in his office, more furious than he’d ever been in his life. Anger burned its way through him, making his blood boil. The only thing keeping him from smashing his fist into every wall of the house was the desire to get the hell out of town as quickly as possible. He had no time for a trip to the hospital for broken bones.

He would sue every publication that had run the pictures. The damn paparazzi had been invasive before, but this took it to a level of depravity even he hadn’t anticipated. They should have been safe at his bungalow. No one knew where it was. Yes, he’d originally planned for photographers to shoot them that night, but not there, and he’d called it off.

He pinned his gaze back on Joe, who for the first time in the ten years they’d worked together actually looked flustered.

“I told you to call off all other photo ops.”

“I did, sir. Before we’d even left the beach. All scheduled sessions were canceled. Even had that not been the case, I don’t see how they could have known where you’d be. The photographers had been told you’d be at the Mykonos Grand last night, and as I suspected, quite a few of them showed up anyway. I don’t know how they’d have known where to find you. Perhaps you were followed?”

Luca frowned. “It’s possible, though I don’t see how. Besides, some of these pictures were taken moments after we arrived. They would have had to be there waiting already. There is only one way in and out of that place. If they’d come up the road, we would have seen or heard them.”

“The only explanation is that someone must have tipped them off,” Joe said, a frown creasing his brow.

“That’s not possible. Mrs. Lasko hires different people to clean the place whenever I need it and takes care of stocking the place for me. No one she brings in knows who I am. I purchased it under a false name, and they never know when I’m going to arrive.”

“Drones, maybe?”

“Possible, I suppose.” He whirled back around with a growl and resumed his pacing.

If he found out someone had tipped them off…he really couldn’t be held responsible for what he’d do.

He never should have brought Constance back to the house. They should have gone straight to the yacht. His only hope was to get her away, convince her that his feelings for her were genuine, that he truly cared for her and would never do anything to hurt her. Maybe then she’d believe that he had nothing to do with this.

The moment she walked into his office, he knew it was too late. Her pain-filled eyes bore into his, fury radiating from her.

“Joe,” he said quietly. He didn’t take his gaze from Constance, just trusted that Joe would know what he wanted. The quiet click of the door announced that they were alone.

“Stanzia,” he began, but she didn’t let him finish.

“How could you?” Her voice was a harsh whisper that tore into his heart.

“I didn’t do this.”

“I don’t believe you.”

That brought him up short. He’d known she’d need some convincing. He expected confusion and hurt, certainly, but he
hadn’
t expected wholescale accusation right off the bat. It hurt much more than he’d expected.

“I want to see them,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.

He thought about saying no. He didn’t want her to see them. Didn’t want her to know the level someone had sunk to in order to make a buck, but she’d see them anyway. They were everywhere.

He went to his computer and pulled up the screen he’d been looking at. Six tabs were open to some of the biggest sites. All had their pictures splashed across the screen with nothing but a few little black bars or blurred pixels to keep the photos publishable. She kept her eyes on him as she walked to his side of the desk. He stepped back with a resigned sigh. There was no stopping the disaster now. He could only hope she’d hear him out.

Her eyes dropped to the screen, her face flushing as she read the bold headlines streaked across every page.

Real After All
!

Luca’s Love Nest
!

Luca’s Lady is a Tramp
!

Some of the others weren’t as tame, or kind, but it was the pictures that caused the whimper of distress emanating from her lips. He tried to put an arm around her waist but she pushed him away as she scrolled through picture after picture.

Her, arching back on his motorcycle, her legs wrapped around his waist, her black-barred breasts thrust into the air.

Him, on his knees before her, his face buried against her, her head thrown back in ecstasy.

Her, wrapped around him in the sea, staring into his eyes as they made love.

For the last time.

He knew it before she said a word.

She stumbled back from the computer. “These…are everywhere?”

He nodded, his heart sinking. Her eyes darted around, searching for something. Not him. Her gaze landed on him and she recoiled like she’d been struck.

“This is a nightmare,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “This can’t be real. This can’t be what my life has been reduced to. I want to wake up and be plain old anonymous Constance McMurty again.”

“Stanzia, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how—”

“Of course you know how,” she said, fury replacing the pain in her face. “This is all your fault, it must be. You swore up and down that no one knew where we were. No one knew about that place. There was no way we were followed. So if all that’s true, then you are the only one who could have tipped off the press. You’re the one with everything to gain from this.”

“Gain? What can I possibly gain from this?”

“Are you serious?” she asked, nearly shrieking. “You were the one worried that people might think we were a sham. You were the one wanting a way to prove to everyone we were the real deal. Well, there you have it, proof that you really were screwing me.”

He flinched. “I never wanted this. I would never have condoned someone taking pictures of us in our private moments.”

“That’s all you’ve done since the day I met you. Tried to figure out ways to orchestrate being photographed in our private moments, and you are the only one who could have orchestrated
this
!”

“I didn’t,” he said, trying not to shout, trying to rein in his anger and panic enough to convince her of the truth. She was slipping from his fingers right before his eyes and he didn’t think there was any way he could stop it.

“You aren’t the only one spread out naked for the whole world to see, Stanzia. I’m on that bike with you. I’m on that beach, too. Yes, I wanted the world to believe we were truly engaged, but the reason I needed that was to convince my father that I had changed and could be an asset to the company. Do you really think splashing around naked pictures of myself making love to you would be the way to accomplish that?”

“Why not? Look at the articles,” she said, jabbing her finger at the screen. “I’m the tramp, you’re the stud. Our engagement looks real and you come out the winner, like you always do. Is there even one woman on your father’s board? I guarantee the only thing the men will do is high five you. Once again, you claim to despise what the media is doing but you reap all the benefits.”

He jammed his fingers through his hair, the effort to keep from screaming overwhelming. “What benefits? I don’t care about my father’s company or what the board thinks or anything else. All I care about is you and all this has done is made you hate me.”

She threw her hands up. “It’s easy to say that now when you’ve already gotten everything you wanted. You might say you don’t like your privacy being invaded, but this won’t actively hurt you. Don’t you get that?” Her chest heaved with the force of her words and the tears that she had kept at bay until that moment slipped down her cheeks. He wanted to take her in his arms, brush them away.

“This,” she said again, waving her hand to encompass all the media on his desk. “In the long run, this won’t hurt you. You have definitive proof we were together.”

The “were” hit him like a fist to the gut, but she wasn’t done yet.

“You’re a man. You’re a hero, a stud, someone to be congratulated, not mocked and scorned. Even if this doesn’t help you with your career, it won’t hurt you. But for me…I take care of my girls. I have to report to the church.” A sob escaped her throat and she slapped a hand over her mouth as the tears flowed.

“I might lose them all. Do you realize that? They might take my girls from me because of this, and they’ll never let me adopt Elena now. It was a long shot before, but even if I wasn’t married or rich, I still showed exemplary character. No one could reproach my actions, but now…now I might lose everything. Whether you tipped them off or not, you invited them in. You made them a part of our relationship to make yourself look better. We only
had
a relationship for the press. And it worked for you so don’t tell me that this affects you, too. Don’t stand there and act like this will hurt you. You dragged me into this circus with you and you’ve destroyed my life.”

Every word she flung at him chipped another piece from his heart. The bitch of it was, she wasn’t wrong. Every one of the articles had praised him for his virility, even those that shook a finger at him, even as they’d slammed her. Shamed her. Mocked her.

“I won’t let you lose the girls,” he said, at a loss for what he could say to make this better, but wanting to do something to assure her.

She shook her head and wiped her eyes. “Money doesn’t fix everything, Luca.”

He looked at her, his chest aching like his heart was being squeezed in a vice. “I didn’t know you wanted to adopt Elena.”

“What difference does that make now?”

She shook her head again and took off her ring, laying it on his desk. Then she turned toward the door.

“Stanzia…” he called, his hand stretched out to stop her.

“Don’t follow me, Luca. You’ve done enough.”

He dropped his hand and watched her walk away.

The front door closed and he slumped into the chair behind his desk.

The house was silent. He was alone, with nothing but a stack of pictures to show that she’d been in his life at all.

Chapter Nineteen

“Sir?” Joe poked his head in the door and Luca dragged his attention away from the picture he held.

“What is it, Joe?”

He entered the room and clasped his hands behind his back. “I have discovered who has been leaking your whereabouts and personal information, sir.”

Luca’s gaze shot to Joe’s. “What? Who?”

Joe straightened his shoulders like he was preparing for a fight. “Before I tell you, I’d ask that you hear her out. Obviously, what she did was grievously wrong, but there were extenuating circumstances, one could say…”

Luca stood, his hold on his anger tenuous at best. Whoever the leak was had cost him Constance. Forgiveness wasn’t foremost in his mind, and neither was patience. “Joe.”

That one word held all his frustration and anger and grief and Joe knew it. He nodded his head and went to the door.

Mrs. Lasko walked in, her hands clutched so tightly together they were turning white.

Luca was so stunned he dropped back into his chair. “What’s going on here?”

Mrs. Lasko looked up at Joe. He gave her a small nod and then turned to Luca. “Mrs. Lasko is your leak.”

“I gathered that.” He looked at the woman he’d trusted with his life, and love. “Why?” he said, his voice not much more than a whisper and all the more terrifying for it if the sudden blanching of Mrs. Lasko’s face was any indication.

“My granddaughter,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “I thought you had hurt my granddaughter. I was so angry that you would do such a thing. So I thought, I can’t do much, but…”

Luca held up his hand. “I’ve never met your granddaughter, Mrs. Lasko, and I’d certainly never hurt her.”

She glanced up at Joe and he patted her shoulder and took over. “Mrs. Lasko’s granddaughter is Maria, the maid that comes in to clean twice a week.”

A twinge of shame squirmed through Luca at the realization that he hadn’t even known the name of the woman he’d seen coming in with Mrs. Lasko to clean, let alone that she was the granddaughter of his trusted housekeeper.

“Maria fell in love with, as she told her grandmother, her employer.”

Luca’s eyebrows rose in surprise but Joe hurried on before he could speak. “She also told Mrs. Lasko that her employer had returned her love, but then had left her brokenhearted. She naturally assumed it had been you.”

Luca snorted. “Naturally.”

“But…it was, in fact…” Joe cleared his throat and…was that a blush on his cheeks? Luca sat forward, starting to enjoy the little show taking place before him.

“It was me, sir.”

“Joe? You devil.”

Mrs. Lasko looked between the two of them probably much as Luca had. Torn between laughing, crying, and wanting to hit someone in the head with a nice heavy object.

“So, let me get this straight,” Luca said, sitting forward to clasp his hands on his desk. “Joe here was dating your granddaughter, broke up with her, and broke her heart, and when she told you it had been her employer, you assumed it was me. So to get revenge, you were the one leaking all the personal stuff to the press.”

Mrs. Lasko nodded her head. “I’m so very sorry, Mr. Luca, but I love my granddaughter. And I thought…”

He held up his hand again. “I understand. It’s all right, Mrs. Lasko. You may go.”

A tear trailed down the old woman’s face and she nodded her head. “I’ll gather my things.”

“You misunderstand me,” Luca said. “You may go back to your duties. I’d like to talk with Joe for a minute.”

She looked up at him, stunned. He was rather surprised himself, but the old woman had been with him for years. He couldn’t imagine his home without her, and he couldn’t particularly blame her for the misunderstanding or how she’d handled it.

“Yes, sir,” she squeaked out with a smile.

“If one more thing gets leaked to the press…”

“No, no, no, sir. No more. I know it wasn’t you now.” She turned a not-so-friendly glance on Joe and then hurried out the door.

Luca sat back and shook his head. “Well, well. What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into?”

Joe actually looked embarrassed. Luca couldn’t remember a time when Joe had ever been less than totally put together and in control of the situation. He hated to admit how much he was enjoying their positions being reversed for once.

“I apologize that my personal issues have affected your life.”

Luca nodded. “That they have. Can I ask why you broke up with the young lady?”

Joe grimaced. “I’m sorry to say it was because I didn’t want to leave you.”

Luca’s eyebrows hit his hairline. “What have I got to do with all this?”

Joe pointed at the chair across from the desk and Luca nodded his permission. “She started hinting at wanting to get married.”

“And you didn’t want to?”

“On the contrary, I’d consider myself the luckiest man in the world to marry her.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I live here, sir. I work for you, sometimes twenty-four hours a day. I couldn’t do that if I had a wife. We’d have to find our own place and…”

“Why?” Luca asked.

“Sir?”

“I’ll agree that you wouldn’t be able to work for me twenty-four hours a day if you were married. It wouldn’t be fair to your wife. But then working that much for me isn’t all that fair to you, either, is it?”

“I enjoy working for you, sir.”

“Glad to hear it. I hope you continue to work for me for a long time to come. However, that does not mean you can’t have your own life. The guesthouse in the back is empty. It’s yours if you want it.”

Joe’s jaw dropped. “Sir…I couldn’t…”

“Of course you can. You live on the property anyway. Now you’ll just have a little more space. Plenty, I should think, to bring along a wife.”

“Yes, plenty, sir.”

“And I’ll work on needing you a little less.”

Joe laughed at that. “I’ll believe that when I see it, sir.”

Luca snorted again. “I said I’d
try
.”

Mrs. Lasko knocked on the door again and entered with a package. “This just came for you, sir.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Lasko.” She nodded and went out, her steps light, a hum on her lips. Well, at least someone was happy because he was pretty sure his day was about to go from bad to seven circles of hell worse.

He took the package and opened it, his heart already sinking. Another gift for Constance returned. This one he’d been sure she’d keep. He’d chosen it with special care and she’d just sent it right back. He couldn’t even tell if she’d opened it and seen what it was. He slammed the diamond locket in its velvet box into the trash with a curse. Joe fished it out and calmly laid it on his desk. It made Luca want to throw it away again.

“I don’t know what the damn woman wants!” he shouted, shoving his hand through his hair and nearly pulling out a few stands in his frustration.

“I don’t think Miss Constance wants anything, sir.”

Luca scowled. “I know that. I just meant I don’t know what will make her happy. I’ve apologized, over and over. I’ve sent her flowers, jewelry, even first edition books from that god-awful author she loves so much. I’ve shown up on her doorstep and begged. Nothing works. She’s sent me away and returned everything I’ve sent. What’s it going to take?”

“To make her happy? Or to make her forgive you?” Joe asked.

Luca stopped pacing and stared at him. He’d hit the nail on the head, as usual. Luca dropped into his chair. He’d waited a whole two days before he’d started his campaign to win Constance back. That had been a month ago and she hadn’t caved one inch. She’d refused to see him, and standing on her porch begging her to talk to him upset her, which upset the children, so he’d stopped showing up in person. But she’d sent back every gift he’d sent, wouldn’t answer his texts or emails. He’d even resorted to sending an actual letter through the mail. It had been returned unopened.

“I don’t know what to do, Joe. I know I should probably let it go, leave her alone like she’s asked. But I…can’t. I need her…maybe it really is too late.”

Joe watched him for a minute and then sat down in the chair in front of the desk. Luca glanced at him, startled. He couldn’t remember the last time Joe had sat without Luca forcing him to.

“May I speak frankly?”

Luca nodded. “Of course.”

“You’ve been trying to win Miss Constance back by doing what you’d like. Or what other women in your past have wanted. Miss Constance isn’t like anyone else.”

A hint of a smile touched Luca’s lips. “No, she’s not.”

“She didn’t love you because of your money.”

Luca’s gaze shot up again. “You think she loved me?”

Joe gave him an indulgent smile, the type a father would give a son who’d finally figured out how to tie his own shoes. “Yes, sir. She did. I think she still does, but you won’t win her back by throwing money at her. She doesn’t care about your money. She never did.”

Luca frowned and rubbed his chin, thinking. No. She’d had fun with some of the things his money provided, but it wasn’t what she’d cared about.

“If I want to show her I love her, I need to show her I care about the things
she
loves.”

Joe nodded. Luca rubbed at his eyes, despair filling him. “Maybe it won’t even matter. Even if she forgives me, she won’t come back and I can’t blame her for that. I can’t make the vultures stop swarming. They’ll always be there, taking pictures, hounding her and the kids. What kind of life would I be asking them to share? No matter what I can give her, how much I love her, it’s not worth it. She and the girls deserve a better man than me. I’m not what they need.”

“I think you sell yourself short, sir.”

Luca snorted and shook his head. “Not something I’m often accused of.”

Joe gave him a sad smile. “An unfortunate shortcoming in your life, sir. You’re a good man. A little misguided, perhaps. Immature at times. Impetuous. Arrogant. A bit spoiled.”

Luca cocked an eyebrow. “Where are you going with this, Joe?”

Joe cocked his head. “Miss Constance and her girls need a good man who loves them. That’s all. Everything else will work itself out. And whatever else you are, sir, you
are
a good man. Who loves them.”

Luca pulled the jewelry box toward him and opened it. Inside lay a diamond and platinum locket. He popped it open and gazed at the picture of Constance and Elena he’d had placed inside. He rubbed a thumb across their images.

“Will it be enough?” he asked quietly.

“I think those seven special ladies need someone to love them more than anything, sir. If you love them, it will be enough.”

Luca stood, hope flickering in his heart again. Faintly, but it was enough.

“What’s the plan, sir?”

Luca grinned at Joe. “I’m going to show her that I care about the things she cares about, that my life can be about more than photographers and fame. I’m going to do what I can to make my world a safe place for her and the girls, and then I’m going to win her back.”

…

Constance fiddled with the embroidery on her dress while she waited for the Reverend Mother to come in. It had been three months since she’d sat in that office waiting to see if Luca would show up. She flinched away from using his name, even in her head. After all these months, she’d hoped life would return to normal, that she’d forget him, or at the very least that the memories would have faded so the mere mention of him didn’t strike her like a stab to her heart.

But they hadn’t faded. She still dreamed of him almost every night. She still woke in the morning, her heart and body aching from missing him. He’d done what he promised; he hadn’t let her lose her girls. Constance didn’t know how much he’d donated to the organization, but it was enough for them to overlook anything that had occurred and keep her on as a House Mother.

It wasn’t enough to erase those images from the internet. But he’d been right. After a while, other scandals had risen to take their place. They’d never go completely away. Some idiot would post one every now and then. But for the most part, it was as if Luca had never been in her life.

After several shots of her without her engagement ring, they’d finally gotten the hint that she and Luca were no longer together. She’d kept close to home, only venturing out when necessary. Eventually, the press had decided she was boring and no longer relevant and had left her alone.

The odd thing was that Luca had also apparently dropped off the face of the earth. She knew he’d been in London and New York. There’d been shots of him, looking heartbreakingly handsome in a tailored suit, going into his father’s office building. A few of him buying coffee. Walking down the street glowering at the cameras. But no parties. No clubs. No women hanging on his arm.

Constance was grateful for that last one, even if she had no claim on him. Still, in the first few weeks especially, it would have killed something in her to see him move on so quickly. Not that there had been anything to move on from. Their relationship hadn’t been real. They were both free to find other people, or so she kept telling herself.

He’d tried contacting her a few times in those first few weeks. He’d sent her flowers, signed books, even an exquisite diamond and platinum locket with a picture of her holding Elena that day on the beach. That one had been hard to send back. It wasn’t only gorgeous but an incredibly thoughtful gift that had broken another little piece of her heart, but she couldn’t accept it. And he’d stopped trying.

That was a good thing. It needed to happen so they could both go on with their lives. But she’d still cried herself to sleep the night she’d realized she wouldn’t hear from him again.

The office door opened and the Reverend Mother came in. She waved Constance back into her seat when she stood and Constance perched on the edge of her chair, her legs bouncing, her nerves getting the better of her.

The older woman sat behind her desk, folded her hands, and sat looking at Constance for what seemed like forever. Finally, she asked, “How have you been doing?”

Constance blinked, taken aback for a second. She’d been brought in so they could ask her how she was?

“I’m fine, thank you.”

Reverend Mother’s lips pursed and she looked over the rim of her glasses at Constance. “Mrs. Ballas tells me you don’t leave the house unless you must. And that you’ve changed in other ways.”