Ruthless Revenge: Sinful Seduction: Demetriou Demands His Child / Olivero's Outrageous Proposal / Rafael's Contract Bride. Кейт Хьюит

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       CHAPTER SIX

      ALEKOS HEARD THE words as if from a great distance. They echoed in his head as he stared at her in nonplussed confusion. Finally he managed, ‘You must really be desperate.’

      She flinched, her eyes flashing, courage and fear together. ‘You don’t believe me.’

      ‘Why should I?’

      ‘Why would I lie? It’s easy enough to prove.’

      Her calm certainty unnerved him as much as her initial statement had left him reeling. ‘You mean a paternity test.’

      Silver eyes flashed again, and she pressed her lips together. ‘That’s exactly what I mean.’

      For a few seconds Alekos was left completely speechless. ‘Why would you keep such a thing from me?’ he finally asked, his voice low and vibrating with suppressed emotion—far too much emotion to process. He didn’t know what to feel. Anger at Iolanthe for keeping something this huge from him? Wonder that he had a child? Incredulity was easier.

      ‘I tried to tell you back then,’ Iolanthe answered. Her voice shook but she kept his gaze. ‘When I came to your flat.’

      ‘You tried? You didn’t say anything of the sort!’ He took a deep breath, recalling that brief, tense interview. He’d been so angry, still smarting from her father’s shameful treatment of him, suspecting her part in the deception. And she... She’d been afraid. He remembered how she’d trembled, how her eyes had looked huge in her pale face. He’d told her to leave and she had, fleeing from the room as if he were chasing her out with a stick. ‘I asked you,’ he said, recalling that too. ‘I specifically asked you if you were carrying my child.’

      ‘And then you said if I wasn’t, I should leave immediately,’ Iolanthe fired back. ‘Hardly the friendliest of exchanges.’

      ‘We’ve never been friends,’ Alekos returned coolly. ‘But I expected an honest answer to my question.’

      ‘Why should I have answered you at all?’ Iolanthe demanded. ‘You clearly despised me.’ She took a deep breath, pressing a pale hand to her forehead. ‘But I don’t want to talk about that now. I want to know if you’ll keep Petra Innovation for Niko, since he’s your son.’

      ‘You have no compunction in showing your hand,’ Alekos observed. ‘The only reason you’re telling me he’s mine is because of the company. Because of what you want from me.’

      ‘Yes.’ She was completely unabashed. ‘I want Niko to have his birthright.’

      Alekos’s lip curled. ‘How is it even his birthright, if he is not biologically related to Lukas Callos?’

      ‘I often wonder,’ Iolanthe returned, her lips pinched and bloodless, ‘how you charmed me that night. Because you certainly haven’t done so since.’

      ‘I wonder that I charmed you at all,’ Alekos snapped. ‘Or did you set out to be charmed, even seduced?’

      Iolanthe shook her head slowly, confusion visible in her silvery eyes. ‘Why would I do that?’

      ‘I have no idea. Perhaps you wanted to frame me, or humiliate your father—’

      ‘What—?’

      ‘I know he kept you locked away, on leading strings. Was sleeping with me your childish way of getting back at him?’ He shrugged, not caring about her answer. Not wanting to care. ‘In any case I have learned not to trust anyone in your forsaken family.’ He turned away abruptly, not wanting to say more. He wasn’t going to whinge to Iolanthe about how her father had welcomed him into the Petra Innovation fold before stealing his idea fourteen years ago, leaving him desolate in so many ways. Grieving the loss of his livelihood, the loss of the friendship of a man he’d trusted. Most likely she wouldn’t believe him anyway, and, in any case, he’d had his revenge already. It just didn’t feel as sweet as he’d anticipated.

      ‘Will you require a paternity test?’ Iolanthe asked after a moment. She sounded tired, as if the fight had left her. Alekos turned around, noticing the way her slender shoulders sagged. She looked as if a breath would blow her over. Yet even as weary as she obviously was, she was still lovely. She wore a navy sheath dress that emphasised her willowy figure. She’d pulled her hair back with a clip, and a few inky tendrils curled about her heart-shaped face.

      ‘Of course I will,’ Alekos returned. Again he was struck by how unfazed she was by the prospect. She seemed unnervingly certain...and there could only be one reason why.

      ‘And when you receive the result?’ Iolanthe asked. ‘Will you then keep from liquidating Petra Innovation?’

      His mind scrambled to make sense of how quickly things had progressed. A son. He could not imagine it, could not conceive—

      And yet Iolanthe had conceived—and had never told him. It was a deception that he could barely grasp the enormity of, worse than anything she might have done before.

      ‘I will not make any decisions until your son’s paternity is known for certain.’

      ‘Fine. It should only take a few days. But in the meantime, promise me you won’t do anything to dispose of Petra Innovation.’

      Alekos opened his mouth to retort that he would make no promises whatsoever, but then he stopped. If Niko was his son, he needed to completely rethink his plans. The realisation of how much could change left him scrambling for both words and thoughts. ‘Fine,’ he finally bit out.

      Iolanthe nodded her acceptance. ‘Do you wish to make the arrangements for the test, or shall I?’

      ‘I’ll do it.’

      ‘Thank you.’ Iolanthe turned to go, and Alekos had the bizarre impulse to call out to her, make her stay. To say...what? He had no idea. There was nothing between them now...except perhaps, amazingly, a child.

      * * *

      ‘I’m sorry, Iolanthe.’

      Iolanthe closed her eyes, pressing her fingers to the lids as she battled a wave of fatigue. She felt too tired for shock or even sorrow; the bad news just seemed to keep on coming. ‘It’s all right, Antonis,’ she said. Some time over the last week, as the true and terrible state of Lukas’s affairs had come to light, she and her solicitor had progressed to first names. ‘It’s not your fault.’

      ‘He СКАЧАТЬ