compelling reason. “She’s gone. She’s...she’s not coming.”
“Who is not coming?”
Leah looked up and her heart stopped. Ajax Kouros had chosen that precise moment to walk into the room, already dressed in a dark tuxedo, perfectly fitted to his masculine physique. He looked as untouchable as ever. A god more than a man.
Seeing him made her think of summer days at the estate. Of following him around and chatting his ear off. Her sister away at school, her father busy with work, her mother having tea with friends.
But Ajax had always been there to listen. Her sounding board. The one person she’d felt had understood her.
A lot of time had passed between then and now. She wasn’t that girl anymore. Not foolish enough to think that a man like Ajax could be interested in her, or what she had to say. And he wasn’t that boy, tanned from working shirtless in the sun.
He was a billionaire now. One of the world’s most successful businessmen.
And today was the day he was marrying her sister. And officially gaining control of Holt Industries, along with a hefty piece of her own business, since so many of her shares were owned by her father’s corporation.
At least, it was supposed to be the day he was marrying her sister and gaining control of Holt.
But Rachel was gone. Gone and not coming back, if her text was an indication. And it should be, since it said she was gone and not coming back.
It was so out of character for her bright, beautiful sister. The eternal hostess and darling of the media had never once set a toe out of line. She was always gorgeous and graceful, a walking photo-op.
So very unlike Leah, who was a walking photo-op for a whole different reason. And the press loved to play it up. Loved to highlight her every shortfall, her every imperfection.
Leah swallowed hard and met Ajax’s eyes. They were dark, hard. They always had been. Even when he’d been a boy, there had been no laughter there. No lightness. But the darkness was compelling to her, just as it had always been.
“Rachel isn’t coming,” she said, her voice barely a whisper, but deafening in the empty sitting room of her family estate.
“What do you mean she isn’t coming?” he asked, his voice soft, a vein of granite running through it.
“It’s just... She texted me. She... Here.” She handed the phone to Ajax, nearly dropping it when his fingers brushed hers. “It says she wants to be with Alex, whoever that is, and that she can’t marry you. Not now. She’s sorry.”
“I can read, Leah, but thank you.” He handed the phone back to her, and she curled her fingers around it, holding it down at her side. He looked to her father. “Did you know?”
Joseph shook his head. “Did I know what? That she was having second thoughts? Not at all. I never pressured her to do this, Ajax. You know I wouldn’t have. I was under the impression she was completely on board with this.”
Ajax nodded once, then looked at Leah. “Did you know?”
“No.” If she’d known, she would never have let things go this far. She would never have let Rachel leave Ajax like this, without warning. With the world watching.
“Alex who?” he asked, his tone sharp. “What other information is there?”
“I...” Leah scrolled back through her phone’s messages. The look on Ajax’s face was fierce, feral, like nothing she’d ever seen before. Usually he was so controlled, so unruffled. But now he was frightening. A different man entirely. “She doesn’t say.”
“Text her. Now.”
“Ajax, if she needs space...” Her father spoke tentatively.
“I’m not overly concerned about that,” Ajax bit out.
Leah texted as quickly as she could, her fingers shaking. Alex who? Anyone I know?
You don’t know him. Alex Christofides. Unexpected. And I’m sorry.
“Alex Christofides.”
Ajax and her father shared a look that said volumes. The hair on the back of her neck prickled, goose bumps rising on her skin as she realized the full implication of the name.
“Alexios,” Leah said slowly. “Alexios Christofides.”
“That would be the one,” Ajax said. “Not content with attempts to destroy my business, the bastard has to destroy my wedding, as well. And make a grab for Holt, I imagine.”
“Why, Ajax? Why does he have it in for you like this?”
A shadow passed over Ajax’s face. “I don’t know. Just business, I suppose.”
“But she... Does she know that? Does she know who he is?”
“She wouldn’t,” Ajax said. “This isn’t her world.”
No. But it was hers. She knew about Alexios Christofides and his attempts to bump Ajax’s retail and manufacturing conglomerate off the map, via covert stock purchases and reporting of illegal activities that hadn’t even existed, much less been provable. Alexios had been a headache for Ajax in an increasingly alarming way over the past five years.
“And you never mentioned him to her?”
“As I said,” he replied, teeth clenched, “it is not her world.”
Leah sent another text to Rachel, while her father and Ajax continued talking.
He’s an enemy of Ajax’s. Didn’t you know that? What if he’s using you?
It’s too late, L. Can’t marry Jax now. I need to be with Alex.
The day of your wedding?
I’m sorry. Trust me. There isn’t another way.
“If Rachel has chosen him,” her father broke in, “then she’s chosen him.”
“Even if he’s out to hurt Ajax? And what about the company? My business is rolled into this. I am going to get steamrolled by his heavy machinery tactics.”
“You’re making the assumption that he doesn’t care for Rachel. And that Rachel is a fool. I don’t believe that, Leah,” her father said.
No. Of course not. Rachel would never be so foolish. At least, that’s what everyone would think. Sparkling, poised Rachel, who did so well in every social situation, would never be seduced away from the man she was meant to marry through lies and deceit. She was too savvy.
Leah didn’t buy it. Her sister was wonderful. And as such had been coddled by the media. Rachel didn’t see the ugly things in life. And the idea that a man, Alexios, might be lying to her, using her, made Leah’s stomach churn.
“Sign it over to me,” Ajax said, his
