CHAPTER 1

          ‘Is this a joke?! What the hell is she doing here?’

          Tension gripped Theo Kralidis as he stood alone on the balcony that jutted out from his cousin’s luxurious mansion. He completely ignored the iconic view of the Parthenon against the blue September sky as he scowled at the dark-haired woman at the garden party below.

          ‘Aundrea Etheridge… The American beauty everybody called Dea…’

          His worst nightmare… His darkest, most painful secret… His stepsister…

          Burning hot fury ate away at him as he watched Dea glide through the crowd of Athens’s high society, talking to people like nothing ever happened… Like she was as innocent as an angel and sweet as a baby.

          But she wasn’t… She was a conniving little bitch and her place was somewhere else, far away from this place and from this gathering. She was like a timebomb ready to explode and wipe away the most important business deal for the Kralidis Family.

          Theo gave her a look from head to toe. Damn it! She was still gorgeous… Yet, she looked so different. She had cut and straightened the long mop of dark curls. Her hair now fell into soft waves that reached her pointed chin.

          The yellow floral dress was modest as it skimmed her slender figure that he knew so well… That he remembered so well, even after all this time. His eyes stilled on her mouth… Her bold red lipstick was at odds with her delicate appearance.

          He knew the presentable image was as phony as a three-dollar bill. It was a pathetic masquerade, a shield of some sort. It had been years since he’d last seen her but Theo knew time couldn’t have tamed Aundrea Etheridge’s true nature.

“There you are, moro mou (Greek for ‘baby’),” his mother said as she stood beside him. “Everybody is waiting for you. When did you get here? Come, Theo mou (Greek for ‘my’) … Come and join the party.”

          Theo didn’t look away from his stepsister.

“How long has she been in Greece, Mum?” he asked.

          Demitra Kralidis sighed. She rested her forearms against the ornate handrail as she watched her stepdaughter charm a guileless shipping heiress.

“Two days… She let him know she was at a nearby hotel. If that… creature thought she would be welcomed with open arms, she is going to be extremely disappointed.”

“Why has she returned?” Theo continued his little investigation.

“Apparently, she missed her father and wanted to see him.”

          Theo studied Dea intently. Nah… That little slut had something else in mind… She didn’t understand the meaning of family… Never did. She had been absent from her father’s life for four years and she suddenly wanted a reunion… No, Theo wasn’t buying that.

“What do you think is the real reason of her presence here?”

“I don’t know, moro mou,” his mother replied softly. “Dillon doesn’t have a single penny of his own.”

“And his daughter recently inherited a fortune…” Theo murmured.

          He tore his gaze away from Dea and scanned the sophisticated crowd for her father. Theo spotted the tall, well-dressed man on the other side of the lush garden. Dillon Etheridge had a… talent, a gift, for marrying wealthy women.

          His only goals were to keep his powerful wife happy and live in the luxury she provided. Theo knew his stepfather was a benign presence in their lives… But he couldn’t say the same thing about his awful daughter.

“Dillon didn’t know she was coming to Greece for a visit,” Demitra insisted. “I know they’ve been in contact after her mother died earlier this year, but I know for a fact he didn’t invite his daughter here.”

          After what happened, Theo’s stepfather was given a generous allowance. The man knew what was expected of him if he wanted to keep the money flowing, but having a wealthy daughter meant another stream of revenue.

“Mum, do you really believe him?”

“Of course, Theo. That awful girl has caused him nothing but trouble and embarrassment.”

          His mother’s voice was brittle with anger.

“She almost caused a rift in our family because she couldn’t… keep her legs closed.”

          The blood pounded hard in Theo’s veins as he remembered everything. Dea knew how to create problems with minimum effort. This was her secret talent. It could be uttering an explosive comment at a formal dinner or creating a public spectacle at Athens’s most popular nightclub.

          But none of that compared to seducing his cousin Alexis. If she had succeeded, it would have destroyed a bright and promising future for the Kralidis family.

“I don’t like the idea of her back to Greece… and I definitely hate seeing her here. She shouldn’t be here,” he declared gruffly.

          Why had she shown up this week of all weeks?

“Does Alexis know that she’s lurking around?”

          His mother looked at him and stiffened.

“Unfortunately, your cousin did find out… So, just to keep an eye on her, I asked him to put Aundrea on the invitation list for this party,” Demitra reluctantly admitted.

          Theo cursed as he pushed away from the handrail. He scanned the guests at the party but he didn’t see his cousin. That alone was suspicious… Alexis had always gravitated toward Aundrea. Every single moment.

“Theo, listen to me. What happened between those two is in the past,” his mother argued. “Alexis was in a rebellious stage and was easily misled. He was no match for a determined whore like Aundrea Etheridge.”

“Mum, he wasn’t a child…”    

          Dea had mesmerized Alexis almost instantly, the first moment Alexis met her, yet his cousin had not been an innocent victim. Theo knew his mother refused to believe that. She’d like to think that a Kralidis man had better standards.

“I know, Theo. It took us too long to realize that she was a manipulative liar,” his mother declared. “When she said you’d followed her into the wine cellar that night... Well, no one was going to believe that.”

          Theo closed his eyes briefly. Everyone in the family knew about his aversion to dark and confined spaces. But, that night… Well, that night, he had pushed past the reluctance because of Aundrea… Because of her special brand of trouble.

“Of course, she couldn’t bewitch you, but Alexis was such an… inexperienced young man back then,” Demitra continued. “Just remembering everything that… woman has done, makes me…”

“It’s too much of a coincidence that she has returned when we need this alliance with the Galanis family. And I don’t believe in coincidences… She’s out for revenge. I’m absolutely sure of that…”

          His mother scoffed at the idea.

“Moro mou, you give her too much credit… Let’s face it… She’s not the type who would follow the financial news or understand your long-term plans for the ‘Kralidis Group’. Aundrea is not that smart. For goodness’ sake, she’s a finishing school dropout.”

“She wasn’t kicked out of all those schools because of her academic performance, Mum,” Theo reminded her.

“She has no interest in destroying us,” his mother countered. “She wants to be ‘one of us’… A Kralidis…”

“Well, Mum, sometimes the enemy is within the family.”

          Silence pulsed between them. Theo inhaled sharply as he firmly pushed back the memories. He sensed his mother turning to face him. He mastered his troubled thoughts and didn’t flinch when she tentatively placed her hand against his shoulder.

“Darling, you don’t need to protect us against this little slut...” she said.

          But he could sense concern wavering in her voice. His mother was wrong. He must always remain alert. He had to build enough power and wealth that nothing could touch them. He didn’t want anyone in his family to know the bleak and cruel world he had experienced.

“She’s a problem but we’ve dealt with worse. In fact, we won’t need to do anything,” Demitra added brightly, dropping her hand before she turned away. “Aundrea can’t pretend to be demure and innocent for long. Her true colors will show… soon. They always do.”

“And while we wait, she’ll seduce Alexis and stop the wedding,” he predicted.

          His mother gasped.

“No, your cousin won’t betray us like that.”

“Mum, I know my cousin. So, mark my words… He will correct his initial mistake… Alexis will have sex with her the first chance he gets,” Theo countered.

          He knew his cousin would view Dea as the one who got away.

“He won’t, Theo. Your cousin is way past her now,” Demitra argued. “He knows how important this merger is to our family.”

          ‘Well… That didn’t stop Alexis four years ago,’ Theo thought grimly.

          If anything, the need to claim Dea was more imperative to his cousin now. But Demitra Kralidis had a blind spot when it came to family, especially Alexis. It was his duty to recognize and eliminate any threats.

“She knows the importance, as well,” he warned as he grasped his mother’s elbow and guided her back to the party. “She has returned because she has some unfinished business and the money to fund it. She’s a real threat to the Kralidis-Galanis marriage. We need this alliance and I won’t let Aundrea Etheridge or anyone else, for that matter, destroy it. We’ve worked too damn hard to have it all crashed right now…”