CHAPTER ONE

"MAYBEAFTERTHREE years the shine is wearing off your marriage, Ani," Sebastian Skalas drawled from his seat at the brunch his sister-in-law, Annika Alexandros Skalas, had dragged him to that bright May afternoon with any number of threats.

Even the mention of that day three years ago when he'd disappeared on Ani because of thatwoman still made him angry. Luckily, it had ended up in forcing his brother to the altar. "It's not too late to dump Alexandros and come back to me."

Ani shook her head while his twin glared at him.

Her uncharacteristic quietness worried Sebastian. In the beginning stages of her pregnancy she should look radiantly happy. Instead, since he'd arrived at the Skalas villa near Corfu two days ago—upon her urgent request—she'd been withdrawn, irritable, even avoiding Sebastian. Which had never happened before.

They had been friends for years, as she had visited their estate every summer since she'd been an infant, as their grandmother Thea was her godmother.

He had assumed his twin had been overly concerned when he'd relayed Ani's request to see him—Xander was protective and possessive on steroids when it came to his wife. Now Sebastian realized Xander's worry was very much valid.

Since the three of them had sat down, Ani had watched the gates to their estate, looking excited and terrified in equal measures, every other second. And the fact that she had summoned, cajoled, threatened and begged him to be present for lunch for the last three days seemed like the signal for something big.

Suddenly, a car stumbled in through the electronic gates to the estate. Ani shot to her feet at an alarming pace that had both him and Xander rushing to theirs. As if the driver couldn't decide whether to go forward or backward, the car shot forward, then stalled and repeated the strange dance a few more times.

"Is it the baby?" Xander asked, a terrified look in his eyes that Sebastian had never seen before, and never wanted to see again.

Ani shook her head, grabbed Sebastian's hands, her eyes full of big, fat tears. A beat of dread pulsed through him, like he got before one of his migraines inevitably showed up. "What's wrong?"

Behind her, Alexandros looked thunderous. "What the hell did you do, Sebastian?"

Ani shook her head, half smiling, half crying. "No, Xander. It's not him..." She turned to Sebastian again, and threw her arms around his waist. "Just remember. I... I've been trying to do the right thing, okay? By all of you. I couldn't bear it if you...hate me for it."

Sebastian wrapped his arms around her trembling form and met Xander's gaze over her head. His twin shrugged, looking as baffled and scared as Sebastian felt.

Ani pressed her forehead to his chest, soaking his shirt with her tears. "You've always been my first and true friend, Sebastian. Please, just... Just remember that I had to keep it from you."

"Ani, you're scaring me," Sebastian said, the sensation making his words sharp.

"This cannot be good for the baby or you, agapi. Calm down, please. Whatever it is, I'll make it right," Xander ordered in a gruff voice, his hands coming to land on Ani's shoulders.

Annika nodded.

Outside of their little tableau, Sebastian was aware of the little car finally reaching the courtyard. Heard the sound of the engine gunning, as if the driver wanted to turn the car around and run away. It sidled back and forth for a few more minutes, the tires digging grooves in the rain-drenched soil.

Irritated by the driver's hesitation, Sebastian caught his twin's gaze. "Are you expecting guests?"

Xander shook his head as Ani said, "I invited her here."

Finally, the driver opened the door and stepped out. Sebastian's nape prickled as he watched the woman. Instinct that had once helped him escape his father's brutal fists made Sebastian brace for some unknown.

Recognition hit him at first glance, a solid punch to his gut.

Tall and impossibly curvy, the woman was shabbily dressed in wrinkled pants and an oversize T-shirt, with thick, wild corkscrew curls. A high forehead and stubborn beak of a nose and a wide mouth, currently in shadows by the sun behind her, would follow. He'd have known the prideful tilt of her chin and the straight, aggressive set of her shoulders anywhere.

It was the woman he'd been searching for, for three years. Only today she wasn't all dressed up in a slinky red number, with her curly hair straightened into a waterfall, that mouth painted a lush red, the beautifully distinct amber eyes hidden behind brown contacts.

Memories came flooding back to Sebastian, suffusing his body with an instant heat. The silky swath of her skin that he had kissed and caressed with relish. The soft, sweet taste of her lips and how she'd clung to him after their kiss. The strange combination of open guilelessness and intense passion with which she'd begged for more of his words, his fingers, his caresses.

This was the woman he hadn't been able to forget for three years.

The woman who'd disappeared on him after an explosive night together, the woman who had stolen the one piece of leverage he had over their old chauffeur, Guido, who was the only person who had known where their mother had disappeared to two decades ago. He had been finally so close to finding her whereabouts, only for this woman to snatch away the opportunity from him.

What the hell was she doing here now?

He had no doubt that he didn't even know her real name.

Before he could ask Ani, she walked the few steps off the patio toward her guest. Her guest...

She must know this was his residence. And yet, she was here, willingly. Why?

Did she imagine he'd forgotten that she had stolen from him, that she had blackmailed him to stop him from coming after her? She'd been clever enough—no, brilliant, actually—to get one over him, and in staying under the radar for the next three years.

"Ani, what's going on? Why is that woman here?" He hated that he couldn't hide his urgency.

Xander stared at the approaching woman and then back at his wife, scowling. He cursed, finally picking up on the tension radiating from Sebastian. "Ani, agapi, what did you do?"

While she'd been near sobbing with Sebastian, Annika glared at her husband, her crotchety temper of late flaring. "I did what I had to do, Xander. I'd like to see you handle something like this. It's not always black-and-white, you know, and I'll thank you to consider—"

In a public display that still shocked Sebastian to this day, Xander pressed his mouth to her temple and said, "Breathe, pethi mou. I would never question your intentions."

Nearing them enough to hear the marital spat and the miraculous making up, the woman hesitated.

This close, the woman's amber eyes—intelligent and incisive—glinted like rare gems in the sunlight. As did the golden flecks in her hair. For all that she dressed without the minimum concern toward fashion or basic hygiene—there was an orange stain near her breast—there was that same vitality about her that had drawn Sebastian to her three years ago.

She was beautiful in a way a feral creature that stalked the woods was beautiful—without artifice, and with all her ragged, sharp edges intact. Even now, with anger thrumming through him, he noticed so much about her.

A tremulous smile wreathed Ani's lips. "Laila, welcome to our home."

Laila... Her name resonated through Sebastian like a gong.

The woman's smile came out a mix of a grimace and a baring of teeth.

Ani extended her hands, as if afraid Laila might be spooked enough to flee if she didn't tether her. "I'm so glad you came."

"I wasn't sure I would. Not until the last minute," Laila said, rubbing her belly in that nervous gesture he remembered so well. "I don't like decisions made on instinct, but..." She shrugged her shoulders, and with an implacable practicality he found fascinating, she straightened her spine and kissed Ani's cheek. "You're well? I have missed our chats."

"Yes. I've been ordered bed rest and haven't left the estate in three weeks." Ani's smile grew wider, genuine affection replacing her dark mood. "I've been so...eager for you to get here."

Alexandros threw him another glance before pulling a chair out for Annika. Sebastian did the same for Laila, who wouldn't quite meet his gaze and walked around the table, just to avoid being near him.

And yet, there was no doubt that her sudden appearance had everything to do with him and their encounter.

"This is Alexandros Skalas, my husband," Ani said.

Laila shook his twin's hand. For the first time since she'd walked up, a smile touched her lips. It felt like a slap to his face. Her body language was relaxed, easy around Xander, as if she were a porcupine that had retracted its prickles for the moment. "Ani said very few people can tell you apart, especially when you don't want them to know."

"Can you?" Alexandros asked, clearly digging.

Laila blushed and it was incongruous next to her serious expression. "Oh, I'd never mistake you for...him. You're serious and thoughtful and almost coldly logical, from what Ani tells me. Like me. Now, I can see it in the set of your mouth. Your brother, on the other hand, has a..." Then, looking thoroughly mortified at what she'd been about to say, she turned away.

"You know Sebastian, of course," Ani said, as if she couldn't let a moment's awkwardness land.

Laila finally met his gaze. Panic, nervousness and then a steely resolve flickered through hers, as if someone was changing channels to her emotions. "Hello, Sebastian."

The huskiness of her voice only made him angrier. "Come, Ani, finish the introductions," Sebastian said. "I'd like to know why it was so important that I meet your guest."

"You kept your promise," Laila said, looking shocked.

Ani floundered, then recovered, her cheeks a dark red. "Yes, well, this is Dr. Laila Jaafri, a statistics scientist.Laila got a PhD when she was twenty and has won so many awards in her field that it will take me the whole day to list them out."

"And why is she here, at our home?" Sebastian asked, rudely interrupting his sister-in-law.

"That's for Laila to tell you," Ani said, standing up.

For just a second, Laila's face crumpled, as if Ani was abandoning her at the cave's mouth to the big bad lion.

"I think your very brilliant friend is afraid of me, Ani," said Sebastian, watching her. "Maybe you should stay so that I don't gobble her up."

"It is ridiculous to assume that I'm afraid of you," Laila said, turning to face him, finally. "I'm simply unused to situations where I'm at a distinct disadvantage and there is no social precedent to follow."

"And yet you look like you're a second away from running."

"Sebastian, let her—"

He shot to his feet. It was extremely rare that he lost control of his temper, but the very sight of this woman made him feel unbalanced. "Clearly you're here to confront me, and yet you will hide behind my very pregnant and very kind and probably naive sister-in-law. Why do I feel like you befriended her knowing she's my brother's wife? What kind of a scam have you been pulling on Ani?" The more he gave voice to his suspicions, the more Sebastian knew he was right. "Alexandros, call security. Ani doesn't know that this woman is a thief and a cheat and—"

"Stop it!" Ani said, "Just give her a chance to—"

"You're upsetting her over me," Laila whispered, standing up so suddenly that her chair toppled over behind her. Then she poured a glass of water and brought it to Ani. Waited with a stubborn patience until Ani took the glass and drank several gulps from it.

Then Laila faced him, pulling a cloak of calm around her, even as he noted the erratic flutter of her pulse at her neck. "I came to tell you that ‘our encounter' three years ago, where I seduced you, stole from you and blackmailed you, to protect an innocent man from your plans..." Her chin tilted up in a direct challenge, amber gaze pinning him to the spot "...had consequences...twin boys. I came here because I thought you had a right to know about them. To ask you if you wanted to be a part of their lives. And if you're not interested in that—" her shoulders straightened "—to ask that you contribute monetarily to their upbringing."

Consequences in the form of twin boys...his sons?

Sebastian's ears rang as if someone had set off a series of gongs near his head. He felt dizzy, disoriented, like he did during one of his migraines. He had two sons, with this woman who had approached him under false pretenses, slept with him and then stolen an important document from him.

Truth shone in her eyes, as real and bright as sunlight picking out the golden strands in her hair.

His emotions surrounded him in a dizzy whirl that he felt like he was in some kind of vortex. Like when his migraine medication didn't kick in fast enough and he needed to throw up. Like he was being battered from all sides and he couldn't escape fast enough.

Sons... He had two sons. Two-year-old boys. Twins, like Alexandros and him. Twins with a father who didn't know the first thing about being one and a mother who...had told him the truth two years too late.

He stared at her.

What kind of a mother was Dr. Laila Jaafri? What new trick was she playing on him this time?

Questions buzzed through him, but he refused to give them a voice. Refused to let her see how she'd shaken the very foundation of his life. Refused to let her see how thoroughly...inadequate he felt to meet this moment.

What are their names? How do they look? Were they rambunctious like he'd been or quiet like Alexandros? Did they get along with each other? Did they talk? Did two-year-olds talk?

More questions tumbled through him and his throat closed up in an instinctive, self-preservation response. All the conditioning he'd had in childhood and as a teenage boy came in handy because the last thing he wanted was to scare this woman off by showing his volatile emotions and his anger. He'd made a study of never losing his cool, of never letting anything matter to him so much that it touched his temper. It was the only way he'd known to survive his father's abusive rants and his meaty fists.

He turned away and his gaze fell on Ani. A jagged sliver appeared in his control. "How long?"

"Three months," Ani said, understanding his question, her face flushed with guilt.

Three months...

She had known for three months and hidden the truth from him. His one friend. His sister by everything but blood. He let her see how betrayed he felt, hardening himself against the flood of tears on her cheeks.

"Don't blame her," Laila said, taking a step in between them, as if she meant to protect his very pregnant sister-in-law from him.

Cristos, what did this woman think of him?

"If it wasn't for Annika persuading me that you..." She licked her lips, calling his attention to the beads of sweat dancing over her thick upper lip. "...I'd have taken longer to approach you."

"The better question is—" Sebastian rounded on her, some of his frustration leaching into his voice "—would you have told me the truth at all?"

"Yes."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't need you to believe me, nor do I have anything to prove to you, Sebastian. It has not been an easy decision to make."

"I don't believe that, either. I know how duplicitous you can be, Dr. Jaafri. How easy it is for you to spin lies, to fake interest, to get close with the intention of stealing from me."

"I did that because you were ruining an innocent man!" she burst out, her own temper finally breaking the surface. "And I never meant to sleep with you. It was..." Flaming-red streaks gilded her sharp cheeks and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. "...unplanned."

"What a stroke to my masculinity that Dr. Laila Jaafri of the brilliant brain and the unending logic fell prey to my charms!" he bit out, sarcasm punctuating every word. "Since we're being honest finally, tell me, was it punishment for my sins that you would hide the truth from me?"

"Of course not. Would I like to have sailed through single parenting without a hitch and forgotten about the sperm donor who actively hates me because I stole from him to stop him from ruining an innocent man? Yes! Did I constantly, every minute of every day and all the sleepless nights, struggle with the fact that I was being unfair to my children and their father by not giving them a chance to know each other? Yes! Did I then gather copious amounts of data by stalking your friends and the woman I thought you cheated on the night before the wedding with me, looking for reassurances that you would not turn into a monster—as powerful men usually do when inconvenienced—who would take my children from me when I did tell you the truth? Another resounding yes! Did the fact that it is hard to raise two boys as a single woman with no parental or community support, financially and emotionally and physically, make it inevitable because I will not let my pride and misgivings about you become obstacles to the benefits my children will have with a father around? OMG, we have another yes!"

All of this she said softly, evenly, without inflection. And yet, the very lack of emotion in them convinced Sebastian of the truth.

"So you approached Ani with the intention of finding more about me? Where?"

"At the university where she takes music classes. After talking to her once, after she told me that your wedding to her would have been nothing but an arrangement between friends to help her out, I told her the truth." Her chest—delineated clearly even in the ugly, loose T-shirt—rose and fell, the only sign betraying the depth of her emotions.

And Sebastian realized one thing about Dr. Laila Jaafri. For all the games she'd played with him, she was logical. Maybe what she wanted from him...was what she'd outlined.

He looked away and his gaze clashed with Alexandros's. Like him, he looked stunned. So, Ani, as loyal to her new friend as Laila had been to the man she had been bent on rescuing, hadn't even told her husband.

As different as they were, in his twin's gaze, Sebastian found the answer he didn't want to admit.

Alexandros had spent his entire life trying to define who a Skalas man could be, should be, while Sebastian had tried to shrug off the oppressive expectations of the very name from the start. And yet, here was a crossroads he'd never thought he'd stand at.

This woman he didn't trust was the mother of his children. Whether he wanted them or not was irrelevant. Whether he wanted her in his life was irrelevant. Whether he felt equipped in any way to have a role in their life was also irrelevant. It was his reality now.

The Sebastian Skalas that had survived his father's abuse without losing his sense of self, the Sebastian that had dreamed of an affectionate, loving family as a young boy, the Sebastian that had spent years looking for a mother that had abandoned him and Alexandros to a monster she couldn't survive herself, would never turn his back on his...sons.

"Where are they?" he asked, in a surprisingly steady voice.

"With their nanny about two and a half hours from here," Laila said, probing his gaze. "Annika booked a luxury suite for us at this...posh hotel in Athens."

Two hours away...

At least Annika had the good sense to persuade this stubborn woman to stay at a good hotel and not some seedy hovel. He had a feeling that wouldn't have been an easy task.

"I thought you would want to see them," Laila continued, "as proof, if nothing else."

"Proof?"

"Proof that they are yours." Laila stared at his face in that clinical, academic way of hers, he realized now, and then at Alexandros. "They have your nose and that hair but my eyes. Of course, I understand that you'll do a paternity test."

He bristled at her matter-of-fact tone but managed to contain his irritation. "We will bring them here, now."

"I'd prefer to do it by myself." When he'd have protested, she hurried on. "They're two, Sebastian. While Nikos, older by three minutes, is friendly and trusting and very well-adjusted, Zayn is moody and sensitive. I can't just throw you in their faces. It will take...time. And I'd prefer to..."

"Nikos and Zayn," he repeated, feeling as if he was in a trance.

Instantly, they morphed from abstract two-year-olds to boys with real personalities.

Nikos was friendly and trusting and well-adjusted.

Zayn...was sensitive. Like Sebastian himself had been once and punished relentlessly for.

It was a miracle he could swallow, much less string words together. "My chauffeur will bring them all here."

Laila shook her head. "It will be easier if I go—"

"You're not going anywhere." He opened his phone. "Which hotel?"

She studied him and then sighed. "They will be okay for a couple of hours more. We can discuss our...plans before we introduce them to you. I like to be prepared—"

"They're my sons. Whether they understand it immediately or not, it's irrefutable."

"Yes, but I would like to know how involved you want to be. I have my own life and we'll have to figure out sharing custody and other co-parenting—"

"Ah... Dr. Jaafri. Now I know you didn't really pay attention to Annika."

For the first time since she'd arrived, a flicker of confusion showed in her amber eyes. Sebastian lapped it up as if it were life-giving ambrosia. "What do you mean?"

"I will not be relegated to weekends and holidays."

"It's better if you chew on this before you make grand declarations. Parenthood is a one-way road with very little incentive in terms of excitement. It means giving up quality time for yourself."

"So you think I should cancel my date tomorrow night with the hot lingerie model?"

She blinked owlishly. "No, you do not have to be celibate to raise your children well," she said, adding her own silken thrust knowingly or unknowingly, though he had a feeling that it was the latter, "but it demands some sacrifices. It's not my expectation that you upend your life."

Behind him, he heard Annika's sigh and Alexandros's choked outrage. "How very magnanimous of you, Dr. Jaafri. Why the change of heart after two years?" he said, biting down on the last words.

Hesitation danced across her face but she pushed it aside with the practicality he was coming to both like and abhor. "I would like financial assistance," she said, sticking out her index finger, as if she were highlighting bullet points. "Being a woman in an extremely competitive academic field with two little boys means I've already lost my edge, even before I returned from maternity leave." Out popped her middle finger to count out the next one. "I would also like some kind of reassurance that the boys will have a home in case I die suddenly." Third finger out now. "I would also like for them to have extended family. I grew up mostly fending for myself and it has dictated how I relate to people in general, although nature versus nurture is not completely out of the scope of our discussion. After meeting Annika and learning of your brother's strong family values and your grandmother's hand in raising you both, I felt reassured that Nikos and Zayn would benefit from being part of such a tight-knit family."

This time, the sound that escaped Ani was that of a wounded animal. If Sebastian hadn't had a father who'd tried his damnedest to break him as a boy with his incessant taunts and meaty fists, he might have made the same sound.

"Are you unwell, Annika?" Laila said, completely and clearly missing the nuance in Ani's response.

"She's dismayed at how, in all of your myriad considerations in coming to such an important decision," Sebastian drawled, "I seem to have very little role to play."

Fiery red streaks painted Laila's high cheekbones, and a soft "oh" escaped her mouth.

He didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified that he was a genuine oversight on her part.

"I will not lie to save your pride and say that you were a big consideration. Ani reassured me that you would never harm the boys or me, in any way. But not harming is not being a good parent."

"I know the distinction very well, Dr. Jaafri. And it's a good thing, no, that I don't give a damn about how much consideration you gave me in all this?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't have to feel bad about railroading you into what I'm about to do. Even Ani couldn't have foreseen this, so don't blame her."

"Railroad me into what, Sebastian?"

"My sons will be legal Skalas heirs. Which means we'll have to get married."

"That's...unnecessary," she said, her amber eyes widening into large pools. A strange mixture of outrage and innocence shone from them. "You don't trust me and I...have no interest in marriage."

"Your wishes and dreams and plans don't matter anymore. Isn't that one of the first lessons you learn about being a parent?" He took a step toward her, gentling his voice. "I do not give a fuck about whether you intended to marry or if you have a loving fiancé back home, wherever that is. Only my sons matter now."