Chapter Two

~ Janos ~

"Sir, this letter was addressed to you, but there's no return address. I wasn't sure if it was important or not."

I frowned as I looked at the white envelope Lester held out to me. I got a lot of mail every single day. Most of it was handled by the mailroom or Lester. It was unusual for me to get something like this.

I grabbed it and then used my letter opener to slice a clean cut across the top of the envelope. There was a single piece of paper inside with a sticky note on it that said, "More to come."

That was odd.

When I unfolded the paper, my heart skipped a beat, but then anger took over. I tossed the paper at Lester. "Find out if this is real and find out who sent it."

"Yes, sir." Lester's eyes widened when he took the paper and glanced down at it. "Sir, this is a—"

"Now, Lester."

"Yes, sir." Lester quickly exited my office.

Instead of going back to the project file I was working on, I turned and looked out the row of windows that spanned one entire wall of my office. The view wasn't great because of the office building across the street, but there was a small slice of the eastern sky between that building and the next one.

Someone sending me a paternity test and claiming I was the father was nothing new. I was rich, very rich. People from all walks of life wanted a piece of the pie and they wanted to get it from me. I'd learned early on to have every single one of them verified or debunked through a very reputable lab here in the city.

It still rankled a bit every time I received one of those paternity tests, which was usually about every two weeks. I didn't even have sex that often.

Except for a couple of months ago.

I squinted as I tried to remember the man's face. I remembered his body. I'd been dreaming about it for the last two months. Unfortunately, his face was a little hazy.

I'd also failed to get a name and the guy had been gone by the time I woke up. I hadn't asked around about who he was because everyone has had a one night stand before and knew the rules.

You didn't ask questions or get too personal.

I certainly didn't want him to know who I was, but it looked like that wish might have come a little too late. This was the only guy I'd had sex with in the last six months. There was also the fact that maturity of the fetus lined up with that one-night stand.

Yet another reason to verify if the paternity test was real.

I picked up my cell phone and dialed my assistant. "Lester, I want all the surveillance tapes from that night I spent at the Savoy Hotel a couple of months ago, especially the hallway outside my room."

"Of course, sir."

I hung up and set my phone down. I wasn't positive the man in my dreams was the one sending me the paternity test, but it just seemed like too much of a coincidence for him not to be.

If he was the same man, I wanted to nip this problem in the bud immediately. If he wasn't, I wanted the guy's phone number. Maybe that one night stand could become two nights.

I groaned, tilting my head back to stare up at the ceiling. I was being ridiculous and I knew it. I needed to stop thinking with my little head and start thinking with my big head.

I had five big projects in the works right now, not to mention my grandmother breathing down my neck about getting married and carrying on the family name. I did not need to be getting involved with anyone.

I rubbed my hand over my face, wishing it was the end of the day so I could have a stiff drink. I was getting pretty tired of people playing these stupid games.

I scooted closer to my desk and began reading over the latest project notes again. Tough day or not, work did not stop.

When my cell phone rang, I glanced at the screen and then swiped my finger across it and held it to my ear. ""Frank Galeazzi, I thought I'd never hear from you again."

"You're not that lucky." Frank chuckled. "I'm calling about the project over on Madison."

I put my earpiece in my ear and then connected it to my cell phone before laying the phone down on my desk. It was easier to be hands free for business conversations like this.

"What about it?" I asked as I opened the project folder on my desk.

"I was looking over the plans you submitted and I wanted to talk to you about the bathrooms. They'll pass inspection just fine and you have the allotted number of ADA approved stalls, but you might want to consider a couple more per floor."

"Hold on a minute," I said. "I need to get the blueprints out." I tapped the button on the intercom to reach my secretary. "Mable, can you bring me the blueprints for the Madison project?"

"Right away, sir."

I got up and walked over to the small conference table I had on one side of my office. It was set up to only sit about eight people, unlike the conference room which could seat at least twenty.

When Mable walked in and handed me the blueprints, I spread them out over the table, placing a small golden deer shaped weight in each corner.

"Okay, tell me what I'm looking at, Frank."

"As it stands right now, you have four separate multi-user bathrooms on each floor for general use. Two for women and two for men. In each of those bathrooms, there are five stalls with at least one being ADA compliant."

I moved my fingers along the blueprint, looking to where each of the bathrooms were located. "I'm with you so far."

"ADA requires one accessible bathroom for every two hundred people and your architect has met that requirement. If you added one more ADA compliant stall in at least one woman's and one men's bathroom per floor, not only would you meet the requirement set by the ADA, but you'd exceed it. It'll allow for more diversity in the companies and people working those floors."

"What would be the cost in doing that, Frank?"

There was always a cost.

"That's the golden part of this, Janos. Since we're still working on the skeleton of the building, all it would take is your architect getting me a new set of blueprints and the cost of the materials for those additional ADA stalls. You'd lose one of your regular stalls and maybe a little counter space, but not enough for it to make a difference."

"Okay, let me talk to my architect and see about getting you some new blueprints. The only thing I'd like to change is installing that extra ADA stall in all the public bathrooms instead of just a couple per floor. Is that feasible?"

"As long as your guy puts it in the blueprints, I'll build it."

There was a reason I liked this guy.

I walked back to my desk and sat down. I started typing, sending off a quick message to my architect letting him know how I wanted the blueprints revised.

"As soon as we get the new blueprints and get approval from the city, I'll send those off to you, Frank."

"I'll be waiting for them."

I smiled for what must have been the first time in the day. "How are you liking the West Coast?"

"It's pretty nice out here actually. A lot less people and more open space."

"So, you think you're going to stay out there?"

"For now, yeah," Frank replied. "Henry doesn't want to uproot the kids. We've been back to visit my parents a few times, but this is home for now."

"I can't believe you're a father."

I'd been working with the Galeazzi Construction for several years. Frank, his brother Martino, and I had spent more than one night drinking at bars together. It was weird to think both Frank and Martino were married with kids.

Kind of made me feel old and lonely.

"It can be a little nerve wracking at times," Frank replied, "but Henry seems to handle it all like a pro. I just follow his lead." Frank chuckled for a moment and then said, "It could be worse. Martino's husband had twin girls. I swear that man's hair gets grayer every single day."

I couldn't relate and I wasn't sure I ever wanted to.

"You and your husband just had a baby a couple of months ago, right?"

"We did, our son just turned three months old, but we also have a daughter who is five."

"And how's fatherhood?"

I could hear the happiness in Frank's voice when he replied, "Nothing better in the world."

I wouldn't know.

I frowned and glanced down at my phone when it dinged. "Oh, hey, Frank. I need to go. I have another call coming in."

"Okay, just send me the new blueprints when you get them approved."

"I will," I replied. "Take care of that family of yours."

"Always."

I hung up with Frank and then swiped my finger across the screen to answer the other call. "Hello, Yiayia ."

"Janos."

I braced myself.

"I just spoke with Teresa and she told me that the Daphne Mykonos just returned home from school in Europe. She graduated from the university with a degree in business. Her father is—"

"I know who her father is, Yiayia ." I'd done business with the man a time or two. "What does that have to do with Daphne?"

My grandmother's exasperated sigh told me everything.

"You're not getting any younger, Janos. It's time for you to settle down and start a family. I wanted to hold my great-grandchild in my arms before I die."

I thought about the paternity test that had just been delivered to me, and for a brief moment I considered telling my grandmother about it, but then I quickly came to my senses. She'd never leave me alone if I did that.

"I'm not interested in Daphne, Yiayai . She's not my type. But I'll consider your words." That was the best that I could give her. I knew she wanted me to settle down, but she kept introducing me to women I had no interest in.

I was bisexual. I liked men and women equally, just not very often.

Someone once told me my sexuality was defined as Sapiosexuality . I was interested in a person's personality, not the way they looked. I needed to feel intellectually stimulated by another person in order to feel sexually attracted to them.

I wasn't sure that was true, but I wasn't attracted by that many people, so maybe it was. I'm sure most people assumed I slept with anything that had a pulse. They would be surprised at how few lovers I'd actually had in my life. They weren't even in double digits.

I couldn't explain the man I'd slept with two months ago. I'd don't remember having any deep conversations with him that would have stimulated my interest. I don't remember talking to him at all.

I did remember everything we'd done together, however, and those images fueled my nightly fantasies.

I seriously needed to find this man.