Master Of Games Read online

  I wasn’t trying to say my brothers were slackers, but I had deadlines that they didn’t.

  You see, my brothers and I ran Vegas. Well, the media liked to say we did.

  At a young age, we’d joined forces and created HPZ Holdings, an entertainment and pleasure conglomerate that very few people could rival. Hagen ran anything and everything to do with Vegas nightlife. My talents lay in sporting events, from track and field to heavyweight fights. And my baby brother Zacharias, or Zack as we called him, was the gambler of our trio. He handled all casinos, hotels, and resorts.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there. It’s not like I’ve ever missed before. And for the record, my business endeavors are the reason you made millions last week.” I opened my door and was immediately hit by the sweltering desert heat.

  Fuck, it was hot out here.

  “Cry me a river. Without me, you’d be a washed-up swim instructor.”

  “Washed-up, my ass,” I said as I strode toward the warehouse.

  In the back of my mind, it always stung to remember the past. I’d worked so hard to regain control of my life. Hell, it was a daily struggle even now. There was only one time where I could remember that a simple touch from a delicate hand could calm the rage that boiled inside me because of the circumstances I lived in.

  “Don’t let those six gold medals get to your head. I’m bigger and can still kick your ass. Show up. It’s important.”

  “I said I’ll be there. I’m going to check up on Hugo’s training, and then I’ll drive over.”

  I hung up the phone and punched in the access code on the keypad to unlock the metal doors of the building.

  “Hey, boss. Hugo just got back from break. He’s in the ring practicing with Jeremiah.”

  I nodded to one of my facility trainers and headed into the central area of the gym.

  The second I caught sight of Hugo, I smiled. This boy was going to make me proud. He was two hundred sixty pounds of honed muscle. He took direction well and used his head.

  Now I only hoped he wasn’t too starstruck by the idea of fighting his idol, Apollo Regalia, to kick his ass.

  At near thirty, Apollo was five years older than Hugo and with years of experience, having started his career at the age of fifteen. He also had a bulldog for a manager. A woman who looked too fragile to handle the business but wouldn’t hesitate to clock you in the nose for underestimating her.

  I clenched my jaw.

  If Hugo won, it wouldn’t be just a victory for him but a fuck-you to the woman who, with a few choice words, had destroyed the heart and career of a nineteen-year-old swimmer.

  I knew this match shouldn’t be personal, but Amelia Nephus Thanos owed me for the hell she’d put me through.

  On top of everything, she’d joined forces with the one man I’d washed my hands of years ago—Collin Lykaios. He may be biologically my father, but it was Hagen who’d stepped in when everything had imploded.

  My phone rang again, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  I pulled it out of my pocket and answered, “Yeah. What do you want?”

  “Well hello to you too, shithead,” Zack said. I could almost see him shaking his head at me. “I’m just making sure you’re coming to the meeting.”

  “I already told Hagen I’d be there. What’s so important that both of you are on my ass?”

  “It’s something you need to hear in person.”

  “That sounds ominous.”

  “It is. Your life’s about to turn upside down.”

  An hour later, I walked into Ida, relieved to be out of the sweltering sun.

  The Ida was the newest casino-hotel in HPZ. It was the most modern of our properties, catering to a younger, affluent demographic.

  Hagen was the brother who oversaw the management of the property, and because of this, there was a wicked edge to the atmosphere of the resort, echoing Hagen’s personality. He was the one with the dark past but the brother who would do right by anyone he encountered. It was a kind of yin-yang thing with him.

  The hotel was buzzing with people everywhere for such an early hour. But then again, Ida had operated at capacity since the grand opening six months earlier.

  I greeted various managers as I made my way to the private elevator leading to Hagen’s penthouse.

  A few minutes before I’d arrived, Zack had sent a text saying not to go to Hagen’s office but to go instead to his penthouse. Something about making sure we had complete privacy for our discussion without any chance of others overhearing.

  I wondered where Hagen had stashed Penny if he wanted us to be alone. Penny was probably at the lab in her distillery concocting some new spirit.

  Hagen shared his place with his fiancée, Persephone Kipos. Penny, as we called her, was the exact opposite of Hagen’s dark, brooding ways. She was energy and laughter and daring, everything Hagen needed. No matter how hard he seemed to the world, he was the most sensitive of the three of us. I was forever grateful to Penny. She had given him the love he’d always wanted and never thought he’d deserved. She believed in him, even when he didn’t believe in himself.

  My phone buzzed again, flashing Zack’s number.

  “Seriously, man,” I said, not hiding the irritation in my voice, “I’m about to come up the fucking elevator. Whatever you idiots have to tell me better be good. Do you realize how much shit I have to get done before the press conference next week?”

  “You’ll understand when you get here.”

  He hung up, and I entered the elevator.

  The second I arrived at Hagen’s penthouse, Zack pointed to the coffee table.

  Hagen frowned at Zack. “Could you let the man walk in the door first?”

  “It’s better to let him know first before we have a nuclear explosion.”

  “Very funny, asshole,” I muttered and moved to the table, freezing as I took in the cover of the upcoming issue of Vogue.

  The headline read: “Amelia Nephus Thanos: Olympian, Sports Mogul, and Mother.”

  Under it was a picture of Amelia, in a Grecian-style one-shoulder silver gown, and her son.

  God, she was beautiful. Her body was still toned in a way only an athlete who trained every day could achieve, and her long, black hair was styled in big waves instead of the ponytail I’d wrap my hand around.

  I remembered spending hours staring into her amber-gold eyes as we’d discussed our dreams and the future. She’d been my best friend. I’d shared all my pain with her, and she’d listened. She given me an outlet for the chaos of my life. She’d allowed me control in a way that no other women, no matter how hard they tried, could ever emulate.

  In return, I’d given her the freedom to let go from the strict life she lived and the expectations she’d had to meet.

  My gaze moved to the dark-haired boy in her lap, and my heart skipped a beat. Picking up the magazine, I traced the boy’s face. He had lips the exact shape of his mother’s on a face that looked too much like the one I saw in the mirror every morning. Then I noticed the wooden carving in his hand—it was one of the very pieces I’d played with as a child. A miniature Poseidon with a chip on its arm.

  How had he gotten my favorite toy from childhood? Who would have given Amelia something like that for her son? Collin? Hell if I knew.

  I studied the photo longer and couldn’t deny the truth of what I saw.

  Amelia had kept my child from me.

  Why hadn’t I noticed before? We’d always used a condom, so I’d assumed Amelia’s baby couldn’t be mine. And I’d been so devastated when one minute she was head over heels in love with me and the next she was dropping me for a much older Greek playboy.

  Over the years, I’d seen pictures of Amelia’s son, Christopher, but nothing had made me suspect I was his father. Then again, my mother had said I looked exactly like her in the beginning and then turned into a miniature version of Collin around the time I turned seven. And Christopher was only a little over that age.

  “She let another man cl
aim my son.” My voice shook with anger as a lump formed in the pit of my stomach.

  That was when I noticed an envelope tucked into the pages of the magazine. Pulling it out, I read the writing on the outside.

  To Pierce Lykaios

  Important. Read immediately.

  From Collin Lykaios

  My father had spent the last six months trying to get my attention with calls and messages. I’d ignored every one of them. The man had turned his back on me—hell, he’d turned his back on all of his sons. Instead of protecting us, he’d thrown each of us out as soon as it was legally possible.

  If it hadn’t been for Hagen, I would’ve never had the funds to train for the Olympic Games. Because of Collin, Hagen had to work for Draco Jackson, a Japanese mobster, doing God knows what. Because of him, Zack had to drop out of college to work, leading him to underground gambling rings and nearly getting sent to jail. Because of him, we boys missed spending the last years of our mother’s life with her before she died of cancer.

  The man was dead to me. It was better to pretend he didn’t exist than unleash the rage I worked so hard to control on him. The fact Hagen had made amends with Collin didn’t lessen how I felt.

  “What did Collin have to do with this?” I asked through clenched teeth, failing miserably at keeping the indifferent attitude I’d perfected when discussing Collin around Zack or Hagen.

  Hagen walked up to me, handing me a large tumbler filled with Firewater Incognito, the reserve cask of Penny’s whiskey. “Drink this and then read the letter.”

  I shot back the whiskey and then grabbed the envelope, pulling out the paper inside.

  * * *

  Pierce,

  I understand your hate and distrust. I deserve every ounce of it. You and your brothers suffered because of my failings. If I’d been a stronger man, if I’d been a better man, then none of you boys would have had to pay for my debts. Just know, it was all to protect you.

  With that said, I did something to all of us, but especially you.

  I thought I was protecting your future and career. You were so wrapped up in Amelia Nephus that you couldn’t see anything but her. You both were still children in a relationship too adult for either of you to handle.

  The reason she left you was that I forced her hand. I made her choose between you and her family.

  At the time, I didn’t know she was pregnant. It wasn’t until I met with her in Ireland six months ago that I realized that her son Christopher wasn’t Stavros Thanos’s son but yours. She has no idea that I know. It is something the two of you will have to work out.

  I’m so sorry I destroyed your chance to be a father.

  Do not blame Amelia for her choices. She was innocent in all of this. She’s a good woman. And for some reason, she forgave me.

  I can only hope one day you can do the same. Not just for this but everything.

  Collin

  * * *

  I stared at the letter for a few more minutes as my mind reeled from what Collin had written. Without a word, I stalked through the balcony doors of the living room and toward the ledge wall overlooking the Las Vegas Strip. Day or night, the area boomed with activity, and in a blink of an eye or the roll of the dice so many lives turned upside down. It looked like I was no exception.

  I am a father.

  I ran a hand roughly through my hair.

  Christ. What the fuck was I going to do?

  The world believed my son belonged to another man. A dead man, who from all accounts was loved and respected by everyone he knew.

  Anger began to boil over. It didn’t matter that Collin had made her leave me. She should have told me she was pregnant. But instead, she married another man within weeks of breaking things off, and on top of it, she let him raise my son, give him his name, and teach him things that were my right to do.

  Shit.

  I gripped my hair tight before releasing it.

  I should have thought about the possibility.

  What the fuck was I going to do? She lived in Greece, and Christopher had a life there.

  Wait a second. Penny was just there last week. She had to have known. She was Christopher’s godmother.

  She’d helped keep my son from me. She was my sister in all but blood, and this was how she betrayed me. The hell I was going to let Hagen marry someone like that.

  I turned and walked back into the penthouse.

  I pushed past Hagen and rushed up the stairs leading to her home office. “Where’s Penny? Where is your Starlight?”

  “She’s not here.”

  “Get her here,” I ordered as I rushed back down. “She had to have known. All these years, she helped keep my son from me. What kind of person does this to people she claims as family? Does Penny have any loyalty? Are you sure she’s worth marrying?”

  Almost immediately, I realized my mistake in asking the last questions and braced for the punch I knew was coming.

  Hagen grabbed me by my shirt collar before my foot hit the last step and landed his fist into my jaw.

  Zack pushed between Hagen and me, blocking the second jab that would have definitely left me with a black eye.

  I collapsed to the ground as dizziness filled my head.

  Fuck.

  I’d forgotten how hard Hagen hit. I wasn’t a small man by any means and could take on the best of them, but Hagen was the biggest of us, and with the years working as Draco’s enforcer, he knew how to make every interaction count.

  “Listen up, asshole. I get you’re angry. You have a right to be. But you will never, ever disrespect Penny again. She is ten times the person you could ever be.”

  I rubbed my jaw and glanced at Zack, who didn’t look any happier with me. “You deserved it. Penny’s loyalties are with her only best friend since childhood.”

  “We’ve known her since she was in pigtails.” I rubbed at my jaw and tried to work the pain away.

  “It doesn’t even compare.” Hagen loomed over me again.

  “She had to have told you,” I accused.

  “We only found out this morning when the envelope came. The magazine hasn’t even hit the stands yet.”

  “So she kept this from you too?”

  “Looks that way. She has no idea that we know. And we will keep it that way until I get a chance to talk to her. You will not mention any of what you learned outside of this room. Do you hear me?”

  “Why? It’s not as if she’s as loyal to you as you believe.”

  Hagen clenched his fists and jaw. “Because this is between you and Amelia. It was her job to tell you. Knowing Starlight, she wouldn’t have even told Amelia that she figured it out.”

  I took the hand Hagen offered me to stand.

  I rubbed a hand down my face and winced when my fingers grazed my chin. “So you expect me to pretend that I don’t know any of this?”

  “Yes.” Zack walked up, handing us fresh glasses of whiskey, and said, “She had to have been aware it would get back to you when she did the photo shoot. Give her a chance to explain. Christopher is ours by blood, but on record he is Thanos’s and therefore Greek. That makes him an heir to a shipping fortune as well as Amelia’s company. If you don’t want Amelia to take her son and go back to Greece, you better play nice.”

  “Bullshit. That boy is as American as they come. Both his parents are American.”

  “You are so fucking hard-headed. Let me make this clear to you. If you want even a small chance of having a relationship with Christopher, then you’d better play nice with his mother.”

  “I’ll play nice, all right. I’ll make her fall in love with me again, and then when she least expects it, I will take my son back. No court in this country will let Christopher leave with all the red tape I plan to wrap around Amelia Nephus Thanos.”

  Chapter Three

  Amelia

  * * *

  I yawned as I entered the training facility Collin had built for my athletes behind his newest casino resort, the Cypress.

&nb
sp; It was state of the art with six training rings, a giant weight room, and locker rooms that would give five-star spas a run for their money.

  When Collin had shown me the plan for the building, I’d thought he’d lost his mind. It was way too much expense for something that would only be used for a few months. But Collin just smiled and said it could be an incentive for me to move my operation to the states.

  The man I knew now was nothing like the one that had forced me to leave his son. The Collin of today seemed a bit broken and very lonely. He still was the cunning businessman he’d always been but with a softer, more gentle edge.

  I released another yawn and shook my head, trying to clear the sleepiness. I glanced to my side and felt like growling when I noticed the three people comprising my security detail looking fresh and alert. I needed some of what they had. There wasn’t an ounce of grogginess on them, and we’d been on the same flight. I guessed it was part of their job to be focused and wide awake.

  It had taken me years to get used to having personal protection, and then a few more to stop noticing them as I went about my daily life. But I’d learned it was part of being a member of a well-known and uber-wealthy Greek dynasty.

  “Still jetlagged?” Henna Anthony said as she walked up to me with a large cup of coffee.

  Henna was Collin’s right-hand woman. She pretty much ran his empire. She also happened to be Penny’s first cousin and one of my closest friends.

  “You’re a lifesaver.” I grabbed the hot cup and chugged the liquid heaven.

  When I finished, Henna lifted a brow at me in amusement.

  “Do you ever have a hair out of place?” I studied Henna’s perfect designer outfit. “It’s six in the morning, and you look like you walked off the pages of a magazine.”

  She lifted her wrist to look at her watch. “It’s closer to seven. And to answer your question, I’m only dressed like this because I had a video conference with an investor in Indonesia. Differing time zones suck.”