The Greek Tycoon's Secret Heir Read Online Free PDF

it. She grabbed her bag and found Antonio and Christos in the hallway. “Where is he?”
    “Kitchen.”
    She ran down the hall in the direction that Antonio had pointed. She skidded to a halt, seeing her little boy sitting on the chair, his little chest going in and out as he struggled to breathe.
    “Hey, baby,” she said, sinking to her knees next to his chair.
    “I’m fine,” he said, the words breathy and not at all in his normal tone.
    “No, you’re not.”
    He shook his head. “Mama, I don’t want to use the inhaler.”
    She didn’t argue with him. She struggled with Theo and his asthma all the time. He hated the weakness and refused to acknowledge when he needed the medicine. “I know, baby.”
    She pulled out the inhaler and the long chamber that attached to it. She shook the inhaler. She was dimly aware of Christos standing quietly in the doorway, but she paid him no mind.
    Theo glanced over his shoulder at Christos and then leaned into her shoulder. “I don’t want Baba to see.”
    “It’s okay,” she said.
    Theo shook his head.
    She turned to ask Christos to leave but he’d come further into the room, leaning back against the table. “Mind your mother, Theo, we’ll talk about this after you’ve had your treatment.”
    She lifted the inhaler toward Theo and he took it into his mouth. She dispensed the medicine, counting quietly and watching him the entire time.
    Christos put a hand on Theo’s shoulder and when they were done, she looked up at him and saw a shadow of the same worry she felt for her son. It was a moment that brought them closer together after the nonsense on the patio.
    Well, it hadn’t been nonsense, she thought, but when faced with something like their sick child, it seemed silly. She wanted to marry him. It was all she’d ever wanted, so even though she wanted to know what had changed his mind about being her husband, she wasn’t going to ask any more questions.
    Theo needed the stability that having two parents would bring him. She saw the seeds of caring in Christos’s eyes when he looked at Theo and she wanted that directed at her again.
    She wanted to find a path back to the passionate couple they’d been that long-ago summer, and, without the outside influences of Stavros and Nikki Theakis, they might just have a chance.
    “Tell me what’s up, paidi mou ?” Christos said.
    Theo shrugged in that little-boy way of his. Ava put her arm around her son, struggling not to pull him tight against her chest because his breathing was easier now.
    “I want you to like me,” Theo said.
    “Why wouldn’t I?”
    “Because I’m not perfect,” Theo said.
    “Yes, you are,” Ava said.
    “Your mother is right. To us you are perfect as you are. Don’t try to hide something that’s a part of you, especially if it can hurt you.”
    Theo nodded and Christos lifted the boy into his arms. Ava stood next to them, feeling the bond starting to form between father and son. She felt a rekindling of the love she’d always felt for Christos, only this time it was a little deeper than before.

    Christos insisted on driving Ava and Theo back to their house, Antonio following with Ava’s car. Antonio waited with Christos’s vehicle, and Christos joined Ava as she settled the boy into bed. Their house was small, but very comfortable and welcoming. The living room was dominated by bookcases along one wall and a large chair that had a colorful blanket draped over the back of it and a large overstuffed pillow on it.
    The walls were covered in pictures of Theo from birth until, if he wasn’t mistaken, a few weeks ago. There were Christmases chronicled with visits to Santa.
    He walked slowly down the hall looking at the pictures of the boy’s life. He felt cheated by his own hand. Theo was his nephew; he should have stayed involved with him. He should have been there at the boy’s christening, which was documented by photos and a certificate on the wall.
    Of course, she’d had the boy