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  ALEX DRAKOS 2

  HIS SCANDALOUS FAMILY

  BY

  MALLORY MONROE

  Copyright©2018 Mallory Monroe

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  AUSTIN BROOK PUBLISHING

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  THE AUTHOR AND AUSTIN BROOK PUBLISHING.

  This novel is a work of fiction. All characters are fictitious. Any similarities to anyone living or dead are completely accidental. The specific mention of known places, venues, or laws of various states are not meant to be exact replicas of those places or laws, but are purposely embellished or imagined for the story’s sake.

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  EPILOGUE

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  CHAPTER ONE

  The euphoria of the victory gave way to a quiet drive to Kari’s house. Alex Drakos was behind the wheel of his Mercedes G-Wagon, but was taking call after call of congratulations and had not been able to participate in even small talk with his two passengers. Not that it mattered to Jordan or his mother. They were still caught up in the euphoria and the victory. They were still excited to be on the winning side for a change.

  Fourteen-year-old Jordan Grant sat on the backseat, and he was still so excited that he was rocking side to side like Ray Charles, and even leaned forward a time or two and squeezed his mother’s small arm. The second time, he spoke. “We won, Ma!” he said triumphantly, as if winning was so new to him that he thought it was a new invention. “We won!”

  Karena “Kari” Grant, his mother, smiled and patted her son’s hand. She understood how he felt. Winning was brand new to her, too. “Yes, we did, son,” she said.

  But her voice, even Jordan could tell, was far more tempered than his. Mainly because Kari was a realist and she knew that the victory they were celebrating was really all Alex’s, rather than theirs, and he was just allowing them to go along for the ride. Because Kari had more than that victory on her mind. She was more concerned about the next phase of this ride. She wondered what was next?

  She looked at Alex as he drove them home. Here was a billionaire industrialist. Here was a man whose corporation wasn’t just a company, but a conglomerate. A man who commanded the attention of beautiful movie stars and royalty alike. But yet, on the night the town voted and approved the referendum that allowed him to build a casino and luxury hotel in Apple Valley, he chose to leave his own celebration party and drive them back home. He could have ordered one of his men to drive them (Lord knows he had plenty in town), but he didn’t. He was doing it himself. That meant something, in Kari’s eyes.

  But what did it mean after tonight? Now that he got what he came to Florida to get, mainly that vote victory, what did that mean for their brand-new relationship? Was it over now? Would he return to New York and forget all about her? That casino wasn’t going to be built overnight, and his corporation, not to mention his main home, were both in New York. Even during the campaign, when it was crucial for him to be in town to round up votes, Alex often had to fly to New York to handle his business. Were they going to have a long-distance relationship? After tonight, were they going to have a relationship at all? Winning that vote had been so all-consuming that they had never even mentioned the next step. The second act. Them!

  “Let me call you back,” Alex finally said to yet another caller on the other end of his phone conversation as he pulled into Kari’s driveway and parked behind her old, but reliable, Toyota Tercel. He quickly got out, to open Kari’s door, as Jordan, on the back passenger seat, got out, too.

  “You received a lot of phone calls, Mr. Drakos,” Jordan said with a grin, as Alex walked around to the passenger side of his SUV.

  “Yes, I did,” Alex said, with a smile of his own.

  “You have lots of friends.”

  “A few friends phoned,” Alex corrected Jordan, “but the vast majority of those calls were from vendors excited about the future. Which is good.”

  “Yes, it is.” Jordan knew his mother’s struggling maid service was supposed to become one of those vendors once the casino and hotel were built. Alex set up and approved her contract himself. It was all good as far as Jordan was concerned.

  After Alex opened the door for Kari and assisted her out of the G-Wagon, the threesome made their way to the front door. Jordan walked behind the grownups and was pleased to see that Alex was holding his mother’s hand. It was eleven at night in a sleepy town. Not exactly a public show of affection. But it was enough for Jordan.

  Alex’s phone began ringing again as they walked to the door. He turned it off.

  Kari smiled and looked at him. “A little late for that, don’t you think?”

  He smiled that million-dollar smile, and placed his hand to his heart. “I apologize sincerely. But there are so many others wishing to share in this victory.”

  Kari nodded her understanding. “It’s a big deal. You should be very proud, Alex.”

  “It could not have been possible without your help, and Jordan’s help.”

  Kari laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure Jordan’s arrest for rape and murder and my association with Vito Visconni put those votes right over the top for you.”

  Alex and Jordan laughed too. Although, at the time when all of that went down, it was no laughing matter for any of them.

  “I’m sure that’s what sealed the deal,” Kari continued, grinning. “I’m positive that’s what made the margin of victory.”

  Alex continued to laugh as he removed his hand from her hand and placed his arm around her waist. He’d never laughed so much, or felt so deeply, until he met Kari.

  When the door was unlocked and opened, Jordan congratulated Mr. Drakos again, and then took off into the house. He couldn’t wait to get on Facebook and tell all his friends abou
t his exciting night.

  Alex, however, was beyond that victory. He had Kari on his mind. And more specifically tonight, after they both had had a long and grueling day, he had Kari’s body on his mind. He wanted her naked in bed, and in his arms.

  But Kari, as usual, Alex thought, came from out of left field. “How much do I owe you?” she asked.

  He stared at her. How much what? But that was why he loved her. There was no one like her. “I don’t understand,” he said to her.

  “For the repairs on your Mercedes. I see where you got the G-Wagon fixed. How much do I owe you? You were helping me, after all, when it got damaged a couple months back.”

  Alex smiled and shook his head. Kari owned a cleaning service, and it was a struggling maid service at that. He and she both knew she couldn’t afford a doorknob on that G-Wagon. “You do not owe me a dime,” he said. “I volunteered to assist. It was all on me. Don’t you worry about that.”

  But then he moved onto her threshold, and placed his arms around her waist. “However,” he added with that gorgeous smile, and Kari could tell, by that look in his eyes, what was coming next.

  She smiled, too, when he didn’t continue. “However, what?” she asked.

  He pulled her into his arms and placed his mouth at her ear. “Why don’t we go to your room and discuss it,” he whispered to her.

  Kari closed her eyes. It was sooo tempting! Alex did things to her in bed that no man had ever come close to being able to do. But she couldn’t.

  She opened her eyes and leaned back, to look into Alex’s big, blue eyes. “Jordan’s still up and roaming about,” she said. “And I know he’s a teenager who has a great idea what grown folks do when they’re alone, but I can’t allow that in my house. Not yet. I did that with Vito. I don’t want him to think I’m going down that road again. It was too painful for him.”

  Alex knew what she meant. Vito Visconni was her ex-boyfriend. He was a made man for the mob she lived with when Jordan was very young. He was also very abusive.

  “I hope you understand,” Kari said, heartfelt.

  “I do,” Alex said quickly. “Please don’t think I don’t. I do. You will not lower your moral standards for me or anybody else, and I love that about you.” His look turned more serious than lustful. “That’s why I respect you so much, Karena.”

  He stared into her big, smoky brown eyes, and rubbed the back of his hand against her smooth brown skin. And then he kissed her. When his lips met hers, and he kissed her with a long, passionate kiss, his penis began throbbing for her. Aching for her. But he’d have her again, he knew, in time.

  But as soon as Alex walked out of that door, and the door closed behind Kari, she wanted to open it back up and yell for him to come back in. And to get into her bed. She knew she was going to miss him tonight, and it was going to be lonely as hell.

  But then Jordan’s voice ended all hope. “Ma,” he yelled from his bedroom, “I don’t have any clean underwear for school tomorrow!”

  Kari smiled, and shook her head. That was her boy! “Then you’d better put some in the machine,” she said, walking away from the door. “Who do you think I am? Your maid?”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Alex turned back on his cellphone as soon as he got behind the wheel of his SUV. He had only just backed out of Kari’s driveway, driven a couple blocks and turned the corner, before his phone was ringing once again. This time it was his long-time assistant, Priska Rahm.

  “Oh, good,” she said with a touch of franticness in her voice, “I’m so glad you decided to answer your phone, sir!”

  “What is it, Priss?”

  “First off, the governor of this fine state of Florida has been trying to call you to congratulate you. His office says your phone keeps going to Voice Mail.”

  Alex knew the governor wanted what most politicians wanted: to associate their name with a successful outcome. But although Alex campaigned mightily to secure those yes votes, he was no politician. And, now that the votes had been cast, had no incentive whatsoever to become one now. “Not interested,” he responded. “Next?”

  “But, sir,” Priska pleaded, “we really ought to stay on good terms with the governing body of this state.”

  Priska really could be a pain in the ass when she wanted to be, Alex thought, and his patience with her liberties were beginning to wear thin. It was her loyalty, and the fact that he knew he could trust her, that kept her around. “What is next, Priss?” he asked.

  He knew she didn’t like the blow-off, but he also knew she had no choice in the matter. “Linda phoned,” she said.

  Alex’s jaw tightened. Linda was his ex-wife. A woman who had turned his own children against him. A woman a small part of him still wanted to blame for his son’s suicide, although he knew he played a far greater role in that tragedy than she ever could.

  But before he could utter a single word, two SUVs sped out of the intersection he had just entered, and rammed against the side of his G-wagon: one from the driver’s side, and the other from the passenger side: hemming Alex in.

  “She presumably wishes to congratulate you, too,” Priska was saying as Alex, knowing full well this sudden hem-in could not possibly be accidental, tossed his cellphone onto the passenger seat. When he looked at the driver on his left side, and saw him lift a gun, Alex knew he had to take corrective action and he knew he had to take it now!

  He slammed on brakes so hard that the G-forces of his G-wagon caused him to nearly lose control of the wheel. It swerved from side to side by the mere suddenness of the direction shift, before it came to a complete stop. But it provided enough space for him to back away from the hem-in, and to force the two SUVs to have to turn around and face Alex.

  But Alex was not about to wait on them to make the next move. He made the next move. He grabbed the pump-action shotgun he kept in the extended under-case beneath his seat, and got out of his car.

  The two men in the two SUVs, who were speeding toward Alex, were astonished to see him jump out, pump that shotgun, and then fire it at the faster driver, who swerved to avoid the bullet. He didn’t avoid it, he was hit in the chest, and his vehicle ended up broadside off the road.

  Alex then pumped again and aimed his shotgun at the second driver, who had enough sense to hit the brakes and throw his hands in the air.

  Especially when he saw Alex’s security team, whose job was to stay a good distance behind Alex to ensure that no one was following him, had driven onto the side street and was speeding to where Alex stood. They jumped out of their car, too, with their weapons drawn. They were prepared for a sniper following Alex for an attempted hit. They had not been prepared for this frontal attack.

  But Alex had the scene well in hand. He tossed his shotgun to one of his men, who was already aiming at the second driver, too, and made his way to the driver’s car.

  Alex flung open the car door, grabbed the driver by his collar, and pulled him out of the vehicle. Then Alex threw him against the SUV so violently that it dented the door.

  “We were paid to do it,” the driver said quickly, with his hands still in the air; with his small, beady eyes filled with that look of abject terror Alex knew so well.

  “Paid by whom?” Alex asked.

  “I was just trying to get paid.”

  Alex grabbed the driver and slammed his back even harder against that SUV. “Paid by whom?” he asked again.

  “Money,” he said quickly.

  Alex couldn’t believe it. “Is that supposed to be a fucking joke?”

  “Vito,” the man corrected himself. “Vito Visconni.” And it was only then did Alex realize the man was not joking at all: Vito’s nickname was Money. “Vito paid us.”

  Alex released the man. The last time he saw Vito Visconni he wasn’t even capable of wiping his own ass. Now he was hiring killers?

  “Who else did he hire?” Alex asked.

  “Nobody. Just the two of us.”

  Alex stared at the man. In his life, he had to make snap
judgments. He judged this one to be telling the truth.

  But when he started walking away, he left the now hopeful driver with the naïve impression that an honorable businessman like Drakos would reward him for his honesty. And perhaps businessman Drakos would have. But Alex had a former life before he went legit. And that business was far nastier.

  “Take him out, Boss?” one of Alex’s men, the crew leader, asked as he approached them.

  “He was paid to kill me,” Alex said, frowning at his crew chief. “What the fuck you think?”

  But then Alex stood next to his men and just stood there momentarily. He smiled. They smiled. But then they saw the anger in his eyes. “Next time,” Alex said, “if you come late to the rodeo, don’t come at all.”

  He gave the crew chief an even harder look of disdain, then walked away.

  Alex got into his vehicle as his now overly zealous crew leader walked over to the surviving driver, and shot him at the close range. Alex drove around the scene, and then sped off. He knew his men would clean up the mess.

  But he was taking no chances now. Vito Visconni might be involved. He phoned his Security Chief, and ordered him to not only put a second out-of-sight crew on Kari and Jordan, but to replace his own current crew as well.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Don’t you think we can do better than this?”

  Kari Grant sipped coffee from her Styrofoam cup and looked at her son. It was the day after the victorious vote and she could tell he was still amped up from that victory. She knew she had to get his little fourteen-year-old brain back down to earth. They were in heavy traffic and she was driving him to school. “Do better than what?” she asked him.

  “Better than this,” Jordan replied. “Last night, Alex, I mean Mr. Drakos, won.”

  Kari smiled. “Did he really?”

  Jordan grinned. “You know what I mean. We won, Ma!”

  Kari was alarmed that he was still attempting to equate Alex’s success as if it were their own. “Alex won, Jordan. We didn’t win shit. Don’t get it twisted now. What does his victory have to do with us right here and right now?”