Read Online Kidnapped by the Greek Billionaire by Rachel Lyndhurst - Free Book Online Page A

after we left my stepfather’s house. She found us a place to live nearby while I studied. I helped out from time to time, and then did more once I’d graduated, to cover Mum when she started to get ill.”
    Andreas noticed her distress. “It’s okay, take your time.”
    “When she died, everything came to light—including the debts that I’d inherited. I couldn’t afford to stay in the flat and had to sell pretty much everything in it. Theo and Ana took pity on me, invited me into their home, and treated me like their own daughter. I paid them back in the only way I could—by working in their restaurant.” She sighed. “Everything’s happened so quickly over the past six months. I owe them a great deal.”
    Andreas shifted uncomfortably in his chair. The Antonides family had made it a lifetime quest to play the Good Samaritan, it seemed. “Then you will no doubt be comforted to know that they want for nothing now. Their kindness over the years has been rewarded and they have the dream retirement they so richly deserve.”
    “Of course I am,” she agreed quickly. “Now maybe you can see why I would never want to hurt them? They’re like parents to me.”
    “Then you will have no hesitation in signing a cast-iron guarantee to that effect.” He smiled with satisfaction as he helped himself to the traditional Greek stew. “I’m sure we can have something drafted up after the weekend and then forget all about that dreadful establishment.”
    Kizzy rested her chin thoughtfully on her hand. “I’m still not clear where you come into all this, why Heliades bought up the ‘dead duck,’ as you described it. Property prices in that area of Portsmouth would never be enough for the fantastic villa they’ve just bought in Cyprus, not to mention the holiday apartment in Lake Como and the cruiser. You said their debts were astronomical.”
    A dark eyebrow arced upward.
    “It’s none of your business now. And I’d hate for us to fall out again if you insist on pursuing this topic.” He poured them both a generous glass of wine. “Now, back to what you were saying earlier, you’re obviously quite informed about real estate. But I’m not convinced you’re up to speed with certain aspects of the law.”
    “I never said I was, but—”
    “Forget the interview, you’ve had your ten minutes.” He smiled lazily and was pleased to note that she seemed to relax a little. “You said you inherited debts from your mother, so presumably you had acted as a cosignatory? You wouldn’t have been a suitable guarantor, surely?”
    Her face was blank.
    “Your mother must have asked you to sign something, maybe passed it off as something else?”
    “No, never. What kind of woman do you think she was? She would never have done such a thing.” Kizzy’s fork fell with a clatter onto the table as she looked at him in horror. “I’ve never signed anything like that. I wasn’t even party to the tenancy agreement. She kept me out of it completely.”
    “Then you can’t have inherited her debts; the law doesn’t work like that. It might be an ass, but it’s crawled some way out of the dark ages. The loan company, the bank, whichever institution lent her the money, would have had to write it off if her estate couldn’t cover it. Presumably nothing much was left?”
    Kizzy nodded slowly.
    “So that’s brilliant news, isn’t it?” Andreas raised his glass triumphantly. “You have no debts, whatever anyone else has told you. A new, footloose life!”
    “They weren’t institutions exactly,” Kizzy murmured.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Conventional lenders weren’t interested in her business, I’m afraid. She took an alternative route—to the darker side of finance.”
    “Loan sharks,” Andreas supplied flatly.
    Kizzy nodded.
    “It’s okay, really it is,” she said hurriedly. “I’ve been gradually paying themoff, although I’ve had to borrow from the bank to meet some of the installments—before the