Like climb on top of the lavishly decorated lonely high table, set apart from everyone else to showcase the newly married couple in all their glory, and scream at the top of my lungs.

That just wouldn’t do. Because while I might have acquired a new surname, it was dawning on me that until I learned the true nature of what I was embroiled in I would be wise to keep a firm hold of my feelings.

And an even firmer hold of my wits.

CHAPTER TWO

MONEY MAKES THE world spin.

I swallowed my champagne, careful not to choke on it as I dispassionately observed the guests indulging in the revelry of my sham of a wedding.

Money had made this happen, and in the exact time frame I’d requested it.

Money had put that smug smile on Yiannis Petras’s face.

Money had made the family, decimated by my grandfather’s fall from grace, rally together for the sake of enjoying the rejuvenated fruits of my labour.

I’d seen first-hand how the lack of it could cause backbiting and untold strain. Ostensibly solid marriages crumbled under the threat of diminished wealth and influence. I’d seen it in my parents’ marriage. It was why I’d never have freely chosen this route for myself.

My gaze shifted to my brand-new wife.

Had money influenced her agreement to this fiasco?

Was she getting a cut of the hundred million euros?

Of course she was. Had she not proclaimed herself a true Petras?

For those seconds as she’d hesitated at the altar I’d entertained the notion that she shared my reluctance, had imagined the merest hint of resistance in her eyes.

Her words had put me straight.

A cursory investigation had revealed that while she’d graduated from Skypos University with a major in Arts, she’d done nothing with her degree for the last two years. Her father’s daughter through and through, sitting back and taking the easy route to riches.

So what if outwardly she wasn’t what I expected?

I snorted under my breath at this colossal understatement. Calypso Petras...ochi, make that Calypso Xenakis...was beyond a surprise. She was a punch to my solar plexus, one it was taking an irritatingly long time to wrestle under control.

Even now my senses still reeled from what I’d uncovered beneath her veil. She was far from the drab little mouse I’d assumed.

‘I believe there’s a rule somewhere that states you shouldn’t scowl on your wedding day.’

I resisted the urge to grind my teeth and faced my brother. ‘You think this is funny?’

‘This whole circus? No. I believe that ring on your finger and the look on your face makes it all too real.’ Neo affected a mocking shudder intended to rile me further.

It worked.

‘I’m talking about your implication that my... Calypso.’ Thee mou, why did her name sound so...erotic?

Neo’s eyes widened before glinting with keen speculation. ‘If I recall, I didn’t give you any specifics.’

There was a reason Neo was president of marketing at Xenakis Aeronautics. He could sell hay to a farmer.