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Max put one elbow on the table and pressed his hand over his eyes Could life get any worse? He’d discovered a family he’d never known of, or even had any desire to know, after his father’s death Noas being played out through newspaper headlines, but, worse than any of that, he’d created a new generation to add to the Valdez family One he did not want

He looked down at various copies of today’s newspapers spread out on the table before hi He looked again at the newspaper on the top His throat tightened as he read the headlines again Bold black words screaet, colliding wildly with a future he didn’t want

Billionaire’s Illegitimate Heir Found!

‘Max?’ Lisa’s question sounded far off and he fought to get hie of a situation that was escalating with alar speed

He couldn’t speak, couldn’t say anything to her, not after the way she’d deceived hi a father

‘Max? What is it?’ She reached out and slowly pulled the newspaper round so that she could read it He looked up and watched her lashes lower as she read the headlines, annoyed that his thoughts rushed back to the ti, just moments before she’d left hi woman be so deceitful? How could she do this to him? And why now?

She looked up at hireen eyes full of shock ‘This is about you You have a brother?’

He pressed his lips firether ‘A half-brother’

In the same day he’d found his connection to Raul Valdez, the billionaire banking tycoon, had been plastered everywhere, he’d been told he was to be a father Was he in the o away?

‘And you never knew?’ Lisa looked at him and he was certain she hadn’t known any of this He could see so rateful that she didn’t ask them now Hell, he didn’t even know the answer to any of them himself All he could think about was that he’d done exactly what his birth father had done He’d created a child he didn’t want

‘No, but that is not i that word rowl of harshness and he saw her sit back away from him as if he were the devil himself He hadn’t wanted it to sound so cruel

‘There is nothing to discuss’ She pushed back her chair and stood up, forcing hi to have your baby, but you needn’t worry, I won’t make any demands on you whatsoever You e that any kind of coenda for you’

‘Sit down, Lisa’

‘No’ She buttoned up her coat and he knew if he didn’t get this right, didn’t say the right thing she would walk out on hiain Only this tiroondering where in the world its father was and why he didn’t want them in his life He knew only too hat that was like and didn’t want that pain, that rejection for his child

‘We need to talk about this Sit down, Lisa’ Anger si hi that would make this even worse than it already was He needed to sort things with Lisa, then he could deal with the other avalanche that had crashed into his life His brother

‘Why? So that you can tell ain?’ The truth of her words stung Just as the truth of the headlines smarted like salt in an open wound

He wanted to de apart yet working together professionally she had agreed to have dinner with hiht stand Inwardly, he savagely cursed He’d been the one to invite her to dinner, the one to suggest that avoiding each other wasn’t professional After all they were both shareholders, both had a stake in the club Neither of them could just walk away

‘I don’t want children and this is why’ He picked up the newspaper and shook it, angerhis movements sharp ‘It’s all here’

‘You are not the only one to have had a bad childhood, Max’ His gaze snapped to hers and the one and only time they’d discussed her childhood surfaced from his uments, especially at Christmas