Page 53 of Billion-Dollar Baby Shock

But after last night she had an unnerving suspicion that this could become a pattern.Her mobile phone pinged and she looked at it.A text from Dion.

Interviews with nannies start at midday.I can send a driver for you?

Tara scowled at the phone and responded.

No, thanks, I’ll drive.

She threw the phone down and lay back on the bed.And then she picked up the phone again and did a search online and saw the headlines:Dimitriou introduces his baby mama to the world.Have they set a date?

Tara almost laughed at that one but she stopped laughing when she saw,Who is Tara Simons, the unknown woman who snagged one of the world’s richest men with the oldest trick in the book?

She threw the phone down again and groaned.She was well and truly a public entity now.But at least she could glean some comfort in the fact that she’d been established as Niko’s mother.

* * *

Later that day at the villa, Dion said, ‘There’s an event on Friday night.I think we should go.It’ll give us another opportunity to be seen together.’

They had just chosen the second nanny, together with Maria, who had also sat in on the interviews, while Thea had given Niko lunch.

Now Tara was sitting on the floor in Niko’s room, encouraging him to crawl towards her.She looked up at Dion.‘Okay, sure.’

‘I’ll arrange for a team to come to your apartment to help you get ready.’

Tara opened her mouth to object but then closed it again.Who was she kidding?She needed help.‘Okay.’

Dion looked at his watch.‘I have to go into the office now… I’ll see you later?’

Tara caught Niko’s hands and he gurgled at her.She knew what Dion meant.That he would come to her for one thing only.And then steal away again.Like last night, she longed to be able to say,Actually, that doesn’t suit,but a part of her didn’t want to be all alone in that apartment.

She looked at him and sold a little more of her soul.‘Okay.’

* * *

On the Friday evening, Tara was nervous.The team Dion had arranged had just left.Once again Tara could hardly recognise herself in the mirror.Hair sleek and pulled back and over one shoulder.A plain black silk gown, off the shoulder.It oozed the kind of elegance that only a household-name designer could manufacture.

Tara took a selfie in the mirror and sent it to her fashion-designer sister, Lucy.

Not bad, hmm?

Two seconds later, a response.

OMG, is that really a—?

The doorbell chimed.Tara nearly dropped the phone and ignored her sister’s message, stuffing the phone in her bag.Dion was on the other side, in a classic tuxedo, but this time with a white jacket.

Tara wondered if he would ever not take her breathaway.His eyes moved from her head to her toes and back up again.‘You look…stunning.’

She felt shy.Ridiculous.Especially when she thought of how bold and insatiable she’d been the previous night, as if doing all she could to ensure Dion stayed.But when she’d woken, she’d been alone.Again.

‘My driver is waiting.’

Tara came out and closed the door.The journey to the venue—one of Athens’ most exclusive hotels—was short.When the paparazzi realised it was Dion and Tara, they went crazy.Screaming, shouting.Tara was trembling by the time they got inside and Dion pulled her to him.‘I’m sorry, I should have realised it’d be worse, but they will lose interest, I promise.’

Tara didn’t say it, but she thought it—they’d definitely lose interest when she was no longer by his side and relegated to being hisbaby mamawith no other status.

Tara moved through the crowd with Dion but she couldn’t help but feel increasingly as if she were behind a glass wall.The separation between her and Dion had started with him sequestering her in her own apartment.Even though his arm was around her back, he might as well also be pushing her away.

At one point Tara slipped free and went and stood at the roof-terrace wall.The ancient city was laid out before her and she felt all at once excited but incredibly lonely at the thought of forging a new life for herself here.