A Gentleman in the Street by Alisha Rai Read Free Book Online

probably made her paternal grandfather turn over in his grave, but his son had been an inept idiot when it came to business. Anyway, her father was far too busy to run a hotel empire now, since he was busy running his second family. Or, more accurately, letting them run him.
    “Speaking of cameras…” She swiveled in her seat and stared out the window. She had a view of a lush green park not far away. A child was playing there, running behind a ball. “Take me off of speakerphone. And tell the film crew to leave.”
    A pause lasted a fraction of a beat too long. “What do you mean, my love?”
    “You know I have attorneys,” she said quietly. “And I’m not afraid to use them.”
    There was a click on the other end, and then the muffled sound of her father speaking to someone. A second later, he was back, much of the manufactured warmth amazingly leached from his voice. “They’re gone.”
    “What do you want?” Because, without a doubt, her father wanted something. He had no use for his only biological child otherwise.
    Without an audience to thrill, her father didn’t bother to beat around the bush. “We want you to be on the show.”
    The freak show. Who would have thought the American public would embrace the wild exploits of a rich ex-hotelier, a washed-up actress, and her five insane asshole children?
    Oh. Everyone. Four years later, it was still a ratings powerhouse.
    And would forever be the bane of Akira’s existence. Her family had been in the public eye prior to this show, but never quite like this. “I’ve already told you. No.”
    “We were thinking of doing a family dinner, Akira. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
    Whatever part of her soul had craved family dinners with her father had died long ago. If it had ever existed. “No.”
    “Akira, it would be a great angle. My daughter and Chloe’s kids, all at a table together?”
    It would be a great angle, until she clawed someone’s eyes out. Not that she had a problem with clawing eyes out, but she wasn’t keen on getting the clawing on tape. Terrible for legal reasons. “You know the last time I saw him, your precious stepson Brandon called me his little china doll?”
    “What? Were we filming?”
    She closed her eyes. “Goodbye.”
    “But it would be amazing.” Her father paused for dramatic effect. “A real yours, mine, and ours moment.”
    Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, fuck. Her lips barely moved. “What are you saying?”
    “I wanted to wait to announce it at the dinner, but I suppose you have the right to know…Chloe and I are pregnant.”
    She clenched her hand around the phone receiver, wishing it was her father’s neck. Did he think she would be overcome with sisterly affection for the fetus? That she would show up at the set of their show to support her new half-brother or -sister?
    Jacob’s caressing voice, when he spoke to his half-sister, popped into her mind. No, this wasn’t the same at all. Her involvement with the unborn kid could be dealt with later. Only one thing was important right now. “Does she want it?”
    “What?”
    “Chloe. Does she want it?”
    “What a silly question. Of course she wants it.”
    “No,” she bit off. “It’s not a silly question. Not with you.”
    There was a long pause. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. And neither do you.” The words were low and threatening. Akira almost laughed. Like her father could threaten her with anything. A person had to care to feel a threat, and she made damn certain no one knew where her affections lay.
    Bitterness rose in her throat, choking her. “You’re fucking ancient. Isn’t your sperm dead by now?”
    “Watch your language.” Akira could visualize his hands clenching around the phone, his face turning red. Age was a sore spot for the man, which was probably why he tended to go for women half his age. Chloe was forty-eight to his almost seventy. Akira’s own mother had been eighteen when he’d snapped her up, well into