The Renegade Billionaire by Rebecca Winters Read Free Book Online

don’t have to see them if I don’t want to.”
    So
that
was
what this was about. “Nevertheless, they want to see you,” Stavros stated. “Whatever is wrong, nothing can be resolved by running away.”
    â€œI hate my father. I never want to see him again.”
    The pain in his declaration wasn’t lost on Stavros or Andrea. “Then you have the legal right to be on your own,” he said. “But you’re in a foreign country and have broken the law by stowing away in a truck that isn’t yours. You have some explaining to do to the police and they’ll insist on speaking to you and your parents.”
    Darren was fighting tears. “I don’t want to talk to them.”
    â€œI’m afraid you don’t have a choice while you’re still on Greek soil.”
    Andrea got on the phone to her boss to tell him the good news. Before long, everyone, including the tour bus group, would know that the crisis had been averted. But the boy’s nightmare was just beginning. From past experience, Stavros knew what it was like to be at loggerheads with his own father and had some compassion for Darren, whatever the problem.
    â€œIf you’re hungry or thirsty, I’ll get you something,” Andrea volunteered after hanging up. She had a sweetness in her that wasn’t lost on Stavros.
    â€œI don’t want anything.”
    â€œYou must have had a bad night. Tell us how you got away from the quarry, Darren.”
    â€œI hid underneath someone’s truck. When the police walked off, I got inside the back.” Andrea and Stavros exchanged glances. “After it stopped at a village, I jumped out and walked down here during the night. While the cars were lined up to board the ferry, I got underneath another truck.”
    â€œEven wearing your backpack?” Andrea marveled aloud.
    â€œYeah. People do it all the time in the movies. When the man parked his truck and left, I climbed in the back and hid under the tarp.”
    â€œYou were very resourceful.” Stavros would give him that. Six miles wasn’t so great a distance. Obviously the boy had handled it without problem.
    â€œThanks.”
    Thanks? Even though he was caught? Stavros saw a little of himself in the boy, who was hungry for approbation. Maybe even from his father? He sat down on one of the other packing boxes. “While we’re waiting for the lieutenant to come, why don’t you tell us why you hate your father so much?”
    â€œHe’s got my whole life planned out—what he wants me to be, where he wants me to go to college.”
    Stavros understood Darren better than the teen knew. “What does he want you to be?”
    â€œAn attorney like he is and go into politics.”
    Stavros bowed his head. “And what do you want to be?”
    â€œI don’t know yet! One day I’ll figure it out.”
    â€œDo you have siblings?”
    â€œNo. I’m the golden child.”
    That made the boy’s journey much harder. “Now that you’re eighteen, you can choose the life you want to live.”
    Darren looked up at him, imploring him to understand. “Dad just doesn’t get it, so I ran away. I wasn’t going to stay away a long time.”
    â€œYou were hoping he’d suffer enough to see the light.” Stavros got it. “I have an idea. Go with the police and meet with your parents. Tell them the honest truth. If your father still can’t be persuaded, then you’ll have to decide whether you can stand to alienate him and go your own way.”
    Darren nodded. “I can stand it. I don’t want to be an attorney.”
    â€œBut you still love him, right?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œThen stick to your guns, but don’t shut him out. In time I’m sure things will work out.”
    â€œYou think?”
    â€œI do.”
    Tears filled the boy’s eyes.
    â€œHere comes the lieutenant.