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Eight

DAMEN LEVENTIS WASincredulous. "Let me see if I got this straight: you offered to be her boyfriend, keep things private if she wished, and she still turned you down?" At his friend's nod, he said admiringly, "Smart girl."

"Fuck off."

But it had no effect whatsoever as the other billionaire was already laughing his head off.

As the two billionaires continued their conversation in Greek, they remained oblivious to the chaos their unexpected presence at the play center was creating. Nannies had abandoned their young charges, single mothers had taken their eyes off their kids, and trophy girlfriends had left behind their sugar daddies, the result of which was pandemonium. It was one accident after another, with kids running loose, tables and chairs being overturned, and forgotten trays slipping out of people's grasps and crashing to the floor.

"We're back!"

Hearts broke as they saw a brunette heading towards one of the men, and their defeat was all but complete when they saw a tiny, dark-haired four-year-old barreling forward with her arms stretched out. "Papa, I want back up!"

"Yes, ma'am," Damen answered promptly as he swung his daughter back up on the second-floor tunnel entrance into the three-level play structure. It offered all sorts of fun, the kind that even the most imaginative children wouldn't find fault with: airplane cockpits and firefighter poles, hanging bridges and climbing nets, and more slides and tunnels any young adventurer could ask for.

The women waited with bated breath for another woman to claim the other billionaire when none came, they simultaneously sighed in relief, thankful that there was still one left they could all pin their romantic hopes on.

Meanwhile, Damen Leventis' wife was doing her best not to have a heart attack as she watched their daughter fearlessly lunge for a vine-like rope before rappelling out of the kid-sized tower. After landing on both feet, Nala turned to her parents with a big smile. "I did it!"

"Yes, you did," Mairi said with a smile, "and you did fantastic."

"I need to be..." Nala's forehead creased in a frown of concentration. "Papa said I need to be on my feet."

Mairi bit back a grin. "You mean on your toes."

"Yes, that's it! Papa said I need to be on my toes because I need to protect the queen."

"The queen?"

"You're silly, Mama." Nala let out a giggle. "You'rethe queen."

Seeing his wife turn to him with raised eyebrows, Damen said piously, "You are our queen."

"Ha!" Rising to her feet, Mairi said with a grimace, "You two will never let me forget about the old woman, will you?"

Responding to Acheron's curious look, Damen explained dryly, "A con artist in disguise." Sliding an arm around his wife's waist, he continued, "The woman bumped into Mairi while she was at the hospital for Nala's checkup. She gave Mairi some sob story about not having enough money to pay her husband's medical bills, and my lovely wife had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker."

"But Nala didn't, I'm guessing?"

Nala gave her uncle a solemn shake of her head. "She was a bad lady. She lied to Mama."

Hiding a smile at the little girl's air of gravitas - Nala was fast becoming Damen's mini-me through and through - he asked with equal solemnity, "And you knew that how?"

"The lady didn't have a ring. Not like Mama and Papa."