Book one the Bella Rosen series The billionaire playboy

Chapter 10 Travis back story

Travis point of view

I am sitting on the balcony of my house in Corfu and island close to the coast of mainland Greece. Albania is nice and close providing opportunity for those quick get aways but not as often as I would like. Corfu is ideal for the kind of lifestyle I like to live you get all the benefits of island living however all the city pleasures are available in the island's busy city centre of Kerkyra. A regular ferry connection to mainland Greece means that my lifestyle here is extremely comfortable as I can access easily my material needs.

My white stone villa overlooks the beautiful crystal clear blue waters of the Ionian Sea. I find it impossible to believe that I could ever tire of the pristine vista laid out before me. The weather is always beautiful and I take every opportunity to feel the sun on my bare skin. Today is no different enjoying the sun on my shirtless back as I paint one of my favourite views.

Your probably wondering what I am doing in the Greek Islands when the family business is going through such turmoil. Especially strange I suppose for someone who is the son and heir of the family business and a father who is adamant that I will succeed him. He didn't ask me if I wanted that particular responsibility or even check in to see if there was another direction I would like to take. I was just told me that was the way it had to happen. But my sister has always been more interested in that stuff than me but that didn't seem to matter a lot to father. In the early days I did try and get him to see my viewpoint because I felt so bad for Bella. Why couldn't he just bend a little? Bella was bending over backwards to please him and wasn't getting any recognition. It was no use at all he just dug his heels in further if I tried to raise the topic. It was a dark time for me and there were times that I questioned whether I wanted to be here at all. In an instant my life changed and my family dynamic just didn't matter to me anymore.

My villa is my secret, nobody knows about it – family or friends. It is my safe place, my haven, the one place in the world that I can truly be me. No expectations, no pressures just peace and privacy. I have been so discrete in buying this place that there isn't any way to trace the purchase back to me. Unfortunately I need to drop off of the radar quite a bit. The down side is that my need for secrecy has led to assumptions being made about me and they haven't formed a hold a high opinion of me. They think I am unreliable and selfish. Too bad. I am rather sad about my relationship with Bella though it has created a strain that was never there before. I know she will always be there for me but I also know she is not impressed by my lack of commitment to the family business. She isn't in the place where she can see just how much damage is being done to the family because of fathers' need to control every dam thing, that is the glaring difference between us. Father says jump and Bella says how high? I have learned to give nothing and then nothing is expected of me and I am then free to be me.

I never planned to become the black sheep of the family it just happened that way. Trust me had there been an alternative I would have happily taken it. I have paid a high price for my freedom. In the early days I was happy to play the role of the dutiful son; resigned to my destiny. That was before my first year at Brown University. My world was literally turned upside down as the universe delivered to me a delightful and totally unexpected gift. My plans for my future quickly abandoned the moment as soon as I set eyes on a miracle of nature Kosta, a beautiful Greek boy studying at the university on a student exchange visa.

My sexuality had always been my secret. I knew I was gay, always did but also knew it wasn't something that I couldn't talk about with my father. He wielded enough control over my life I wasn't about to give him any more power than he already had. I wouldn't share my secret with the family. So I decided not to pursue any long term relationships. I'd hadn't met anyone that tempted me to become serious enough to put myself and if the hormones got too out of control I would engage in a discreet one night stand. They usually left me feeling less than satisfied so my life was pretty much celibate by choice.