Page 48 of Modern Romance Collection March 2025 (1-4)

Athan nodded, and finally dropped his hand. But he didn’t look at his assistant or anywhere away from Lynna.

She should look away, get a handle on her heart scrabbling about in her chest like what had happened last night changed anything between them, when it absolutely did not.

But she held his gaze anyway.

“My wife would like to see some of her father’s old friends,” Athan said. “Make sure to help her find anything she needs.”

“Of course, sir.”

“I’ll be back in an hour or so, and then we can go to lunch. Perhaps with Henry. We’ll see who’s available.” He leaned in, brushed a very chaste kiss across her cheek. “Behave, Mrs. Akakios,” he murmured in her ear, before turning and walking away. Out of the office.

While she stood, off-kilter and…too many things to name. She hadn’t even given him a dirty look for calling her Akakios.

“Mrs. Akakios?” the assistant said, and she realized he must have said something she hadn’t heard before that.

“I should be able to find my away around,” she offered, sounding breathless even to herself. “If I have any troubles, I’ll let you know.”

The assistant nodded and left and Lynna closed her eyes, took a deep inhale. This was a problem of her own making, and she solved everyone’s problems. Including her own.

So she straightened her shoulders and set out to charm her father’s old associates.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Athanwentintohis meeting somehow feeling…lighter. He knew Lynna had not been spiteful toward Mr. Giordanoforhim. It had been for her father. And really, it hadn’t been wise.

Still, the way she had defended her father had loosened some of the knots tying him tight. The fact she was here and on his side. He could almost believe she didn’t hate him anymore.

But letting himself believe that was a recipe for disaster. For having the rug pulled out from him again. He needed to hold on to the simple fact that what she had done, what she would do, had absolutely nothing to do withhim.

Because even if it did, he would only betray her.

He went through his meeting feeling oddly detached from everything, but it had gone well in spite of himself. If his clients knew of the article from his mother, they had not mentioned it or acted as though it affected their trust in him.

Athan wondered how long he could make that last.

When he returned to his office, it smelled faintly of strawberries, but Lynna was not in it.

Which was good as he had phone calls to make before they went to lunch. He sat down at his desk, looked at his phone and the people he needed to call.

He did not call any of them. He should, because this was not the time or place for a personal call, especially since Ophelia had warned him against trying to smooth this over before they understood what Constantine had offered his mother to get her to turn on him.

But he called his mother anyway.

He didn’t expect her to answer. Elena was very good at avoidance when she wanted to be. The last summer he’d had to spend with her before he’d been a legal adult who did not have to follow his parents’ custody agreement anymore, she had jetted off to an entirely different country and left him alone in her home in Patras for the summer.

Yes, she knew how to avoid him when she wanted to. He could hardly blame her. Whether she’d been there or not, he’d always used his father’s words against her. That she was weak, at fault for anything that went wrong, amistake.

So desperate to earn his father’s love, he’d decided to thwart his mother’s.

So he was more than a little surprised when she answered, sounding tired and vaguely offended. “Athan, hello.”

Athan didn’t bother with a greeting. He simply didn’t have it in him. “What did he offer you?”

His mother was silent on the other line. “You have caused me much harm over the years, you know,” his mother said.

“Yes,” he agreed. Because he could not deny it. He had been thirteen, tasked to choose between his parents. They had always made it sound like they’d given him a gift by having him choose.

It had never felt like one.

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