Page 5 of Modern Romance Collection March 2025 (1-4)

But it was Constantine Akakios who had delivered this blow, and she couldn’t celebratethat. She wished Constantine would get his comeuppance too. But she’d spent the past five years trying to make peace with the lack of fairness in the world. You couldn’t change the whims and arrows of ruthless, careless men. You could only learn how to build your own life, protect the people in it at all costs, and roll with all the consequences of other people’s actions.

She let out a slow breath. She’d been prepared to see Constantine, and still there’d been a visceral initial response of wanting to hurl the tray of food at him. Among other things.

The impulse was still there, so she moved forward and carefully set the tray down on the dining room table. She turned to Athan, who looked shell-shocked. That little wriggle of compassion was trying to gain a foothold, but sherefused.

He deserved to be shell-shocked. No matter the instigator, hedeservedto be destroyed. His karmic reward.

“A dinner for one, then?” she asked, innocently enough.

Athan straightened, as if her voice was the antidote to a spell. The shock slowly morphed into something sharper on his face. He was plotting, and that should be just alarming enough for Lynna to beat a hasty retreat.

But she found herself pinned to the spot when he aimed his dark gaze at her.

Because the problem was… Hewashandsome. Outrageously so, really. It was the sharp angles, the aristocratic nose, the dark eyes that were no doubt reflective of the depths of hell he’d crawled out of.

No doubt the devil was this attractive as well, when he wanted to be.

Get out!Her brain seemed to shout at her. But her feet were resolutely rooted to the spot, her heartbeat kicking up as Athan’s expression went from one of shock, to a slow, sly smile.

“I know exactly what we’ll do,” he said, his voice dark.Like the devil himself, she told herself. Resolutely. And it wasworrythat had her heartbeat picking up, not anything else.

Particularly when it sounded like he was bringing her into thewe. That was ridiculous. Surely he meant some royalwethat had nothing to do with her and she needed toleave. Now.

But his attention seemed solely on her. A kind of demonic tractor beam she was incapable of escaping.

“It seems you’ll have to marry me instead.”

* * *

The peal of laughter was bright and unexpected. She actually threw back her head and laughed and laughed. Enough that he was more irritated by the dramatics than distracted by the slim column of her throat or the shocking punch of seeing true amusement on her face.

“It isn’t a joke,” he said. Maybe later he could find the humor in it, but right now he only had rage. But it wasn’t molten, out of control. No, he’d learned how to control it.

Careful, sharp, deadly ice.

His father would not—could not—win.

“Then you’ve had a break with reality,” Lynna said. “And my answer is a heartyno.”

“I didn’task, Lynna.”

Any humor melted off her face. Temper snapped into her eyes. Color mounted in her cheeks. “Oh, were you under the impression I am one of your minions because you paid for my culinary expertise? Bad news for you.” She stepped toward him, finger raised in an aggressive point. “No. You cannot order me about. Particularly tomarryyou. Are you insane?”

He supposed it sounded a bit insane. Toher. But she didn’t understand. He needed the shares. If he couldn’t get them out from under his father, if he couldn’t get them with an in with Giordano, then he would need to rely on the one name that was like a specter in the halls of AC International.

Carew.

“People in the company still respect your father, his name. They know it was my father’s shady dealings that hurt his reputation. People at AC respect me for my efforts to fix it.”

“Surely not the same people.”

But he ignored her barb. The idea was forming, taking shape in the moment. The way the best ones did. Evolving into something even better than the original.

It would be better. He would still destroy his father by pulling together disparate parts, instead of one big share. His father couldn’t stop an insidious campaign if Athan had an actual Carew on his side.

And he would have AC International come hell or high water. Giordano shares or no. He hadn’t given up at the first few roadblocks his father had put up, why would he give up now?

Here she stood, the answer to his problems. He needed Lynna. The nostalgia of the Carew name was his last chance at undercutting the fear and intimidation his father led with.

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