Page 50 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4
Ulysses
After the meetingwith Katla, I stop to have a word with Tanaka, to assure him that his company is safe and I have no plans to stage a takeover. He’s not happy and wants my assurances that no harm will come to Katla. I admire his protectiveness, though he has no reason to fear for her safety with me. I’m a dragon when it comes to protecting those I consider mine and, after her performance in that office, Katla is now definitely mine. She claimed me the moment she put her hand on me, after all.
That was a surprise, I can’t deny it. It was the very last thing I thought she’d do, in fact, and the sheer unexpectedness of it made me even harder.
Delicious woman. If she continues to be so surprising, it’s going to make her eventual seduction even more pleasurable than I first thought. Interesting, too, that she thought I was playing with her, before getting all offended when I insisted on a legal agreement. It makes me want to know why, which ratchets up my anticipation. There’re so many new things to learn about her, so many layers to uncover.
Merry fucking Christmas to me.
I leave Tanaka with some reassurances as to Katla’s safety, and then stroll out with my bodyguards to the lifts. We’re going straight to the airport, since the jet is ready for my flight to Athens. I’ve now missed Christmas Eve there, which means Olympia won’t be happy, but I’ll arrive in time for Christmas Day.
As we approach, I see Katla standing near one of the lifts with the pathetic excuse for a man who’s apparently her ex-husband. He’s gripping her arm and she looks as if she’s trying to get away from him. Clearly not noticing my approach, he pushes her roughly against the wall and leans in to whisper something in her ear.
The expression on Katla’s face is familiar. It’s the same expression my sister used to wear when I first rescued her and brought her home, when she woke up screaming in the middle of the night, her whole body gripped tight by a nightmare.
It’s fear.
Anger, hot and bright, flares up inside me. I spent years fighting to get Olympia back from the abusive foster family to whom she was given after our mother died, but by the time I eventually managed to rescue her it was too late. The damage was done.
I’d been too young, too poor and too powerless to stop the state from taking her and giving her to people who hurt her, and I will never let that happen again. I have power, influence and money now, and no one will take what is mine ever again.
And that includes Katla Sigurdsdottir. She notices me coming and with a quick, violent movement she jerks herself out of her ex-husband’s grip and takes a couple of steps towards me. ‘Please hold the lift, Mr Zakynthos,’ she says, her tone calm, though the look in her eyes is anything but.
My anger is savage. I’m a difficult man, a hard man, a possessive man. I have a line, and when that line is crossed I will go to war. This man has just crossed it.
I glance at my bodyguards, a wordless command that they immediately obey, closing in a loose circle around the bastard. They won’t hurt him, but they’ll certainly prevent him from joining Katla and me in the lift.
‘Of course,’ I tell Katla calmly.
The ex looks like he might make another grab for her but then notices my bodyguards and clearly has second thoughts. His expression is hostile, and I can tell he’s weighing up whether to make a fuss or to let this go. If he’s an intelligent man, he’ll let it go.
At that moment, the lift chimes and the doors open. Like the gentleman I am, I gesture for Katla to enter first.
‘Wait for me downstairs,’ her ex tells her quickly. ‘We need to talk.’
‘She will not and, no, you don’t,’ I say before Katla can reply.
‘Kat.’ He ignores me, taking a step towards the open lift. ‘We really…’
I step into the lift, placing myself between Katla and him, the thought I’d had the second I saw him manhandling her becoming certainty. She is coming to Athens with me and there will be no argument.
‘If you touch her again, if you even speak to her again, I will end you,’ I tell him pleasantly before the doors shut in his face.
Once they do, I turn around to Katla. She’s gone white and is shaking, though it’s not fear I see now, not with those furious blue sparks in her eyes.
Whenever those nightmares chased Olympia, she woke up trapped and screaming. I’d grip her arms tightly, using the pressure to ground her so she knew she wasn’t still in her nightmare, but in her bed with me protecting her. I do this now with Katla, taking her upper arms in a gentle grip to ground her and hopefully let her know that she’s safe now, with me.
‘Are you okay?’ I ask her softly. ‘Did he hurt you?’
She looks up at me then, the fury gradually receding from her eyes, and there’s an unexpected satisfaction to be had from the knowledge that she feels safe with me.
‘No,’ she says at last, her voice cool, ‘Thank you, Mr Zakynthos. You can let me go now.’
I release her. ‘Don’t thank me quite yet.’
She’s remarkably composed, considering what just happened, back in her ice queen’s armour once again. ‘What do you mean?’
A brave woman indeed. Inside, my fury is still roaring and my hands itch to wreak havoc on the man who thought he could threaten her, but I ignore it. It’s been a long time since I let that fury out, because I know what I’m capable of, what damage I can do. I promised Olympia that I would stick to the straight and narrow, and never harm another person again, regardless of whether they deserve it or not. And I keep my promises.
