Page 10 of Modern Romance December 2025 1-4

Somehow, she managed to widen her smile. ‘Yes, boss.’

CHAPTER FOUR

DRACO GOT OUTof his car feeling like he’d lived a lifetime in five weeks. It was all Athena Tsaliki’s fault. She was the most selfish, lazy and subversive person, man or woman, he’d met in his life. Installing her in his office might protect the rest of the workforce from her viperous tongue and malign influence, but it meant he got no respite from her. Minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day spent in her beautiful, sexy, infuriating presence. He was aware every time she coiled a lock of hair around her finger, of every bite of food she ate, of every tap of her keyboard when she ran out of ways to procrastinate and actually did some work.

Hard though it was to believe it possible, she’d been even more subversive than usual that day, constantly checking her phone whenever she thought she could get away with it. He’d even caught her reangling the screen of her desktop so she could try and hide what she was doing. It was getting to the point where every sweetly deliveredyes, bossmade him want to throw her out of the window.

But, as infuriating and fury-inducing as she was, there was something about her attitude that day that troubled him. Her breeziness had been just a little bit too forced, her quips lacking a touch of their usual sweet bite, everything just a touch more brittle. If it was anyone else, he’d think they were upset about something, but this was Athena. Rhinos were envious of the thickness of her hide.

He let himself into his mother’s home, determined not to think of Athena Tsaliki for the rest of the evening. She’d infected enough of his world as it was without letting her infect his time with the most important person in it, the person whose past she’d deliberately, cruelly twisted and weaponised.

Of all the things Draco’s wealth had allowed him to splurge on since he became rich, nothing had given him greater pleasure or pride than when he’d bought this villa in one of Athens’ most exclusive districts for his mother. Finally, he’d been able to repay the woman who’d given him life, loved him fiercely, taught him to always be the bigger person and worked her fingers to the bone to provide for him. Being able to move her out of the cramped narrow home—an image of the apartment Athena inhabited like a graceful swan in a pigsty came to his mind, an image he immediately blinked away—she’d been forced to move into with her sister when they’d lost their home after her sacking had meant more to him than everything else combined.

Despite having enough money to employ a fleet of staff to take care of her every need, Cora Manolis preferred taking care of her own needs and was a better cook than half the Michelin-starred chefs Draco knew. That evening, he walked into her kitchen to the welcome aroma of his favourite slow-cooked lamb tagine and tried not to imagine what take-out Athena was dining on that night.

Embraces and kisses exchanged, Draco poured the wine and then they sat down to eat. As usual, the conversation mostly revolved around family—Draco was an only child but had plenty of cousins—and gossip about friends, interspersed with a little about work. He’d just poured them both a second glass of wine when her voice softened and she said, ‘Tell me, how is Athena getting on?’

His surprise at the question turned into an automatic grimace. Since telling his mother about the deal he’d made to employ all the Tsaliki offspring, they hadn’t touched on the subject of them. His mother had always wanted to put her years as the Tsaliki housekeeper behind her, especially the way it had ended. It was Draco who’d been unable to forgive or forget.

‘She’s a pain in the arse,’ he answered flatly, before taking a drink.

She gave a sad smile. ‘Bless her heart.’

He choked on his wine.

‘She was always such a little angel,’ she said wistfully.

He thumped at his chest. ‘Whatever she was as a child, she’s now in league with Lucifer.’

His mother gave him one of her rare disapproving looks and then sighed. ‘I’ll never forget how that little girl screamed when Penelope left. She was such a mummy’s girl, and it was cruel—cruel—the way she was forced to stay with her father when he moved Rebecca in.’ She shook her head, lost in memories. ‘Georgios always kept the children when he changed wives, but I never thought he’d insist Athena stay too. That little girl needed her mother, and Rebecca was never going to be a mother to her. They handled it so badly. Georgios had to physically restrain Athena from running after Penelope. I have never heard screams like it. They broke my heart.’

Draco’s heart was thumping. His adolescence had been littered with stories about Georgios’s ever-evolving love life and procession of new wives, but this was a story he had no memory of. ‘How old was she?’

‘Five.’

Something twisted in his chest.

So he’d been sixteen, a time when he’d first discovered girls and his life had revolved around trying to lose his virginity.

His mother met his stare and sighed again. ‘I’ve thought about her many times over the years. After Penelope went, Athena became my shadow. Her brothers were all older than her, but they were boys and their relationships with their mothers were very different to Athena’s. They didn’t understand.’

‘And Georgios?’

Her deeply lined face twisted into something ugly. ‘Rebecca had a daughter who was even younger than Athena. She became his new toy to dote on, and he spent so much energy trying to make Lucie feel at home that poor Athena was pushed into the shadows. I think that’s why she latched on to me. Wherever I went in that house, whatever I was doing, she would follow me and hold my hand and wrap her arms around my waist whenever she could. She needed comfort, and I was the one she trusted to give it to her.’ She gave another shake of her head, blinking back tears. ‘I’ve always suspected that Rebecca hated how much Athena loved me. They sent her to her room when they fired me and wouldn’t let me say goodbye, but I remember looking up at her window when I was getting in my car and seeing her there. She was banging on it, trying to get my attention. She was crying. I cried too.’ She wiped away tears. ‘I would have left when Rebecca moved in, but I loved Athena too much to leave her when she was so vulnerable, and it breaks my heart to remember that sweet little angel—and she was sweet, Draco. Whatever she’s become as an adult, she was the sweetest little girl in the world.’

She pulled her napkin off her lap and blew her nose. And then she smiled. ‘Forgive me for being maudlin. I always think about her more when it’s her birthday, and now that she’s working for you it all feels much closer than it has in a long time.’

There was a deeper, even more painful twist in his chest. ‘It’s her birthday?’

‘You didn’t know?’

He shook his head, remembering her brittle, almost hurt demeanour and the way she’d continually leapt on her phone. Remembered, too, the flash of dejection he’d seen in her eyes when he’d caught her using her phone for a personal call. ‘She didn’t mention it.’ No one had. Seven of her brothers worked for Draco, five of them in the same building as Athena.

She’d eaten her lunch alone at her desk.

His mother gave another wipe of her nose and spluttered a laugh. ‘Then she reallyhaschanged. I’ve never known anyone so excited for their birthday.’ The brief laughter died away. ‘Will you do something for me?’

‘If I can.’