Page 134 of Modern Romance December 2025 1-4

‘Not yet.’ He stands in front of the fire, his arms folded, black eyes glittering. ‘Sit.’

I don’t want to, but again, fighting him on little things like being ordered around is futile and a waste of energy. I don’t feel as tired as I did in the early days of the pregnancy, but I’m still tired, not to mention cold, and the thought of sitting before a warm fire is tempting.

So I lift my chin and walk unhurriedly over to the couch then sit down, wrapping my red coat around me. Rafael does not sit, keeping his position in front of the fire and staring down at me. He’s very tall and very broad, and I remember the feel of his body against mine, the heat of his skin and the hard flex of his muscles. A powerful man and, right now, a dangerous one too.

My heart kicks against my ribs and I can’t tell if it’s with fear or excitement, or a heady combination of both.

‘Well?’ I demand, ignoring it. ‘We’re here. So. Talk.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

Rafael

She sits onthe couch in front of me, wrapped in her red coat, her inky hair spilling over it. Her cheeks are flushed from the cool night air and her amber eyes are as bright with anger as the flames at my back. She has a reason to be angry, it’s true, but I’m not going to let that deter me.

I spent the journey from Athens to my villa on the coast of Sicily organising everything I need to claim her once and for all. A marriage licence. A priest to conduct the ceremony. Rings and a gown for her, as well as an entirely new wardrobe of clothes suitable for a pregnant woman. Then, of course, a doctor to look after her pregnancy.

The villa is special to me. It’s my family home, the place I was born in and grew up in, and it’s the one thing I have of my parents that I managed to save from being sold after my father died. I had financial help to save it, naturally, and that help came with strings attached. ThoseCosa Nostrastrings, to be precise, and I was in no position to refuse. I did cut those strings eventually, but by then it was too late. The violence I meted out as an enforcer ended up tainting my soul and that taint will never come out.

Olympia will live here and our baby will be born here, too, and I will not be moved on this. She won’t like it, I can already tell that the golden flames in her eyes will burn higher once she finds out, but I will brook no argument. It’s the most secure of my residences, not to mention one that no one knows about, so if her brother comes looking for her—and he will, I have no doubt—he’ll have to work at finding her.

‘You’re pregnant with my child,’ I say into the heavy silence.

‘Really? I had no idea.’ Her tone is sarcastic, the look she gives me disdainful.

She looks so composed sitting there on the couch, as if she’s isolating herself as much as possible from her surroundings and purposely. There is no sign of her beautiful smile, no glints of mischief in her eyes, none of the warm openness she treated me with back in Singapore.

Now, her chin is lifted and her expression is haughty almost, as if she is an empress and I am merely the lackey there to do her bidding, and not the man looking to bind her to him forever.

Brave, dragonfly.

‘Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?’ I don’t try to make the question sound any less than the demand it is or attempt to hide the fury lacing the words.

Her chin lifts a little higher in response. ‘Because I didn’t want to believe it was true. I tried not to think about it for the first few months and then, when I couldn’tnotthink about it, I went to the doctor.’ Her gaze turns challenging. ‘And I think the more appropriate question is how do you know?’

She’s trying to change the subject, but I won’t be distracted. ‘You tried not to think about it? And how long exactly were you planning on doing that?’

‘I don’t know,’ she shoots back. ‘It’s not like I’ve ever been pregnant before.’

Don’t harangue her. It’s your child she’s pregnant with and it’s hardly her fault. She was a sheltered virgin, which means the responsibility for protection was on you.

It’s an unwelcome thought. It’s true that the duty for protection that night was mine, and one I failed at, and I don’t like failing, not at anything. I also don’t like the twist of sympathy tightening in my chest that has me noting the darkened shadows under her pretty eyes and thinking that perhaps tucking her up into bed is what I should be doing instead of having this conversation.

But it’s a conversation we need to have and better to have it now than later, so I say, ‘I’m not hard to find, Olympia. You should have contacted me.’

‘Fine, I should have and I didn’t. I’m sorry. Now, answer the question.’

This time I accept the distraction. ‘How did I find out? It wasn’t until after I left Singapore that I remembered we had used no protection. So I tried to find your contact details to get in touch with you, but I was unable to find any.’ I pause. ‘Your brother keeps you extremely well hidden.’

She ignores that, continuing to stare hostilely at me.

‘I have contacts that can get me information for a price,’ I go on. ‘And I was able to find out which doctor you went to see, then I bribed her to tell me what it was about. She told me you were pregnant.’

Incredulity ripples over Olympia’s face. ‘You bribed her?’

She is horrified, as any normal law-abiding person would be. Then again, being horrified is a privilege, which she would most certainly have as the cosseted sister of a very rich and powerful man.

But I don’t point that out, instead I say, ‘It wasn’t ideal but I needed to know, since it was clear you weren’t going to tell me.’