Page 34 of Modern Romance July 2025 #4-8

CHAPTER FOUR

R EBECCA REALLY HADN ’ T known how this would go.

She had a million different scenarios and plans that she’d thought through once she’d decided to actually come to Greece.

She had even considered that a man such as Theodorou Nikolaou might offer a marriage proposal.

Rich people were so touchy about heirs and such.

She had been prepared for threats, demands of paternity proof and so on.

But she hadn’t expected any of it to matter or move her any.

She’d known she could reject a marriage proposal, no matter how far-fetched such an offer had seemed.

She didn’t need any tests when she knew the truth.

She could raise a baby on her own. She kind of preferred the idea, all in all, rather than deal with some stranger .

She would raise her fatherless baby at home.

It wasn’t a terrible prospect as she’d had a lovely childhood.

Her parents would help. She liked her life, more or less, and adding a baby to it had given her…

Well, it was scary, sure, but she liked the prospect of it.

Having something to protect, guide, love .

And without a man in the picture, there would be no concern that one day she would arrive home to find him marrying someone else entirely. Her child would need her. She could not afford to be crushed again.

There was the practicality of money, and the hitch this trip had put in her savings, but she had a steady job, a steady family. They could scrape by.

The idea of Patrick and Bridget passing judgment did give her some pause, she couldn’t lie to herself about that. She didn’t relish the idea of financial insecurity, or putting her parents in that position.

Regardless, she would handle this. On her own . Even if Theo didn’t react as she might want him to.

She was becoming concerned she really didn’t know how to handle him . And it was very concerning to realize that her body’s reaction to him was not dulled by time, circumstance or pregnancy.

Still, she didn’t want to take any tests, even if she understood why he’d want or even need them. She didn’t want to. She wanted to go home, duty done. She wanted to pretend there was no father. It was just her and her baby. Safe.

Instead, she found herself being ushered into a car and zipped off to what she assumed would be some kind of doctor’s office. No doubt the wealthy had a doctor on hand for just this type of situation. No doubt, this wasn’t Theo’s first pregnancy scare as it was hers.

She certainly hoped it was his first scare that actually ended in his child , though. She should hate to be one of many , or have her child be.

“How many paternity tests have you forced upon women in your life, Theo? Or should I call you Theodorou ?”

She could tell the question irritated him—both questions—by the way his jaw set, then his teeth almost seemed to grind together in frustration, even as his expression remained otherwise blank.

“It seems you will be my first, Becca.”

Becca. Becca was someone else. That fairy-tale night she’d created for herself. But Rebecca had to deal with Becca’s consequences. “Rebecca.”

“Syngnó?mi??”

It was Greek. He was Greek. She was somehow here in Athens, a place she’d only dreamed about. A place that seemed as foreign to Ireland as it could be, and yet it was the same, essentially. Buildings. Cars. People. Life.

Of course, their lives looked nothing alike. He was richer than even the Desmonds. Some sort of investment banker billionaire.

And she was… “My name is Rebecca. Rebecca Murphy. I go by Rebecca.” She looked at her hands. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like Becca was all that different, but it felt necessary and important to ground herself in reality right now. Rebecca Aoife Murphy. Former equestrian, current stable girl.

Pregnant with this billionaire Greek’s baby.

“You told me Becca,” he said like an accusation.

“I did,” she agreed, even though that night felt like a lifetime ago.

Or maybe a fairy tale she’d dreamed up. “Because I wanted to be someone else that night. But a person doesn’t get to just be someone else, do they?

” She looked up from her hands to him. She wondered if he understood such a sentiment, or if that could only be understood by someone who’d had to struggle for something.

He made a noncommittal noise, staring out the window as the car sped along. His face was sharp, hard, unreadable. It felt…impossible she had allowed herself to spend a night with this stranger , and yet…

Even with everything they would now have to wade through, she understood why .

He was fiercely handsome. Potent. There was something about him in particular that made her feel…

bigger than she’d ever been. More alive and vibrant.

Something woke up when he looked at her, and the only other place she’d ever felt that was on the back of a horse.

She sighed, heavily. “It will not matter what this test says,” she ventured to say, to explain. She wouldn’t have her life upended by him . Her baby? Yes. Him? No.

“I will know if this child is mine,” he said darkly, fiercely. In a way she almost admired. Because she felt fiercely protective of the child growing inside her, and maybe it was good he might feel the same.

And she understood, she supposed, where his fierceness came from.

Even if she hadn’t expected it. Because once she’d figured out who he was by making a few subtle inquiries about the wedding guest list, and realized she knew of his family name even if she didn’t know much about him , she’d made it her business to find out what she could as she tracked him down.

While his father was a well-known, boisterous and tabloid-friendly investment banker, there was no talk of Theo’s mother.

The gossip wasn’t that she was dead so much as never in the picture.

Theo had grown up as his father’s protégé, in his father’s home with an ever-revolving number of women or off at boarding schools. No mother in sight.

So, it made sense, she supposed, that a child being his might mean something to him. She didn’t know what it was like to be abandoned by a parent, how that might affect feelings on the matter.

She wished he’d be more of a careless asshole who wanted nothing to do with the whole endeavor, but if she allowed herself to set her feelings aside and be practical , it was hardly a bad thing that a billionaire would want to be involved in his child’s life.

It would offer the baby a life without financial burden, and wouldn’t that be something?

The car rolled to a stop, but not anywhere she’d expected. It wasn’t a medical office. It was a modern-looking house, all sharp lines and bright white, tucked away in trees and bushes to give the illusion of some privacy amid the city around them.

Rebecca didn’t like the way nerves settled in her chest. A terrible foreboding like nothing would be the same after she stepped out of this car.

But everything had already been upended. Everything had already changed. So she let Theo open the door for her and help her out of the car.

For a moment, they both stood there, her hand in his, the warm Greek air surrounding them like a bubble. They regarded each other, and Rebecca could admit she was surprised by the potent arc of their own heat that seemed to pass between them.

Like that night hadn’t been a one-off born of her disappointment in Patrick and her hip. Like it had been something…more. Something as big as it had felt at the time.

Theo dropped her hand, and she was glad for it. So glad, she followed him inside without lodging a complaint or concern. Anything to leave that feeling behind.

“The medical team will be here shortly to administer the test,” he said, leading her into the sleek, impersonal house. “I will show you to a room. You may make yourself comfortable. Once the test is done, we will await the results.”

“I suppose you can pay for that kind of quick turnaround.”

“Indeed,” he agreed.

The bedroom was nice. Still very white and impersonal, but the bed looked soft and she wouldn’t mind a nap. Her gaze went from it to him, and thoughts went from a nap to memories of that night .

In the immediate months that had followed, she hadn’t minded the memory. She’d kind of enjoyed going back over it, knowing what she could be without Patrick. Without all the plans she’d made for herself. She’d looked at it as a kind of celebration of independence.

Then she’d taken that test her mother had handed her, and she hadn’t allowed herself to think back to the night. She’d focused on the reality of the present .

But back in his orbit, she could too easily recall the way his hands and mouth had felt on her, the reactions he had brought out in her body. It throbbed in her now, and she might have been embarrassed, but she saw a flare in his eyes that was also recognizable.

Until he blinked, and it all chilled away. “The doctor will be in shortly.” And with that, he turned on a heel and left her there.

Rebecca sank onto the bed and wondered what the hell she’d gotten herself into.

Theo waited with what he considered impressive calm.

In his mind, this could go either way. He would not be shocked if this Rebecca was a liar.

He had always been too careful to allow such machinations to be lodged against him , but he had watched his father.

There had been paternity tests, lies, schemes.

His father had fallen for some, swiftly cut others off at the pass.

His father lived for the drama of it all. Theo did not, and would not.

If she had figured out who he was and figured one night owed her a certain monetary compensation, he would not allow himself to be surprised, taken off guard and dragged into a drama.

She hadn’t asked for that, and her calm resignation as the doctor had entered the room didn’t mesh with that possibility, but Theo could not yet rule it out.