Page 36 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4

CHAPTER FIVE

Ulysses

After the meeting with 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.

Besides, Katla has no use for my anger and, right now, neither do I.

Instead, I let her go and lean back against the rail that runs around the interior of the lift, folding my arms. ‘I mean, if you think you’re safe from a man who’d physically threaten you at a staff Christmas party, then you’re sadly mistaken. ’

She eyes me warily. ‘Yes, that seems obvious. I’m going to call the police and then—’

‘No,’ I cut in. ‘It’s Christmas Eve and too late to organise decent protection for you.

Which is why I’ve decided that you will be accompanying me to Athens on my jet.

’ It’s the most obvious course of action to take.

Yes, the police will certainly want to hear about her ex, but it’ll take too much time for them to do anything, and she needs protection from him now . Therefore, I will be her protection.

Her eyes widen. ‘Go with you to…to Athens? Now? ’

I have no need for subterfuge, so I incline my head. ‘Yes, now. Tonight.’

‘No,’ she says, still looking thoroughly shocked. ‘Of course I can’t come with you tonight. I barely know you and you’ve just threatened—’

‘I will not hurt you,’ I interrupt, cutting through her objections, getting right to the heart of what she truly wants to know, since I have no patience with protests and excuses. ‘Do you believe me?’

Her stare flickers, as if she hadn’t been expecting me to get straight to it so quickly. ‘Yes,’ she says at last, sounding reluctant, as if she doesn’t like the fact that she believes me.

I find that amusing, but I don’t smile. ‘And do you trust me?’

This time her reply is much quicker. ‘No,’ she says. ‘Not as far as I can throw you.’

‘Good,’ I say, because I’m not offended. ‘I wouldn’t trust me either.’

‘Well, then, I—’

‘However, if you believe that I won’t hurt you, then you can believe I will also protect you,’ I say, impatient now. ‘I’m a dangerous man, it’s true, but I’m not dangerous to you.’

Her eyes narrow. ‘I can look after myself, Mr Zakynthos.’

‘Like you did just then?’ My amusement has gone now, and all that’s left is will— my will. ‘Because it looked to me as if you needed help.’

She flushes and her mouth hardens yet again. She doesn’t like having her vulnerabilities pointed out, that’s obvious—and, to be fair, no one does. However, I have made my decision. She is coming with me and I will not take no for answer, not when her safety is at stake.

‘He wouldn’t have done anything to me,’ she says after a moment. ‘He only wanted me to come home.’

‘Yes, by being physically threatening,’ I say. ‘Why are you making excuses for him?’

Her flush deepens and she looks away, her jaw tight.

‘I know you don’t want to come with me,’ I say into the heavy silence. ‘But I’m afraid you have no other option.’

She glances back, dark-blue eyes stormy. ‘Why? Would you make demands like this to another random woman or am I just special?’

‘You are special,’ I tell her without hesitation, and that too is the truth. ‘I told you that you were rare and unique, and I meant it. Make no mistake, I would protect another random woman, but you agreed to give me your time, Katla. Which means you’re now my responsibility.’

She scowls. ‘I don’t want to be your responsibility.’

I stare back, implacable. ‘What exactly is your objection? Is it me? Or is it going to Athens in particular?’

Her gaze doesn’t flinch. ‘All of the above. But you in particular. Your arrogance, for example, is astonishing.’

‘So people tell me,’ I murmur and, believe me, I know I’m arrogant.

But if there’s one lesson I’ve learned is that this world does not reward diffidence.

If you want something, you have to take it.

You can’t wait for it to be given to you.

‘But I believe you can handle it for the sake of staying alive.’

She snorts, glancing away from me once again.

I’m right, of course, and she doesn’t like that I am.

Still, part of me is arguing that she’s right to be upset with me, especially after her experience with her ex just before, and that I’m doing the same thing in forcing her to go with me.

That the only difference is that I am not physically threatening her.

That part of me has Olympia’s voice, and it’s true, she wouldn’t approve of this—she’s never been a fan of my more autocratic decisions—but she knows I won’t compromise when it comes to safety. She’d understand why I’m bringing Katla with me and why I will brook no argument.

Still, Katla should have some reassurances, especially when we don’t know each other well and I’ve just told her I want her in my bed. That part hasn’t changed. However, I don’t want her thinking I’m spiriting her away just to ravage her somewhere else in private.

‘Don’t fret,’ I say into the heavy silence. ‘My home in Athens isn’t some evil lair. Not with my younger sister also living there.’

Katla’s blue gaze is frostier than the Arctic circle. ‘I don’t care who else lives with you. I don’t want to go.’

‘Noted.’

‘I could have family I want to spend Christmas with.’

‘Do you, in fact, have family you want to spend Christmas with?’

There’s another flare of anger in her gaze, but she doesn’t respond, which tells me everything I need to know about that.

The lift begins to slow, then stops, and the doors open.

‘You’re no better than him,’ Katla mutters as I gesture for her to step out first. She clearly means her ex-husband, and I almost smile at how close to my own thoughts is the observation.

‘Two differences,’ I say as I follow her out of the lift. ‘One, I’m not threatening you physically. And two, you actually want to come with me.’

She stops then and turns to me, her eyes glittering with anger. I stare back, daring her to challenge me, to deny me, to lie to me.

Her soft, luscious mouth firms and I can tell she’s desperate to protest. I almost want her to, so I can prove to her yet again why she’s lying both to herself and me.

‘Well?’ I raise a brow. ‘Come now, my ice queen. You can tell me. Am I wrong?’