Page 53 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

An assistant or aide stepped forward and spoke discreetly into Baros’s ear and the man said, ‘If you’ll excuse me, Axel, there’s someone I need to speak to, but let’s pick up this conversation again, hm? Can you come out to the island this weekend? You and Hope?’

This was it. He’d done it. Managed to convince the man that he was worth doing business with. Axel waited for the rush of triumph but once again it didn’t come. Or not as he’d imagined.

‘We’d love to.’

‘Love to what?’ Hope said from beside him as she and Baros’s wife rejoined the conversation. Axel searched for Hope’s hand, finding it. Instantly he felt something inside him ease.

‘We’ve been invited to Damian’s island this weekend.’

Hope managed to keep her expression blasé but he’d noticed the slight widening of her eyes. She smiled. ‘That sounds wonderful.’

‘Lovely,’ exclaimed Maria. ‘You’ll get to meet some of our grandchildren.’

The couple moved off seamlessly to talk to the next people and Hope turned to Axel and looked up. ‘Does that mean what I think it means?’

With Hope by his side, Axel did feel a surge of exuberance and picked her up and spun her around. She looped her hands around his neck and giggled. She said, ‘I guess that means yes.’

The fact that he’d needed Hope to feel that sense of accomplishment was something he pushed aside. He put her down and took her hand, lifting it to his mouth. ‘Thank you.’

Hope smiled. ‘I didn’t do anything. I think he always wanted to do business with you but apparently he saw you as a lone wolf, with nothing to lose. But, as I assured his wife, the business is your life’s work, it’s everything to you. Literally everything.’

Literally everything. Axel looked down at Hope. Her assertion struck a discordant note inside him, even as he said, ‘Yes, it is.’

* * *

The fact that Axel didn’t contradict Hope made her deflate a little. She was thrilled that the meeting, brief as it had been, had gone so well. But the thought of carrying on the charade of the relationship into a much more intimate setting made her nervous.

Axel grabbed a couple of drinks from a passing waiter and handed Hope one. She took a sip of the sparkling wine, wrinkling her nose at the bubbles. Would she ever learn not to do that? Axel led her out to where a jazz band was playing music on a large terrace. Some couples were dancing. Dusk was falling over the ancient city and it was magical. She had to soak this up—she wouldn’t see such a rarefied view again.

Axel sat down on a wide lawn chair and pulled her down into his lap. It felt so easy. And for a second Hope could almost pretend that this was real. But it wasn’t.

She said, ‘They seem like a nice couple. I have to admit I feel a bit bad about misleading them into thinking we’re really together.’

‘We are together.’

A splinter drove into Hope’s heart. ‘You know what I mean.’

Axel raised a brow at her. ‘Why do you think Damian Baros is so successful? He didn’t get to where he is by playing nice. He’s as ruthless as the rest of them when he wants to be.’

‘So he wouldn’t hesitate to do the same if he was in your shoes?’

‘Not for a second.’

‘How do you think he’ll react when he finds out we’re not together?’

Axel shrugged. ‘I don’t really care once we’ve signed a deal.’

Another splinter in Hope’s heart. ‘I guess it won’t really matter because you will be with someone else soon enough.’ She really hoped she didn’t sound self-pitying when she said that.

Axel didn’t answer that. He didn’t have to. She hated to think that she was being naive to take Baros and his wife at face value. Was nothing in Axel’s world genuine? But maybe he was right. They might have created a very genuine and happy family but that in itself was just a consolidation of his success. After all, hadn’t his wife told her that all the children were involved in the business?

And Axel would meet his suitable wife and they would have children who would be bred for the greater good of the Drakos legacy and all the humanity she’d seen in Axel had never really existed, or had it?

Suddenly she felt the cynicism of it all, as if it were a live thing, reaching out to smother her. She couldn’t breathe. She clambered up from Axel’s lap and sucked in a breath.

He stood up. ‘What’s wrong?’

Hope shook her head. ‘I just need some air.’ She set off down the garden towards where a wall marked the end of the property. And then it was just an unrestricted view of Athens.