A muscle ticked in his jaw. ‘Why? Did you not tell me that you intended to return to Greece?’
‘Yes, I did.’
‘When exactly were you proposing to do that? When he was a year old? When he was five or perhaps ten?’ he grated out.
The cold embrace of knowing that time wasn’t on my side stalled my answer for several seconds. ‘I was thinking days—not months or years. My booking at this resort is only for a week. I was going to fly back to Athens from here.’
His lips flattened. ‘I don’t plan on leaving you behind, Calypso. My good faith where you’re concerned is gone. When I fly out of here in three hours you and the child will be by my side. And that state will continue until such time as you choose to come completely clean about your actions for the past year or I furnish myself with the information.’
After that, there really wasn’t much more to say.
Moments after Axios left my suite the head concierge arrived with instructions to get as many staff as I needed to help me pack. I almost laughed, considering my meagre belongings and everything Andreos needed could fit in one small suitcase.
I dismissed the staff and was done with my packing in twenty minutes. The rest of the time I spent sitting beside Andreos’s cot, hoping against hope that my time with him going forward would be just as peaceful as the past precious months had been. Because I didn’t intend to be separated from him for a second. Time was too precious. Too special. And I would fight for every moment.
As if aware he was at the centre of my thoughts, he stirred and woke, his face remaining solemn for a few seconds before a toothless smile creased his chubby face. Blinking back the tears of joy that just looking at him prompted, I scooped him up and cradled him close.
By the time Axios knocked on the door we were both ready.
After another taut spell of staring at Andreos with turbulent eyes, he eyed the single suitcase with grating consternation. ‘This is all you have?’
‘I believe in travelling light.’
His expression darkened. ‘What about safety equipment for the baby? A car seat?’
‘I find it easier to hire what I require as and when I need it. And, before you disparage my methods, I research and make sure everything I use is of the highest safety standard.’
His gaze remained on me for another second before he nodded at the porter.
My suitcase was quickly stowed on a sleek private boat. Within minutes my last sanctuary had become a dot on the horizon.
I’d forgotten just how ruthlessly efficient Axios Xenakis could be. I received another rude reminder when, upon our arrival at the jetty, a smiling courier presented me with a gleaming state-of-the-art buggy and car seat combo, already assembled.
I braced my hand on Andreos’s back, tugged him closer to where he nestled snugly in his papoose. ‘That won’t be necessary. The airline I’m flying with will have all the equipment I need.’
Axios stepped forward and took hold of the pushchair. ‘You think I’m going to let you out of my sight now I’ve found you?’
‘But I have a ticket—’
‘And I have a private jet.’
Of course he did.
I’d blocked so many things out of my mind for the sake of pure survival. But the world had kept on turning. Axios had remained a powerful mogul with looks that weakened women’s knees. And, as a billionaire who commanded an airline empire, didn’t it stand to reason he’d possess his own plane?
A short SUV ride later we arrived at the private area of the airport, where an obscenely large aircraft bearing the unique Xenakis family logo stood gleaming resplendently beneath the French Polynesian sun.
‘So what’s it to be? Athens or Agistros?’ he asked silkily.
I stared at him in surprise. ‘You’re giving me a choice?’ It was more than he had the last time. More than my father ever had. Not that I planned on reading anything into it.
He shrugged. ‘The location doesn’t matter. Whichever you choose will be home. For all of us,’ he added succinctly.
I chose Athens.
A mere twenty-four hours later we drove through the imposing gates of Axios’s jaw-dropping villa. A different set of staff greeted us, and an even more opulent set of adjoining master suites had been readied for the prodigal wife’s return.
I was standing in the middle of cream and gold opulence when I felt his presence behind me. Not wanting to look into those hypnotising eyes, I kept still, my precious bundle safely tucked in my arms.
My skin beginning to tingle wildly, I snatched in a breath and held it when his mouth brushed over the shell of my ear and he said, in a low, deep whisper, ‘Welcome home, yineka mou. And rest assured that this time you will not get away from me that easily.’
MY SON.
I have a son.
My chest squeezed tight. The emotions tumbling through me were…indescribable.
Back on Bora Bora everything inside me had prompted me to accept Calypso at her word—accept that the child was mine. Only I’d made the mistake before of thinking I could manage her, that she was a victim when she was anything but. She was cunning. Intelligent and resourceful enough to disappear without a trace for a whole year.
And apparently to take what is mine with her.
The result of the paternity test spelled out in stark indelible ink confirmed that, in this at least, Calypso had spoken the truth. But swiftly on the heels of that knowledge came a mystifying mix of searing fury and heady delight—the former for what I’d been deprived of and the latter for the astounding gift I hadn’t even realised I wanted.
My son.
She kept him from me. Deliberately. Chose to leave my home and have my baby on her own, with no care as to what my feelings were in the matter. Why? Because I’d left her on Agistros? In the lap of the kind of luxury most people only dreamed about?
But did you give her any choice?
I swallowed the bite of guilt as my eyes locked on the paper.
Andreos.
Even as a part of my brain tested the name out and accepted that it fitted him my fingers were shaking with the enormity of everything I’d missed. Things I’d never have thought would matter suddenly assumed colossal importance.
His first cry.
His first smile.
His
