Page 243 of Modern Romance September 2025 5-8
‘I’m sorry to interrupt, sir, but there’s a woman here to see you.’
Images of Jane filled his mind. Was it possible she was still here? That she’d come to see him? And so what if she had? His breath hitched in his throat. His gut shanked.
‘I’m busy,’ he replied, because it was important that he not see her again. Not yet. He wasn’t prepared.
‘She says it’s urgent.’
He ground his teeth. ‘Fine,’ he said, standing. ‘But tell her I only have five minutes.’
He prowled to his floor-to-ceiling window overlooking Athens and waited, every bone in his body feeling heavy and stiff. The door opened and he made an effort to turn slowly, to brace for the impact of seeing her.
It was not, however, Jane who’d come to his office, but rather the woman he’d spent weeks hating and despising. His half-sister, Charlotte Shaw.
‘You,’ he muttered, glaring at her, surprised that she was shorter in real life than he’d expected, and far slimmer, too.
‘You,’ she spat back at him, crossing her arms. ‘Well, if I didn’t hate you before, I sure as hell have a reason to now.’
He laughed darkly. ‘Are you kidding me?’
‘Nothing about this is remotely amusing.’
‘You’re telling me?’ His eyes fell to her hand, and he saw on her ring finger a large emerald ring, so his stomach clenched—though, strangely, he’d been half expecting this, and he wasn’t even sure he could raise the energy to care anymore. Ironic, given how focused he’d been a moment ago on securing the company. ‘You’re engaged?’
‘And you’re a Grade-A jackass,’ she snapped.
His head reeled. ‘You sent your best friend to Athens to seduce me so you could steal my company,’ he said baldly. ‘And I’m the jackass?’
She at least had the decency to look ashamed.
‘Yeah, well, you sent her home utterly destroyed, so what are you going to do about it?’
His gut churned. Pain slashed through him. Jane, destroyed. Like she’d been on the boat, when she’d sobbed and pleaded with him to understand that she loved him. When she’d apologised and said she wanted to explain, and he’d cut her off, because on that morning, he’d truly felt as though no explanation would ever suffice.
‘I’m sure she’ll recover.’
‘Are you? Well, that shows how well you know her, because I’veneverseen Jane like this. Not even after Steven.’ It was the worst thing Lottie could have said to him. The truth of that plunged into him like a knife.
‘And it’s my fault,’ she continued. ‘I’m the one who begged her to do this. I’m the one who pushed past her objections, who pleaded with her, because I knew that she would never say no to me. I used her,’ Charlotte continued, guilt-stricken, crossing her arms, ‘and now I have to fix it.’
‘Some things can’t be fixed,’ he said darkly, thinking of his love for Jane and how transformative it had been—and how devastating to recognise that it had also been based on a scam.
‘You’re not even going to try?’
‘Why would I?’ he demanded, blanking Jane from his mind with Herculean effort.
‘So, you don’t love her?’
He kept his expression neutral, but just barely. ‘I can’t see what business that is of yours.’
‘I’m making it my business.’
He actually laughed, a deranged sort of sound, totally lacking humour. ‘That’s not your prerogative.’
‘This makes it so.’ She lifted her hand, so the ring sparkled visibly. ‘You care about this company.’
His nostrils flared with an angry breath.
‘You want to keep it?’
