But if Axios’s presence here wasn’t warning enough that the time I’d bought for myself was over, the look in his eyes said I wouldn’t escape scot-free.

Nevertheless, I wasn’t the same woman he’d married. Harrowing decisions made in the cold grip of fear had a way of changing a person.

‘Why does it matter to you, anyway? I thought you would be glad to see the back of me for ever.’

A ferocious light glinted in his eyes for a heart-stopping second before he took a step towards me. ‘You married a Xenakis, Calypso. You think simply packing your bag and walking out through the door is the end of it? That you simply had to hightail it to the other end of the world for your marriage vows to cease to have meaning?’

I stemmed my panic as his words rankled. ‘Our vows had meaning? I could’ve sworn you challenged me to find a way to make them stop having meaning.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘You think this was the answer?’

‘It was my way!’

‘Perhaps I should’ve added an addendum that finding a way needed to involve discretion and consideration. Nothing that would throw a spotlight on me or my family. My mistake. Tell me, Calypso, do you think disappearing off the face of the earth for over a year screams discretion or consideration?’

I shrugged with a carelessness I didn’t feel. ‘You didn’t stick around long enough to hash out another course of action. I did what was best.’

‘What was best for you, you mean?’

My senses wanted to scream yes! Caution warned me to remain calm. To talk this through as rationally as the tower of formidable fury in front of me would allow.

‘You still haven’t told me why you’re here.’

He made another sound of incredulity. ‘Because you’re my wife! Because the whispers need to cease. Because you will not jeopardise everything I’ve worked for. And that’s just for starters.’

‘Ah, now we’re getting to the bottom of it. You’re here because of what my absence is doing to your business? Is that it, Axios?’

With lightning speed warm fingers curled over my nape. His hold wasn’t threatening, simply holding me in place so that whatever point he needed to make would be accurately delivered.

‘While no one would dare say it to my face, rumours of my wife fleeing our marital home has caused ripples in my life. The kind I can do without. So make no mistake: I intend to remedy that. Whatever point you intended to make, it ends now.’

Each word contained a deadly promise—an intention to have his way that stoked the rebellion that had gone dormant in the last year back to life.

‘Believe it or not, my walking out had absolutely nothing to do with you.’

‘Enlighten me, then, matia mou. What was it all about?’

The soft cadence of his voice didn’t fool me.

‘What could possibly have driven you from the life of luxury and abundance your father battled for so cunningly?’