Axios’s arrival had simply shortened the time I’d given myself before checking off the last item on my list.

‘You’ll consider believing me after you’ve triple-checked everything I say?’

The unapologetic gleam in his eyes told me he intended to do exactly that. Tear through every new, unconditional friendship I’d formed along the way, every haven I’d sought refuge in.

My stomach churned at the thought of Axios finding out the true state of my health and exploiting it the way my father had done with my mother. It was that terrible thought more than anything else that cemented my decision to keep my secret.

If he found out my condition, he would wonder if the state of my health affected my suitability as a mother. Unlike my mother, my flaws weren’t outward. For the precious time being, I could hang on to that.

As for when I couldn’t...

‘All you need to know is that Andreos is yours and I’m prepared to return to Greece. If that’s what you want?’

His nostrils flared and his gaze raked my face for long sizzling seconds before his lips twisted. ‘Oh, yes, wife. The time has most definitely come for that. And whatever it is that you’re keeping from me, rest assured, I’ll find out.’

With that he stepped back.

Thinking he was going to leave me to grapple with the turmoil his unexpected arrival had caused, I watched, my heart speeding like a freight train, as he headed to the cot where Andreos slept.

Silence disturbed only by the slow stirring of the ceiling fan throbbed in the room as Axios stared down at the son he hadn’t accepted was his. His jaw clenched tight and his throat moved convulsively as he watched the rise and fall of the baby’s chest.

He remained frozen for so long I feared he’d take root there. When he turned abruptly and tugged a sleek phone from his pocket my senses tripped.

‘What are you doing?’

Eyes the colour of a stormy sky met mine as he hit a number and lifted the handset to his ear. ‘Getting the answers I need.’

The sharp orders he gave in Greek when the phone was answered didn’t surprise me. The irony that the one truth I’d told him was the one he was having a hard time accepting wasn’t lost on me. But, conversely, I understood. I too had wondered why fate would choose to lay both joy and sorrow on me in one fell swoop, leaving me with a choice that had seemed both simple and terrifying.

After all, my actions pointed to behaviour that would’ve left me suspicious too. And, considering what my own mother had done for the sake of freedom and love—an act that was an open secret in Nicrete—I didn’t blame Axios for wanting to verify that the baby he’d helped create was truly his.

When he was done making an appointment for his private doctor to visit his home in Athens the moment he returned, to take DNA samples for a paternity test, he hung up, his piercing regard staying on me as he tucked his phone away.