‘And how do you propose to do that?’ I asked.

‘By making things real both inside and outside of the marriage bed,’ he stated, his voice deep and sure.

Lightning-hot excitement charged through me, the need to experience this altered Axios overwhelming me. Would the change he wanted with his son manifest itself with me too, even in the short time I might have?

Only one way to find out.

I tugged myself free and stood to my feet.

Mutiny flashed in his eyes.

When he started to reach for me, I held up a hand. ‘If you want me to change my mind convince me that you’re worth it,’ I said.

Then I fled.

I went after her like a beast possessed.

She was mine.

My wife.

All evening I’d caught tantalising glimpses of her. The way she moved, the thoughtful way she responded to strangers’ rabid curiosity, even accommodating Stavros...

I’d run the gamut from telling myself I didn’t care about all the facets of herself she was revealing to feeling a determination to pin her down and extract every last secret from her.

But that video...

Her father was in possession of a hundred million euros. My name could have commanded an entire wing in a plush private hospital. And yet Calypso had chosen to deliver our son in a state-run hospital in Kenya with third-rate equipment. And, not only that, she’d done all that with an inner strength that shone through the footage, surrounded by people who had clearly held her in high regard.

She’d spent some of the past year volunteering. I couldn’t name a single member of my family who would devote their time to charity unless it came with a tax write-off or a star-studded gala where they could show off their diamonds.

And besides the awe-inspiring act of giving birth, the most striking thing about Calypso Xenakis was the determination I’d seen on her face in that video.

It had sparked something inside me. A need for...more.

That intoxicating little incident on the sofa this afternoon, compounded by the kiss on the balcony this evening and watching her nurse our son, was what had finally fully awakened the primitive beast inside me. The video was evidence of her strength and resilience, despite my less than stellar behaviour last year.

Even confessing the true relationship between myself and my father—a subject I’d never discussed with another living soul—had felt...liberating. That we were both products of our circumstances had triggered an affinity in us that had in turn laid out a different way to approach what had been thrust on us.

Perhaps it didn’t need to be finite.

That admission to do things differently this time had surprisingly settled deep inside me.

The Calypso I’d married had possessed a banked fire.

The woman who’d returned from her mysterious absence was flame and grit.

Heat I was unashamedly drawn to. Grit I wanted to explore.

Both characteristics drove me after her.

I arrived in the suite just as she was entering her own bedroom. I stopped her with the simple act of capturing her delicate wrist. The electricity of contact simply reaffirmed my decision.