Page 24 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

‘What?’

‘He was kidnapped.’

Hope’s hand went to her mouth in horror. She took it down. ‘Kidnapped? How? Where?’

Axel’s face was tight. ‘I’m only telling you this because it’s public record. We were at the port of Piraeus, about to go on a sailing trip on the family yacht. Ares and I had been bickering. I was still in the car, looking for something, and when I found it, he was gone. He was snatched. I presumed he was on the boat, but he wasn’t. They had him for two weeks. On a boat. Locked in a cabin. My parents refused to pay the ransom because they were afraid that the gang would target me, and I was of more value to them.’

Hope’s mouth dropped open in shock. This put his parents into another league than merely cold. ‘But that’s…’

‘Awful. Yes.’

‘How did he escape?’

‘He didn’t. The police tracked the gang down and rescued him from the boat. No thanks to my parents. From that day on he wasn’t the same. He kept to himself. Wouldn’t talk about it. He left home at seventeen, joined the army and turned his back on his inheritance.’

And turned his back on Axel, Hope could see. ‘Where is he now?’

‘He’s a security consultant and he’s made his own fortune.’

‘I’m glad he has survived.’

Axel looked at her and she caught a glimpse of such abject pain that she understood immediately that, for some irrational reason, Axel blamed himself. But they’d just been kids badly let down by their parents. She had the sense of him having a deeply ingrained sense of responsibility from a young age.

She would love to know more but she knew she’d strayed too far already and said, ‘I’m sorry you and he had to go through such an awful experience.’

The waiter returned to take their plates and Axel said, ‘We’ll take the bill, please.’

* * *

Hope shouldn’t be surprised Axel wanted to end the evening. It wasn’t as if this had been a date. Outside, the car was waiting at the corner. Hope shivered slightly as the breeze skated over her bare skin. Summer was on the wane.

She felt a warm weight settle on her shoulders and realised Axel had given her his jacket. His scent surrounded her and she was touched by the gesture. ‘Thank you.’

Axel opened the door of the car and Hope sat inside. The journey back to the apartment was silent. Hope soaked up Paris at night, bars lit up and people relaxing over drinks.

In the reception area of the apartment Hope said, ‘So I guess there’ll be pictures in the papers tomorrow?’

Axel nodded. ‘Yes, and there’ll undoubtedly be some speculation about you but my people will do their best to minimise it.’

Hope’s insides tensed at the thought of people looking at her image and wondering about her. But it wasn’t as if they’d find all that much of interest. ‘OK, well, goodnight, then, and I’m sorry again about your brother.’

‘Goodnight, Hope.’

She started to leave but then realised she was still wearing his jacket and stopped and turned around again, intending on giving it back, but she collided with a wall.

She looked up. Not a wall. Axel, who had obviously been heading for the bedrooms too, right behind her. His hands came to her upper arms to steady her. They were pressed together and all Hope could feel was heat and steel. And for someone who’d never been really aware of the opposite sex before and how they could make her feel—as if she were all soft and gooey inside—it was seriously disturbing. But not in a bad way. In a dangerously exciting way.

She found her voice. ‘Sorry, I, ah, meant to give you back your jacket. I wouldn’t want you to think I’m nicking it.’

‘Nicking?’

‘Stealing.’

He wasn’t moving back. Why wasn’t he moving? But Hope couldn’t seem to care all that much when all she wanted to do was press closer.

Axel’s gaze was on her mouth. It tingled under his look. She licked her lips in an entirely innocent move and his hands tightened on her arms and his eyes widened.

‘Is there something wrong?’