by SR Jones
“Indeed. Yannis is a psycho. She doesn’t want him finding any of this out. I mean, the girl might be screwed up, but she doesn’t deserve being married off to a freak like him. I heard he’s into cutting girls. Blood play, of the non-consensual variety I hasten to add.” Alesso shakes his head, his lips a hard, disapproving line.
Jesus, fuck. It gets worse. Surely to God, her parents won’t let Maya marry such a loose cannon?
I shouldn’t care, shouldn’t give a shit, but I do. My dick wants to be in her bad. Even though I hate the fact she gave those shows for Alesso and not me, I kind of like the spirit it shows.
“What’s eating you, anyway? Is it the thought of having to go sort through your yaya’s things? I’ll go with you.”
I know he will, he’s always got my back. I nod. “Thanks, man, it’s not only Yaya. Shit feels kind of heavy is all.”
His phone goes before he can interrogate me further. Markos is the one babysitting at the moment, and I kind of wish he weren’t. Wish I were there, watching over Maya. Maybe I could tell her I want her to put a show on for me?
A dark part of me roars to life. I could blackmail her into it, tell her if she doesn’t, I’ll reveal what she’s been doing all this time. I won’t, though; even I’m not that much of an asshole.
Then something hits me. Fuck, the security feed, the tapes.
The girl could be in a ton of shit, if those tapes get out. It may be a way for her to get out of her wedding, though. Then again, it would ruin her reputation for life. Still, she could slink away, nurse her wounds, then start over again. Yannis is a loose cannon, though. On the one hand, those tapes get made public, and he might simply abandon his plans to marry her and publicly shame her. On the other he might do something as crazy as deciding to execute her. There’s no telling with that fucker. No, it’s safer for Maya if those tapes are destroyed, gone forever. I could do it, but it would be hard to explain to her father, Spiros.
“Yeah, be there in an hour.” Alesso hangs up.
“Boss wants us up at the house. Needs us to sign some shit; seems like we’re getting deeper in. You up for this?” He considers me.
Neither of us planned on becoming players in Stamatis’ world in our own rights when this began; we were simply meant to be hired muscle. Alesso was paying off his debt, and I helped him, but now, we’re getting in so deep I don’t think we’ll ever get out.
One of the people we know well is a guy called Andrius. He’s a scary, cold motherfucker who worked for the Russian mob in England. He’s helped set up meets between his old boss, Allyov, and Alesso and I. Allyov needs help running some big-ass weapons inventories. Needs shipping lanes that are safe and clear of law enforcement and ships too, but he doesn’t have the infrastructure. Stamatis, he has the infrastructure. He runs weapons, but only in small amounts, and this shit will move him up to a whole new level of arms dealing. Alesso and me too.
Whilst some of Stamatis’ men have spent time with Allyov, mostly getting drunk on high-end vodka, none of them managed to reel him in. Alesso and me, though? We have the recommendation of Andrius, and it’s got us farther than anyone else.
I nod. “Yeah, I’m in.”
The stuff Allyov is doing is semi-legal, and in some senses it’s safer than the business Stamatis was involved in already. But it’s not the business; it’s the man behind it. Allyov is a big deal, and his connections even more so. If we go in with him, we’re entering a murky world, and we’ll need to watch our backs.
“You know, Andrius told me the other day that Allyov keeps calling for these little chats, but he wants him back in the game. Andrius doesn’t want to be back in the game, but we both know—you get into this world, and it doesn’t let you go.” Alesso is giving me a warning, himself too maybe.
“Why would I want it to?” Genuine fucking question, because after the shit I’ve seen and done, no way am I cut out for a nine-to-five office job.
“Okay. Well, we need to get to the house then, don’t we?”
We arrive at Stamatis’ family home, and it’s only him and his men as the family are away. His elder son, Mikhalis is in America studying law, and Stamatis’ wife is visiting with him. His younger son, Costas, is staying with some friends in a big party house on the coast in Glyfada for a couple of weeks. He’s somewhat of a screw-up.
Stamatis’ plan is that one of his sons will be legit, on the surface. A big name in law, finance, politics, whatever the hell his money can buy them into, from where they can wield influence to help the business.
Stamatis is in the process of carving things up, and he hopes his youngest, Costas, will come into the biz alongside him at some point. Problem is, Costas is far too much of a mess right now. He’s probably almost as messed up as Yannis Pappas is rumored to be. Not an opinion I’d share with the big boss, but Costas is on drugs, drinks too much, and allegedly likes some darkly kinky shit.
Until Costas gets his act together, Stamatis keeps giving him non-jobs simply to keep him busy.
It means Mikhalis is busy trying to get legit, and then he can influence things from that position. Costas is too busy getting his party on to care about the business, both of which play into mine and Alesso’s hands.
Both Alesso and I can put money into things, so we’ll be proper partners in this new venture with Allyov if it goes ahead. Stamatis said something the other day about us inheriting our share if anything happens to him, once we commit. Something I’m not sure his sons would be happy about. This venture could cause trouble down the line.
Not that he will be gone for a long time, hopefully. The fucker is fit, eats well, only has the odd cigar and doesn’t drink much. He works out, and he seems to naturally be the sort of person who doesn’t get easily stressed. So he should be around for a good long while, but in this life, most of us don’t get to go from natural causes, so who knows.
“Gentlemen.” He pats us both on the back as we head past him into the house. He takes us into the den first of all. “Drink?”
I nod toward the Scotch and smile as he pours me a large serving of the amber liquid.
“I’ll take the same,” Alesso says.
“So this friend of yours, Andrius, is he trustworthy?” Stamatis gets right down to it.
“As solid as they come,” Alesso replies. “Allyov, though, we need to watch our backs with. Guy’s a fucking freak if you ask me.”
“Oh, how so?” Stamatis leans against the wall and crosses his arms in front of his chest.
“This doesn’t leave this room, right?” Alesso asks.
“Close the door,” Stamatis shouts to the two men standing guard outside. They do immediately. “Of course.” Stamatis gives a slight toss of his head, Greek body language for an arrogant yes.
“Andrius and his lady, Violet, aren’t what they seem.”
“Don’t talk in riddles, Alesso.” Stamatis purses his lips in annoyance.
“I mean, they are what they seem … now, but the way they started…” I watch Alesso try to find the words.
“Allyov kidnapped Violet when she worked as a waitress in his restaurant and gave her to Andrius as a gift. Against her will, and he did it to ensure Andrius would be malleable to his whims.” I tell it like it is. “The reasons why Andrius didn’t simply say no to his gift are many, but that’s the long and the short of it.”
“Wow, okay. Well, I already have a wife, so hopefully Allyov won’t be doing such things with me,” Stamatis says with a chuckle. “Sick fuck.”
“Indeed. So you see, we can go in with him, but we need to be careful. Andrius knows him well, knows his playbook, and I’m sure if he starts to do any crazy shit, he’ll help us decipher what’s going on.”
“But this Andrius, his loyalties lie with Allyov, correct?”
Alesso laughs. “Andrius’ loyalties lie with himself and Violet, end of. But he’s not scared of Allyov, and he’s honest; he’ll make a good sounding board if we need ways to deal with Allyov’s Machiavellian schemes. He won’t
stab his old boss in the back, but he’ll help smooth the negotiations if need be.”
“Okay. This could be big news for us. The man wants to move a huge amount of product.”
There’s a commotion at the door. Voices. Alesso’s phone rings, and he takes it out of his pocket and frowns.
“It’s Markos,” he tells Stamatis.
The boss indicates for him to answer the phone with an impatient gesture. Alesso does and tells the person on the other end to hold their horses, he’s coming.
He hangs up, turns to me and Stamatis, and frowns. “He’s here … outside, with your niece and your brother’s wife.”
Stamatis sighs. “Goddammit, what the hell are they doing here?”
“Let us go see.” He gestures for us to go to the front door, which we do.
Alesso opens the door as he’s ahead of me, and I watch as he jogs down the steps to a waiting car.
“What’s going on?” I stand at the open door as Maya and her mother, Marina, step out of the car.
“I think that’s my question to ask, don’t you?” Stamatis grunts at me as he stands by me in the open door. I don’t reply.
“The family aren’t here, Marina.” Stamatis sweeps his arms out as if to show the emptiness of his kingdom.
“I know, we’re here to see you,” Marina says firmly.
“We were having a meeting.” He sighs. “I shall have to get rid of the men in the house. Give me five minutes. You three stay.” He points to me, Alesso, and Markos.
I find my gaze drawn to Maya as if against my own volition. She’s scared, nervy, and unsure. It’s written in the lines of her face, and the way she keeps nibbling on her thumbnail, only to drop it, before once more lifting it to her mouth.
Stamatis reappears and gives us a nod so slight it’s almost imperceptible.
“Come inside,” Alesso says, and steps back for them to enter the house.
“Okay, they are gone. Come.” Stamatis gestures to Maya and Marina to follow him. He bypasses the formal dining room, the formal sitting room, the den too and leads them to his study.
He closes the door, leaving the three of us standing guard outside.
At first there is nothing but muffled voices and talking, in which I can only make out the odd word, one or two of which make it clear they are discussing Maya’s upcoming nuptials. All falls silent for a while, but then Marina shrieks at Stamatis, and her words shock me to the core.
“You bastard! You can’t do this to her; she’s your daughter.”
I turn to Alesso, whose eyes are wide as saucers, and then to Markos, who is smirking like the fucker he is. Shit. She’s his daughter? It makes sense to me as soon as I hear the words. The tall, regal physique, the feisty temper she has, the way she might be scared as hell but doesn’t let it show. These aren’t traits she got from her loser father. They’re traits Stamatis owns.
Hope blooms in my chest. If she’s his daughter, then surely, he’ll stop the marriage. I don’t know why I care, and I tell myself it’s simply because I don’t want to see any woman heading for the same fate as my mother, but I know that’s a lie.
The door to the study opens, and Stamatis glares at us. “You three, get in here.”
We troop in, and we already kind of know what’s going down because these guys were shouting loud enough for the Devil himself to hear in Hell. His words still come as a shock, though, for some reason.
“I need one of you to marry my niece,” he says.
“Excuse me?” Markos lifts his brows so high they almost hit his hairline.
I bite back a smile at the exaggerated response.
“Yeah, not you,” Stamatis grunts.
Markos takes no offence, simply shrugs. He’s probably pleased not to be involved in this in any way. I don’t know if Markos is straight, gay, bi, or asexual. He doesn’t talk about sex, ever. He doesn’t date so far as I’m aware. I’ve never caught him looking at porn or any of the other stuff guys come across when living together.
Then again, he doesn’t talk about much at all. He’s the epitome of a closed book.
Stamatis stares at Alesso and me, and I have the sensation of being on a precipice, about to step off.
“Alesso, I need you to marry my niece.” Stamatis finally makes his mind up and speaks.
My heart sinks, and what the hell is that about?
I should be relieved, same as Markos, to be off the chopping block, but I made myself a promise. I swore to have Maya scream my name, and if she’s married to Alesso that can’t happen.
“What?” Alesso’s face pales to a sickly color, making all his golden skin appear yellow. The word comes out harsh, almost disgusted.
Maya makes a small sound in her throat. I’m nearest to her out of all the men in the room, and I’m certain the others won’t have heard it. It’s the reverberation of hurt and mortification made into sound waves. A tiny, forlorn gasp she swallows down.
I’m conflicted. Part of me wants to say I’ll do it because then I can save her this humiliation, but for what? To dish out my own? To have her begging for me so I can feel the satisfaction of it?
That’s messed up, and I keep quiet.
“Sir, I don’t understand. I’m supposed to be on leave this weekend; I have to go back home. There’s a girl I’m dating. I mean, this isn’t … I can’t… I don’t understand.” Alesso’s words are full of genuine panic. This is going to screw everything between him and Sophia up forever.
Now, I may think he’s a gold-plated fool to be messing around with some naïve girl from a tiny island village, who will want marriage and babies, but it’s his life, and this is a major spanner in the works for him.
“I need someone to marry her, only for a year or so, and it can be fake. I don’t expect you to consummate it or anything,” Stamatis says.
Maya shuffles her feet, and I dart a glance her way to see she’s so focused on the floor the carpet might set alight under the intensity of her scrutiny.
Stamatis sighs. “Someone needs to step up because the shit is about to hit the fan. Maya is not going to be marrying Yannis, and that can cause complications between the families. I need someone I know she’s safe with to step up. I also have to pay half a million euros to those fuckers as she’s not going to marry into their backward clan.” He jabs his finger at Maya, and his coldness toward her makes something uncoil within me.
We all heard. We know she’s his daughter, not his niece, and his attitude sucks. I bristle at the way she’s talked about and treated.
“What the fuck kind of contract is she locked into?” The words are out before I can think better of it. “Sounds more like she’s cattle being bought and sold at market than a human being.”
Stamatis swings his intense gaze my way and smiles a shark smile, one that doesn’t meet his eyes, and warns me to be careful. “The sort of contract her father thought would be a good idea to enter into. I don’t know why he did so, but at the time it helped the overall goals of this family, so I agreed to it because it suited my agenda too. It meant that her father actually had something to offer as my brother which, frankly, was a shock. Now, due to these revelations about Yannis, it no longer suits our family for them to marry, so I am putting a stop to it. So, Alesso.” Stamatis turns his attentions back to my friend.
Alesso shakes his head and blows out a breath.
“You work for me,” Stamatis says, putting some threat into his tone.
Yeah, don’t think this will wash with Alesso, and if Stamatis isn’t careful, he’s going to find himself with three ex-security guys walking out on him in about five minutes. And we’re important to him because we keep him safe in a way others can’t, partly by reputation alone.
Stamatis seems to recognize he’s crossing the line and spreads his hands out in a pacifying gesture. “I get that this goes beyond that, but you do owe me—”
Maya shuffles again and takes a jagged breath in, and I can’t bear it a moment longer. I don’t want Alesso to have to do th
is and screw his chance with Sophia up, and I don’t want Maya humiliated this way. It’s no skin off my nose to marry the spoiled little princess for a few months, and who knows? It might be a whole lot of fun. Girl is hot, and she has a spark about her I like.
I can imagine worse ways to spend my evenings than sparring with Maya. And what if some of my intentions are less than honorable? She doesn’t have much choice, and I won’t play that way with her unless she wants it too. In fact, haven’t I resolved to have her literally begging me for it before I go near her?
It’s twisted of me, and I’m not sure why I care, but I want her lusting after me the way she does Alesso.
“I’ll do it.” I step forward, and Maya’s squeak of surprise has my gaze swinging her way.
She slams her mouth shut, and her wary gaze meets mine. I flash her a shit-eating grin then turn back to the boss.
“Excuse me?” Stamatis raises his brows and looks as if I’ve offered to cut off my arm or something. “Why? You don’t owe me. Technically, Alesso does. Why would you do this?”
“Alesso is a lovesick fool, and he wants to romance some local village girl,” I say.
Alesso growls under his breath, but I ignore him because it does make him a fool.
“I don’t have anyone,” I continue. The words are true. With Yaya gone, I have no family, and only Alesso, Markos, and the psycho Andrius to call true friends. “It’s not going to be a hardship for me to enter into a fake marriage for a few months or a year. I’ll keep Maya safe, make sure Yannis doesn’t do anything, and then when the time is up, when he’s moved on to someone new, and she’s off the radar, we can quietly get divorced.”
I don’t add that in the meantime, I’m hoping to have some fun with her. Nothing too deep, and nothing too dirty. I can’t fuck her; we all know she’s been kept pristine, but that doesn’t mean I can’t play with her. She’s the mouse to my cat, and I want to have some fun.
“I still don’t get why you’d do this.” Stamatis frowns and rubs the back of his neck.
“It won’t be so bad, Stamatis.” I turn and give Maya a wink. “It’s hardly cruel and unusual punishment. Your niece is a beautiful and cultured young woman. We can go out places and enjoy ourselves, and in the privacy of our own home, we live our separate lives.”
