by Olivia Gates
“Then, three years later, Aristedes took us to the States. I kept it a secret or they wouldn’t have let me go—or worse. But I promised Petros I’d take care of him. I worked while studying, and sent him all the money I made to support his sick parents and pay the protection money the gang demanded in lieu of my services. But when I went back for him as soon as I finished college, I found them in abject poverty. The gang had been taking every dollar I sent. Then they asked for three million dollars to let me take Petros and his parents with me. They wanted me to ask Aristedes for the money, but I refused to drag him into this. So they gave me another option. To be ‘theirs’ for five years. I agreed.”
Naomi’s heart squeezed until she felt it would rupture.
He’d entered into indentured slavery for his friend!
“And for the next five years, they put my ‘talents’ to use, defrauding and embezzling countless millions for them.”
God. If hearing about this oppressed and enraged her that much, how had it felt living through it?
“But as the fifth year drew to an end, it became clear I was too lucrative for them to ever let me go. So I confronted the boss, my original recruiter and ‘mentor.’ It enraged him that after all he’d done for me, I wanted to leave him.”
“He destroyed your life!” she cried out. “He enslaved you! Was he insane as well as a monster?”
“He wasn’t exactly sane in the way he viewed me. He considered me his firstborn, as none of his sons had followed in his footsteps, and he’d bestowed his ‘fatherly’ pride on me. From my uncomplaining efficiency, he’d thought I’d become fully engaged in his way of life, and he’d planned to surprise me at the end of that five-year test of his. Instead of cutting me loose, he would have made me his heir, bypassing his own sons. I had one father who didn’t know I was alive, and when I stumbled on another, he became obsessed with me.”
“And he thought you should love him for it and be grateful, huh? I can’t even imagine how you felt, but just hearing about it makes me so mad I could kill that man.”
“Don’t bother. I already did.”
Her jaw dropped. “Y-you...?”
“I killed him. In self-defense...I guess.”
Beyond shocked, she could barely articulate the question. “W-what do you mean?”
“He said I was destroying all his hopes, but I wasn’t walking away with all his secrets. In one of the rare times I ever got angry, I told him what I thought of him, I guess breaking whatever he had for a heart that morbidly loved me. Bad mistake, since he came after me with his favorite machete. Then he was lying at my feet...dead.”
“So why do you say you ‘guess’ it was self-defense? It was!”
“I say so because he was much older and I had long surpassed him in expertise with weapons. It was crystal clear to me during that explosive fight that it was him or me. But I don’t know if I thought that because I was in danger in those moments, or because I knew that if I only stopped him then, he would still have me killed eventually. Then what was to become of Petros and his folks? To this day I don’t know what is true.”
“Then it was self-defense and in defense of others, too.”
His eyes thanked her for her fierceness, but didn’t concede that verdict. “Whatever it was, I got away with it. I turned myself in, but the Cretan police were so thrilled someone had finally rid them of that kingpin, and seemed extra glad that it was me who’d done it. Seemed they knew exactly what he’d done to me. Their official report said it was a hired assassin from a rival gang, and they even helped me take Petros and his family out of Crete. I’d just gotten them settled here, thinking I had finally escaped this nightmare, when I discovered that it wasn’t over, not by a long shot.”
When he paused, Naomi grabbed his forearm. “Just say everything at once!”
He looked surprised at her agitation, but pleased by the evidence of her involvement in his story.
Then his gaze looked into the past again. “The man’s wife, who became the new kingpin in her husband’s place, called me. She somehow knew it was me who’d killed her husband. And she pledged that as I’d deprived her of the love of her life, she would strike at my loved ones. I scoffed at her threat, told her I didn’t have any, thanks to her late husband. I lost all contact with my family during the years of servitude to him. As for Petros, he wasn’t a loved one but more of a...pet.”
Naomi knew he’d had to say this to make that bitch lay off. It must have galled him having to do so. “Did she buy it?”
“I guess, about Petros. But she said that one day I would resume relationships with my family or make a new one. And that’s when she’d strike.”
All the missing shards hurtled together so fast, so hard in her mind, Naomi collapsed back on the couch under the barrage.
This...this was monstrous. And explained so much....
“I knew she was capable of keeping me under surveillance forever, having laid their networks and provided their financing myself. But I didn’t think it was such a big problem. I doubted my family wanted me back. But as the years passed, they tried to reconnect with me and I started feeling that ax hanging over my head more every day. Then I met you.”
Every wisp of air left her in a rush.
“I suddenly couldn’t let this go on anymore. So I went to Crete to negotiate an alliance with a rival cartel, to help me neutralize the threat from I Kyría, as she’d come to be known.”
“W-was that the time you saved me and Malcolm from Christos Stephanides’s thugs?”
“Yes. I knew Malcolm was courting my favor by planning to do business in my homeland. When I found out you were going with him, it brought things to a head and I decided it was time to seek that alliance.”
“Were you following us that day?”
“I was following you.”
So Nadine had been right.
He went on. “I know you think I saved you, but I don’t believe Christos would have seen his threat through. He’s not that bad. Nothing like the people I was mixed up with. That’s why I succeeded in negotiating with him on your behalf, but failed in my own negotiations, since I couldn’t offer my prospective allies full disclosure about why I needed their help.”
“And money didn’t work?”
“It doesn’t work that way in these areas. It’s people throwing their lots together and depending on each other to have each other’s back, and it was a price I couldn’t pay. I was never again becoming vulnerable to anyone.”
“What happened then?” She could barely choke out the question.
“I did the stupidest thing I’d ever done in my life. I went back to the States and straight to Malcolm’s office. I had an excuse to see you and I took it. And you approached me...and you know how that went. You were the first one I ever wanted, but I knew this was what I Kyría was waiting for. I knew you’d be her target if anyone ever found out about us.”
So that was it. Why he’d so obsessively kept their relationship, then their marriage a total secret.
Only one question was left. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He huffed. “That I was a criminal and a murderer, and associating with me might make you target to a vengeful mob boss?”
Naomi found herself on her feet. “You’re no such things! You were forced into whatever crimes you perpetrated. As for her, I would have understood the need for secrecy.”
He seemed stunned by her reaction. “I didn’t think you’d understand. I thought you’d just run away.” He barked a harsh, ugly laugh. “But in the end, you ran because I didn’t tell you, it seems. But I had hopes I could end this, and this was why I stalled you in that divorce. I’d been going all out to negotiate with I Kyría and she’d suddenly seemed amenable, had me doing things for her to ‘atone.’ Then after six months, she told me that she’d been only stringing me along,
giving me hope before taking it away, and that I’d have to live like her forever, without having anyone close. Because the moment I came near to someone, anyone, she’d deprive me of them. She’d moved from bereaved to deranged, and her hatred of me had become what fueled her existence. I knew then that I’d gotten away with the time we had together, but we’d entered a whole new level, and no amount of secrecy or precautions would prove enough from then on. I signed the divorce papers then and just cut myself off from everyone, including Petros.”
And everything finally made sense. Horrific sense.
“I couldn’t come back even for Leonidas’s funeral or Aristedes’s wedding. I only went to Caliope’s wedding because it was in the depths of Russia and a spur-of-the-moment affair that no one could have known about. But Petros and Nadine’s funeral was announced, and you were there. I couldn’t risk alerting her to your and Dorothea’s existence.”
This was atrocious. He’d been living in fear that he’d act as a bull’s eye to whomever he was close to.
“Then how did you end up coming back?” she whispered.
“How do you think?”
“Y-you...?”
At her choking horror, his lips twisted. “Don’t you think she deserved it?”
“Actually, yes, but...”
He ended her stammering. “Much as I had long wished to send her to her husband’s side, I’m no killer. She just died. Thankfully. Not that I thought this would change anything. I was sure she left instructions to hound me into the next life. But I went to her funeral, anyway. No matter that she’d turned my life into hell, I did kill her husband and it was what sent her off the deep end. I wanted to make my peace with her.”
Naomi exploded to her feet. “And what? Has she risen up from her grave and is after you as a zombie now?”
He tugged her back to the couch. “You managed all that, and now you flake out on me?”
“Dammit, Andreas,” she shouted. “What happened?”
He exhaled. “Her oldest son approached me, said that whatever vendetta existed between me and his mother had died with her. He condemned his parents’ criminal activities, and what they’d done to me. The man said he bore me no ill will, even begged my pardon.”
“That was it? For real?”
“I know what you mean. I could hardly believe it myself. That no one was in danger because of me anymore. That I was free. For the first time since I was thirteen.”
Naomi didn’t know how she held back from throwing herself at him. Probably because she was paralyzed with so many realizations and emotions.
“I came back that same day. With the time difference, I arrived here to wait for you to come home.”
Suddenly, she felt her consciousness begin to flicker.
He was...was...smiling.
Sinking back on the couch, she moaned, “What a time for you to crack your first real smile.”
His grin widened even more. “It’s just...phew, what a load off. I never told anyone any of this. Only Petros knew. And not everything. I never told him about my suspicion that I didn’t kill that man in pure self-defense.”
But you haven’t told me everything. So many questions still clamored inside her.
Before she could ask any, he continued. “But I can’t blame everything I am on these events. Even without this hanging over my head, I wasn’t relationship material, not with my background.”
“Your father, you mean?”
“And myself. With the kind of life I led, I never felt much for anyone.”
She gaped at him. He really thought so.
She surged toward him, needing to put him straight. “You felt far more than most people ever could. You sacrificed yourself for your family’s and Petros’s safety.”
He frowned at her. “I never looked at it that way, or that I did anything because of feelings. I thought I was responsible as the one who could do something about it all. So I did it.”
“And to do it, you wouldn’t let yourself feel, so you’d operate on maximum efficiency unclouded by emotion.”
He mulled over her statement, which he seemed to have never considered. “You might be right. I didn’t let anything surface, not even anger. I got so used to being this way, I no longer knew if I had emotions lurking beneath or not. But then I was free of the threat that has defined my life, and free to honor Petros’s will.” Andreas suddenly took her hands in his. “And that was before I saw Dorothea. But now that I have, I want to far more than I ever thought I could. You might think it too soon for me to be saying this, and I know I’d never be the father Petros would have been, but I’ll do my damnedest to be there for Dorothea in every possible way.”
His impassioned pledge lodged right into Naomi’s heart.
For she now knew without a doubt he meant it. And he would fulfill it. The Andreas who’d borne all that for the father would do even more for the daughter.
Holding back tears with difficulty, Naomi nodded. “You’d succeed in anything you put your mind to, Andreas.”
“But I can only if I’m part of her daily life.”
What about being part of hers, too?
But he’d just admitted she wasn’t why he’d come back. She’d been incidental to his main objective.
An hour ago, Naomi’s main objective had been to defend Dora and herself. But now, with their history rewritten, all she wanted was to give Andreas whatever he needed, to try to erase the pain and injustice he’d suffered, even at the expense of her own needs. There was only one answer she could give him.
“I’ll agree to anything you want.”
His eyes flared with relief, his hands squeezing hers in supplication. “Then move in with me.”
Ten
“Move over, world, here comes super Dorothea!”
Naomi’s eyes jerked up, the newspaper she’d been reading already forgotten.
But then this sight regularly made her forget the whole world. The sight of Andreas with Dora.
In workout pants and a tank top that showed off the poetry of his physique, Andreas was holding Dora up high in one hand. Clad in a bright red-and-blue jumpsuit, Dora was shrieking in delight as she held herself in a tight upward bow and spread out her arms and legs like a flying superhero.
It was his turn today to handle Dora’s morning routine. She was one happy baby in general, but she reserved that extra edge of glee for her daddy. And there was no doubt anymore that was what Andreas was becoming, or had already become, in the month since they’d moved with him into the house in Manhattan Beach.
A month when he’d been performing all possible fatherly chores for Dora, been the perfect host and housemate to them all and a great companion and friend to Naomi...and nothing more.
Not one single look or touch more.
Andreas approached the chuckling Hannah, swept Dora down for a smacking kiss, then did the same with Naomi, to Dora’s raucous delight. He ended the aerial show by flipping her into her high chair, and when she yelled for more, he only raised an eyebrow and she at once changed her tone, pretended to clap, asking for her toys with utmost courteousness.
After he prepared her breakfast and poured himself a cup of coffee, Andreas came to sit across from Naomi at the huge kitchen island. “Doing anything special today?”
Hannah was the one who answered him. “I’m heading for Connecticut as soon as one of you comes home from work.”
Andreas turned to Hannah. “You can go now so you can have the whole day with Susan. I’ll do all my meetings online. Call Steve the moment you’re ready to go.”
Hannah, who never stopped being awed by Andreas’s pampering, smiled with grateful pleasure. “That would be great to get a head start, even if I’m staying with Susan and the kids till the weekend. And I’ll take Spiros if he’s available. He’s so entertainin
g to drive with.”
Andreas gave her one of those smiles that progressively came easier to him. “Spiros it is.” Then he turned to Naomi. “It’s you and me, then. If you don’t have something else planned, that is.”
She was only glad she had. “Actually, I’m going out with Malcolm after work. We’re meeting a couple of potential clients for dinner. What was this all about?’
His gaze betrayed nothing but mild if good-natured disappointment as he turned around to Dora. “Seems we’ll celebrate alone, mikri prinkipissa mou.”
Naomi’s heart trembled at the way he called Dora my little princess. “Celebrate what?”
“A milestone. You’ve all been here a month today.”
“If only you’d given us a heads-up,” Hannah lamented.
Andreas waved a hand. “There’ll be other milestones.” He rose to clean the mess Dora had made while attempting to eat alone, then started feeding her another portion to make up for what had ended up on the tray and floor. “Like Dorothea’s first birthday in a month. We’ll do something big then. How about that?”
After the two women approved of his plan, Hannah excused herself, giving Naomi a look that clearly meant: Are you mad? Going out with Malcolm when you could be celebrating with Andreas? When I’ve left you two alone, too?
Naomi escaped her gaze, pretended she had to run, kissed Dora and said a few vague things to Andreas before striding out.
She had to settle this with Hannah soon, so she’d stop trying to give her time alone with Andreas. To him, Naomi was now merely Dora’s mother or caretaker...or whatever she was.
The irony never ceased to torment her. Now that he was free to feel, he couldn’t feel even passion for her anymore.
But she knew this situation was the only logical solution. Even if it meant she would now have him constantly in her life...yet never have him at all.
All she could wish for was that one day, she’d be free of her feelings for him, too.
* * *
“I think this contract is ours, Naomi.”
She smiled at Malcolm across the table. “We did give a damn irresistible pitch.”
