by Nikki Ash
I can’t have both.
Not in this moment.
So I choose them.
Pressing a soft kiss to Talia’s lips, I murmur, “Let’s go.”
She hands me Zoe and I freeze. I’ve never held a damn baby. But Talia doesn’t give me a chance to argue. The moment the tiny flailing thing is in my arms, Talia starts throwing stuff into a diaper bag. I can’t help but hold Zoe close to me, kissing the top of her head.
Those motherfuckers kept this from me.
My wife. My baby. My goddamn family.
Rage surges violently inside of me, but I don’t unleash it. Talia’s right. I need to get them out of here and make a plan. I’ll get the full story of what’s happened and then shed blood when my family is safe. Within minutes, Talia is packed and we head out the broken window. She rushes over to my car and tosses the bag into the backseat. Then, she takes Zoe from me and sits in the front seat. As soon as I’m seated and the engine fires up, the reality begins to sink in.
They’re here.
I have them.
My first instinct is to call Melody. She doesn’t know she has a granddaughter. The fact I want to call her should be alarming, but it’s not. Not after spending the last year leaning on this woman for emotional support under the thin veil of questioning her on the whereabouts of my wife.
“Hurry,” Talia says. “I didn’t make it very far last time.”
Despite her words, I don’t gun it like I normally would. The baby doesn’t have a seat. I finally understand the term precious cargo.
“You escaped?”
“Today,” she breathes. “Finally. But he caught me.” A pained sound rattles from her. “I shot someone, Kostas. I was protecting me and Zoe. H-He’s dead. I’m sorry, but I’d do it again and again to protect her.”
Reaching over, I give her thigh a squeeze. “I don’t know what the hell has been happening right under my goddamn nose, but I want you to tell me everything.” I shoot her a hard look. “And don’t ever apologize for protecting our little girl.”
Our little girl.
I’m in fucking awe right now.
A dad. I’m a dad.
And I have my wife back.
Talia
For the first time in over a year, I can finally take a deep breath of relief. Oxygen can enter my lungs without a lump the size of a boulder blocking my airway.
Because Kostas is here.
He didn’t give up on me, and he found me and Zoe, and we’re finally safe.
Thunder booms and lightning strikes, lighting up the entire sky. The clouds open above us, and rain begins to pelt the windshield. It almost feels metaphorical, as if the rain is washing away every bad moment from this past year, hydrating the life back into us. For the last year, I’ve felt dead inside, but now, with Kostas here, I feel like my body is finally thriving once again. I was struggling to make it through each day, pieces of me slowly dying, but now I’m alive and can breathe easy.
Zoe’s head lands on my shoulder, her body snuggling into my chest. When she babbles softly, Kostas glances over at the two of us, and for a brief moment our eyes meet. His hazel eyes tell me everything I need to know. Everything is going to be okay. He’s going to make sure of it.
“When we get home, you’re going to tell me everything that’s happened,” he says.
But my thoughts are stuck on one word. Home.
We’re going home. Where we belong. Where we should’ve been this entire time.
And then it hits me. Home is the Pérasma Hotel. The hotel Aris part owns.
“We can’t go back there.” I sit up straight, and Zoe whines. It’s late and she’s exhausted. “Please, Kostas. We have to go somewhere else. Somewhere far away.” My blood pressure is rising, and my heart is thumping against my ribcage.
“Moró mou, calm down.” Kostas squeezes my thigh.
“Don’t tell me to calm down, please.” I’m working myself up. My head is feeling fuzzy, and it’s hard to breathe again. “I can’t risk Aris getting to Zoe and me again.”
Kostas pulls into the parking garage, swings the car into his spot, and slams on the brakes. “Nobody is fucking taking you again. They’re not going to live to have a chance.”
Kostas pulls his phone out of his pocket and dials a number. Because we’re still in the car, it rings over Bluetooth.
“Boss,” Adrian says, answering on the first ring.
“I found Talia,” Kostas says. “At Aris’s house.”
“Fuck.”
“He and his bitch were holding her and my daughter captive.”
Adrian curses under his breath again, but doesn’t question anything Kostas is saying.
“I need you to go there and get both of them. Bring them to the cellar. Call me when it’s done.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kostas hangs up, and after grabbing the bag I packed for Zoe, walks around and opens my door for me.
When we enter the villa, it’s as if time has stopped. Everything is the same as it was the last time I was here. My flip-flops are still by the door where I left them. My favorite blanket to cuddle with is still thrown over the back of the couch. My school papers I left on the table in the foyer are still in the same spot. My purse I left in the bathroom when Aris took me is under the table. Kostas must’ve found it.
When I walk into our bedroom, one side of the bed is made. Kostas’s side. The other side is how I left it. Messy sheets thrown about because I was in a rush to get to rehearsal that morning. My robe is still draped over the sitting chair. My pajamas are still on the floor next to the hamper because I missed when I tried to throw them in and told myself I would pick them up when I got home.
Only I never came home.
Because I was taken.
Because Aris fucking took me.
Took a year of my life.
“Kostas,” I begin, in shock. “Did you live here while I was gone?”
His eyes meet mine, and with one look, I can feel everything he doesn’t need to say. Pain. Loss. Confusion. Relief. I assess his features. There are dark circles under his gorgeous, glassy eyes. He’s still as beautiful and captivating as he was a year ago, but he looks exhausted. Like he hasn’t slept since I was taken.
“I couldn’t do it,” he admits, stepping toward me. Zoe’s head is back on my shoulder. When she’s nervous, she snuggles into me. And this is the first time she’s ever been away from the only place she knows as home, so she’s nervous.
Gently, Kostas rubs the top of Zoe’s head and gives it a kiss before he leans over her and kisses my forehead as well. The sweet action has me momentarily closing my eyes, relishing in his touch. My body thrums, needing more of him.
“I looked for you every fucking day, zoí mou,” he says softly. “At first, I was too pissed to sleep in here. I thought you ran. So I slept in the guest room. Then every day I searched, the signs pointed to you more than likely having been taken. I looked everywhere. I didn’t think I left a single stone unturned.” He curses under his breath. “I didn’t even think to look in my brother’s house.” His jaw clenches in fury. “Fuck, he’s been helping me look for you.” He rubs his knuckles down the side of my cheek, his hand trembling with rage. “I couldn’t bring myself to sleep in here. To move anything of yours. It would mean accepting you might not ever be back. I told myself once I got you back I would sleep in here again with you.”
Be still, my heart.
This man. So powerful and controlling and cold. Shows zero mercy for anybody he comes across. And he couldn’t sleep in our bed without me.
“Every day Aris would come home from work and tell me things about you. That you were a drunk and you stopped caring. That you had moved on. I didn’t believe him, Kostas.” Tears leak from my eyes. I’m finally here. Back in my home. With my husband. “I knew you would find me.”
“It took me a fucking year, zoí mou. I failed you and our daughter.”
“No, don’t say that. You found us.” He can’t blame himsel
f for this. The guilt will eat him up inside. I need my strong Kostas.
“After you put Zoe to bed, you’re going to tell me every fucking thing my brother did to you and our daughter, every lie he told you, and I can promise you, I will make him regret every single goddamn thing he did and said.”
If words weren’t so matter-of-fact, the steely look in his eyes would tell me he means exactly what he says. When he finds Aris, he’s not going to quickly kill him. He’s going to slowly torture him for every day he held me prisoner, every lie he told me, and the thought has me almost smiling.
“I want to be there,” I tell him. “I want to see Aris and Selene get what’s coming to them.”
Kostas grins. “Fuck, I’ve missed you.” He gives me a chaste kiss on my lips.
Zoe stirs in my arms and it reminds me… “I don’t have anywhere to lay her down.” I glance at the bed. I suppose I could lay her in the center and line pillows along each side…
Kostas, of course, is already calling someone. “Thomas, this is Kostas Demetriou. I need a portable crib brought to my villa right away.” He hangs up, and one side of his lips tip into a playful smirk. “The perks of owning and living in a hotel.”
While I’m feeding Zoe, Kostas makes several phone calls in the other room. He’s barking orders left and right, cursing and making threats like the mob boss he is, and my heart tugs in my chest. You don’t realize how much you love your life until it’s taken from you. And this life, the one with Kostas yelling at people, while our daughter snuggles in my arms, is all I want.
“What the fuck do you mean?” My body stills at his words and tone. Something is wrong.
Zoe knocks the bottle out of the way and climbs up into my lap. Kostas enters the room and points to the sitting room attached to our bedroom for the gentleman to set up the crib. He quickly rolls it in, pops it open, and scurries out.
“Let me tell you something, my fucking wife was locked in that fucking house for the past goddamn year. Are you telling me you had no idea?”
“Kostas, who is that?” He shoots a glare my way and I give him one right back. At one time, his glare would’ve scared me, but now, it only turns me on. “Kostas.” He ignore me, which pisses me off. I understand he’s mad, but I am too. I was the one taken. “Kostas!”
“It’s Basil,” he barks out. “They got to the house and they’re gone.” The blood running through my veins goes cold. My eyes dart around us, and I find myself hugging Zoe tighter. They got away. Kostas wanted to take them out right then and there and I begged him to get us to safety first. And now they’re missing. They can be anywhere. On their way here…
Kostas puts him on speakerphone. “Go ahead, Basil. Tell my wife how you were assigned to watch over that house and you never managed to find out she was in there.”
“Boss, I swear,” Basil sputters. “I never saw anything out of the ordinary. They came and went like everything was normal.”
“Kostas, there’s no way he would know,” I tell him. “I was never allowed to leave the house. I even gave birth there.” At my words, Kostas’s eyes go to our daughter, and they soften slightly. “Unless Basil was able to get inside, he couldn’t have seen me. Aris even had Selene drive across town to buy Zoe’s stuff. I didn’t even know that guy…Estevan, the one you shot his dick off, was guarding the place.”
At my words, Kostas roars, “What in the actual fuck. Did you hear her?” he barks at his men. “Estevan was there?” he asks me, needing me to confirm.
“I heard her,” Adrian says. “We’ll find him.”
“He’s the guy I shot,” I admit. “Several times. And then Aris finished him off. He’s dead.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Kostas growls. He scrubs one of his hands over his face in frustration.
“Several of their drawers are empty,” Adrian speaks. “And stuff is missing from the closet.”
“They took both vehicles,” Basil adds. “They’re gone.”
“Dammit.” Kostas punches a hole in the drywall. Zoe jumps and starts crying. “Shit, I’m sorry.” He gives her a pleading look, trying to convey how sorry he is.
She snuggles her face into the crook of my neck. “It’s okay. She just doesn’t know you yet.” My words aren’t meant to hurt him, but I can see it in his eyes how much they do.
“Adrian, you still there?” he growls.
“Yeah, Boss.”
“Call the Minister of Public Order. Tell him I’ve found my wife and it was Aris and his cunt girlfriend who took her. I want every goddamn man searching for them. Every fucking available badge. They couldn’t have gotten far,” he barks out before he hangs up.
While I change Zoe’s diaper and get her ready for bed, I can feel Kostas’s eyes on us. I double-check the locks on the windows in the bedroom. With Aris and Selene missing, I’m scared they’re going to show up here.
“Nobody is getting in here,” Kostas vows.
“I know. I just need to make sure.”
Once Zoe is comfortable in her temporary bed, with her pacifier in her mouth, her eyes roll back in her head. I laugh softly at how fast my baby girl falls asleep, and Kostas smiles.
“We made her,” I tell him.
“She’s perfect.”
“That’s because she’s the best part of us.”
“Let’s talk.” Taking my hand in his, Kostas leads me out to the living room. I glance back at the bedroom, but Kostas squeezes my hand, telling me it’s okay.
When he sits on the sofa, I stay standing, needing to double-check the rest of the locks myself. Kostas watches as I go from the front door to each window, unlocking and relocking every lock. “I’m scared, Kostas,” I tell him once I’m done, sitting on the sofa next to him. “They could be anywhere, planning their next move, and Aris thinks Zoe is his daughter.”
“Why the fuck would he think that?” Kostas barks. Huh? Oh, shit! There’s only one reason a man would think a baby is his. “You two had sex? When?” His eyes burn into mine. “While you were living under my roof? Fucking me? You were also fucking my brother?” Kostas tries to stand, but I grab his arms to tug him back down and climb into his lap, needing to be close to him. I can’t let him push me away. I only just got him back. “What the fuck, Talia.”
“Stop yelling, please,” I beg, glancing back at the bedroom. “You’re going to wake up Zoe.” My hands frame his face. He hasn’t shaved in some time, so his cheeks are all stubbly just the way I like it.
“I don’t give a fuck,” he says, but I know he does because his voice is now several notches lower than it was a minute ago. “Tell me why the fuck my brother, even for a second, would believe our daughter is his. Did you fuck him, Talia?” His eyes plead for me to tell him no, but I can’t lie to him. It’s time for the truth to come out. Maybe if I had told him the truth from the beginning, Aris never would’ve had a chance to take me.
“Kostas…” My heart is pounding like a drum in my chest.
“It’s a yes or no. Tell me. Did. You. Fuck. My. Goddamn. Brother?”
I need to explain, but he’s not giving me a chance to. “Kostas, please just let me explain,” I beg. “It’s not that simple.”
“Yes or no!” he roars.
“Yes!” I blurt out, “Yes, I had sex with your brother.”
Kostas
Her words chill me to the bone. But they’re wrong. The words don’t match the pain in her eyes. Despite the rage thrashing at me, I can’t unleash it.
Talia is here. Straddling my thighs. Imploring me to understand.
I reach up and grip her delicate neck. Her bottom lip trembles as a tear races down her cheek. Tightening my hold, I draw her close to me until our lips nearly touch. I almost kiss her but pull away, hardening my glare.
“Take off your shirt and show me what he touched that’s mine,” I growl.
She stares at me for a long moment before grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it away. Her tits are full and nearly spilling from her plain black bra. I give her a
nod to continue. She unhooks the bra, freeing her perfect breasts. The nipples are peaked and a lovely rosy color. I want to suck them until they’re an angry shade of red.
“Did he touch you here?” I ask, cupping her breasts and running my thumbs along her nipples.
Another tear races down, dripping from her jaw. “I don’t remember.”
“One time?”
She gives me a clipped nod.
That. Motherfucker.
“It was your first time.” I can barely contain the hate surging through my veins, burning just under my flesh begging to blaze.
“Kostas,” she chokes out. “My first time was with you.” More tears leak out. “You told me that. I need to believe that.”
I close my eyes.
He raped her. He fucking raped her.
Before our honeymoon at some point. This whole time I thought it was some asshole she dated. Not my own goddamn brother.
“H-He, uh, he was d-devastated after your mom k-killed herself. Y-You were gone and I w-wanted to help. I went to check on him.” A sob escapes her. “He was c-crying and I was crying. And…and…”
I open my eyes and slide my hands to her hips. “And…”
“I had t-to get the b-blood off him,” she sobs, trembling. Her hands frantically cup my face. “I had t-to help him.”
Sweet, innocent fucking Talia.
“Kostas, don’t hate me.” Her face crumples. My heart crushes.
I hastily swipe away something wet on my cheek. The ache that settles in my muscles dulls the fury. He hurt her. He hurt my fucking wife.
“Kostas,” she whimpers.
I grip her throat again and pull her close. Our lips brush against the other. “Tell me all of it.”
Her fingers slide into my hair as she steals a kiss. Soft. Sweet. Apologetic.
I hate it. I hate the apology in her kiss. It’s dirty and wrong.
“Tell me,” I whisper. “Talia, fucking tell me.”
She needs to say it and I need to hear it.
