You’re marrying one, asshole.
And she’ll become a Demetriou.
Demetrious are not fucking pathetic.
“Tomorrow, Talia and I will become one,” I say with a smile. “I’m sure the wedding will be a beautiful, extravagant affair because my mother has the magical touch when it comes to these things.” I implore my mother to look at me, but she remains staring at her lap. Unease coils in my gut, but I continue. “I’m looking forward to marrying the most exquisite prize in all of Greece.”
That jab is for Niles.
A jab that makes my mother flinch.
Fuck.
Talia grips my bicep and shoots me a stern look. As though she disapproves of my speech. But I can’t help and agree with her. My mother is disgusted with me.
“I…” I trail off, unable to find the right words. Nothing is genuine because this entire thing is a fraud. Sure, I’m getting the good end of the deal, wrangling a hot-ass wife, but it’s not real. And my mother knows it. Either she heard it from Melody or she can sense it. Either way she knows. This isn’t some business that gets taken care of in a dank cellar with a sharp knife—business my mother never has to see. No, this business is infiltrating our personal lives. Her life.
“We just want to thank you all for coming,” Talia says, saving me from utter humiliation. “Nora and I have tirelessly planned a gorgeous wedding. I’m thrilled to wear the loveliest gown to ever be created. Marrying Kostas will be quite the adventure, I am sure. Here’s to adventures and new memories.”
Everyone but my mother raises their glass. Since Talia’s glass is empty, I hand her mine before stalking over to Mamá. I grip my mother’s shoulder and lean down.
“Everything okay?” I demand, shooting Aris a worried look.
She reaches up to grab my hand and then takes my brother’s hand with her other. “Just feeling a little emotional. I love you boys very much. Not a second of regret when it comes to my love for you both.”
O-fucking-kay.
“We love you too, Mamá,” Aris and I both say in unison.
“Good,” she chokes out. “Make sure you keep on loving those who deserve it, so you don’t end up like your father.”
Talia’s eyes meet mine from across the table where she must choose to sit beside her father or mine. In the end, her hatred over what her father has done to her wins out because she sits directly across from my mother, at my father’s side. Weirded out by the whole thing, I walk back over to her and take my seat between the slimy Nikolaides and the beautiful one who’ll shed that last name soon. The servers begin bringing out food. My stomach is in knots. I busy myself with a Mediterranean salad, stirring it up to coat each piece of lettuce with the dressing. Everyone is talking loudly and the restaurant buzzes with voices and laughter.
Glancing up at my mother, I realize she’s left the table to stand directly behind my father. She rests a hand on his shoulder.
“Everyone,” Mamá calls out. “I’d like to say something.”
A polite hush falls across the table. I meet Aris’s stare and he’s getting the same weird-ass vibe from our mother because he’s tense as fuck. Father stares directly ahead, the amusement gone from his face.
“I have something to say, and it will be in everyone’s best interest to let me say it. Understood?” Mamá’s eyes are slightly wild. She’s normally serene and calm. Currently, she’s in a manic state. Her body trembles and her face is red. Sweat beads at her temples and above her upper lip.
“Mamá,” I start, but she cuts me off with a sharp look I remember from my childhood.
“Especially you, my son. You need to hear what I have to say the most.”
I stiffen and slide my gaze to my father. His nostrils flare, but he remains tightlipped. Since when does my father not put my mother in her place if it means she’ll embarrass him. Since he’s not coming to my aid, I simply nod at her.
“You know,” she says bitterly, “when I saw this beautiful woman who was to marry my son, I was thrilled. Beyond thrilled. I thought, perhaps, my boy had enough of me in him to break the horrible Demetriou curse. To be anyone but his father.”
“Mamá,” Aris mutters.
She shakes her head at him. “Let. Me. Finish.”
Talia of all people should enjoy this and be gloating, but she’s tense beside me.
“I thought things were changing for our family,” Mamá says, tears welling in her eyes. “I thought we’d moved past all the hate from our past, Ezio.” She edges closer to my father, patting his shoulder and making his eyes widen. “But you didn’t forget the affair, did you? No, you held onto that revenge and waited all these years to get back at me.”
What?
I glower at my father, who won’t even look at me. Again, I’m in the fucking dark and I hate it. Aris shoots me a confused look.
“Father,” I growl. “Shut this down. Now.”
“Your father won’t say a goddamn thing, Kostas,” my mother bellows and waves a gun in the air before pushing it against my father’s back.
Fuck.
No wonder he’s being quiet. She’s holding him at gunpoint.
“Your father tortured me for years, Kostas,” Mamá explains, the tears rolling down her cheeks and ruining her makeup. “Years. While you looked up to your father and wanted to be just like him, I hated him with every ounce of my being. I stayed for my boys.”
“You stayed because you had to,” Father growls, consequences be damned.
Mamá pushes the gun harder against his back. “I stayed for those boys,” she hisses. “Don’t think for a second you had me chained to you out of fear. I don’t fear you, Ezio, I hate you.”
A warm hand slides into mine and I realize it’s Talia offering me comfort. Her of all people. My hand is cold in hers. I can’t bring myself to squeeze it back. I certainly don’t pull the fuck away, though.
“I am so sorry,” Mamá says, turning her attention to Melody. “I was in love with Niles for over a decade, and selfishly, I hoped I could escape from my cold marriage and into the warmth of his arms indefinitely. I didn’t think about what it did to your family and your marriage. Please forgive me.”
It all makes fucking sense now.
“Nothing to forgive. I have Stefano now,” Melody says politely, a tremble in her voice. The woman who stole her husband has a gun. I’d be polite too.
Mamá turns her animosity on Niles. “You used me,” she chokes out. “I loved you and you used me. When it came down to it, and I was ready to run off with you, you abandoned me. You allowed Ezio to find out about the affair and then you left me to deal with the aftermath alone.” Mamá swipes a tear away. “He was cruel to me, Niles. He hurt me and belittled me. He punished me—alone—for crimes we committed together. And yet I took it all for my sons and for the love I still held onto for you.”
“You weren’t the only one punished,” Niles argues like the stupid fucking fool he is. “I’m broke because of you.” Being broke is going to be the least of his concerns if he doesn’t shut his fucking mouth.
I catch Adrian’s stare from across the room as he slowly inches closer and closer. I’m caught between wanting him to stop my mother and telling him to back the fuck away from her. Adrian is loyal to the Demetriou men, not the women.