“Have it your way,” I tell him. “Come, moró mou. Let’s go.”
“No! Kill me, motherfucker! KILL ME!” Estevan cries out. “I told you what you wanted to hear!”
I glower at him. “Exactly. I didn’t want you to tell me what I wanted to hear. I wanted you to tell me the fucking truth.”
He can bleed out or live for all I care. Estevan Galani is a roach. I will squash him eventually, but right now, I’m hunting a rat.
Talia
“What can I get you to drink?” the bartender asks with a flirty grin. Kostas and I have been back home for three days and I’ve had enough of hiding from Aris and being stuck in that damn villa, so I’ve ventured out. The hotel has six pools, each one with its own tiki bar. Aris favors the one on the east side, so I’m at the one on the west side.
“Can you make a strawberry lemonade vodka?” Maybe adding some alcohol to my usual lemonade will help to suppress the constant sense of boredom.
“I can make anything you’d like,” he says.
“And you’ll do it without ogling my wife, or I’ll fire you and then kill you,” Kostas says, having a seat next to me.
The bartender’s eyes widen, and he nods several times. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t know she was yours.”
He stumbles over something behind the bar and then goes about making my drink.
“Must you threaten every man who speaks to me?” I twist my head to the side, narrowing my eyes at Kostas. “At this rate, I’ll have nobody to talk to but you.”
“Is it really wise to start drinking at ten in the morning?” he asks, ignoring my question as the bartender sets my drink on the coaster in front of me.
“Would you like anything, sir?” he asks Kostas, who simply waves him off.
“What else do I have to do but drink?” I stand, and taking my drink with me, walk down the cobblestone walkway. I hear Kostas groan in irritation behind me, but I pay him no attention.
“I’m bringing in your father later to speak to him. Would you like to join me?”
“He’s not my father,” I correct. “And yes, I would like to join. Do you believe he put the hit out on your father like that fat man said?” I take a sip of my fruity drink. It’s delicious.
“No, I don’t believe Niles is stupid enough to do something like that. Try to steal you, yes? That was his way of trying to apologize to you. But hire men to try and kill my father, no. However, I would be a stupid man not to consider all the possibilities.”
“It’s too late for him to apologize,” I say. “I’ll never forgive him for what he did.”
We walk down a pathway I’ve yet to take, along the side of the cliff. The hotel is so big, I could probably take a different direction every day for a month and still not cover the whole property.
“Is being married to me so bad, moró mou?” Kostas asks.
I glance over at him, and for the first time, his eyes scream something that looks like vulnerability, maybe even insecurity. I must be seeing things because Kostas is the strongest man I know.
“It’s not the point,” I tell him truthfully, stopping and facing him. “If I had a child, I would do everything in my power to protect him or her. If I was dumb enough to have an affair with a powerful man’s wife and then drum up a debt worth millions of euros, I would never hand my child, my own flesh and blood, over to him to save myself.” I don’t realize tears have begun to fall down my cheeks until Kostas steps closer and swipes one away. “I would protect my child,” I say through a sob. “A parent is supposed to protect their child.” And then I add, “Like what your mom did for you.”
Kostas flinches. “She killed herself. How is that protecting her children?”
“Didn’t you hear everything she said, Kostas?” I take his hand in mine and he lets me. “Her warnings and apologies? It might’ve not been right the way she went about it, but it was her way of putting you first. All she wanted was for you to fall in love and be happy. While she wanted more for you than this life, mine was handing me over to it.”
“This life is all I know, Talia. You understand that, right?” Kostas’s eyes plead with me to understand. “What my mother said. It’s not going to happen. I will live and die in this life, and now as my wife you will too.”
The burning in his eyes tells me what he says is the truth. And at one time, this life would’ve scared me, but now, I’ve accepted my fate. “I’m okay with that,” I tell him honestly. “I just…I’m just trying to find out who I am in this life. Before you, I was Talia, the college student in Italy. During the week, I attended classes and studied. On the weekends, I attended parties and shows and visited art museums. I just don’t know where I fit in, in this world. Your world.” I raise my barely drunk glass. “I’m not a girl who drinks at ten in the morning.”
Kostas stares at me for a long moment before he takes my glass out of my hand and sets it down on a table. “Come with me,” he commands. Pulling me down the sidewalk, we end up in front of an area of the hotel I haven’t been to yet. It’s quieter over here. The pool isn’t open. The rooms look as if they’re all empty. “Come.” He unlocks a door to the building, and just like the outside, it’s quiet on the inside. Empty.
“Before my mother died, we were expanding. She handled all of the interior design. The rooms are just about done, but the restaurant isn’t yet. We were planning to open in the fall, but we’ll need everything to be finished before we do.”
Confused as to why he’s brought me here, I ask, “What does this have to do with me?”
“You’re an art major, right?” he asks. “You know style, and you’re educated about Greek mythology. You said you’re bored. I’m giving you something to do.” When my brows rise, still needing further clarification, Kostas adds, “I want you to finish what my mother started. The restaurant. You can design it however you want. Money is no object.”
My heart expands at his words. Finish what his mother started. Sure, he could hire someone to finish it, but he listened to me. I told him I needed a purpose and he gave me a solution. I turn in a circle, taking the massive empty space in. It’s filled with so much potential. I can make it anything I want. I can spend my summer creating a masterpiece.
“So,” he prompts. “What do you say?”
“Yes.” I nod emphatically. “I’ll do it.”
“Good.” He threads his fingers into mine and walks us back out, locking the door behind us. “I have time before my meeting, so we can quickly go over the details.”
When we get back to the main hotel, he stops in front of his office but doesn’t go in. Instead, he makes a left and…walks into Aris’s office. Oh my God. Why are we going in there? It’s been over a week since I’ve last seen him. I’ve done a stellar job at avoiding him since we’ve been back.
“Aris,” Kostas greets his brother, gesturing for me to have a seat.
“What can I do for you?” Aris asks, tilting his head to the side in annoyance. “I’m busy…working.”