His uncle nodded, but his grip on his glass did not release. “The backroom?”
“I acquiesced again so she wouldn’t leave,” Nikos said. “But on her first night, there was an incident in the backroom, and she decided not to work back there anymore.”
The glass in his hand shattered, and Nikos was startled. The maid quickly came over and offered Antonis a towel before she cleaned up the mess. No one else in the room seemed surprised, and Nikos realized that this must have been a normal occurrence for him. It finally occurred to him then why Christos always warned him— his uncle was obsessed with Honey. And while he had been in a comatose state, Nikos had done the one thing he was not supposed to do— not just taste the forbidden fruit but devour it.
“Who was it?” Antonis asked, a scowl piercing his face.
“David Henderson,” Nikos said, knowing that David had been an important member of the club and had been quite pissed when he banned him from the club. But after what he had done to Honey, David should have been lucky that he hadn’t gotten worse.
“Did you handle him?” Antonis gritted out.
“I did, and I banned him from returning to the club,” Nikos admitted. For Honey’s sake, he made sure not to have his men go too far with him, knowing she didn’t like things like that on her conscience. “But I didn’t kill him.”
Antonis nodded at Roberto, who pulled out his phone and left the room, and Nikos knew he was probably making a call to have David killed. Nikos couldn’t say that he was upset by it. After taking on this position, he had long accepted death, especially with those who deserved it.
“I’m angry about this because I would have never allowed Honey to work back there,” Antonis said, clenching his jaw.
“She would have left,” Nikos argued, but Antonis didn’t seem satisfied with that answer.
“Though Honey may be the equivalent of your aunt, if you needed to threaten her, you should have done so,” Antonis said, and Nikos had to refrain from showing his displeasure at his uncle’s words. “But I’m glad to know I won’t have to worry about her asking to go back there again. It had been a tedious conversation between her and I.”
Nikos nodded.
“Why hasn’t she returned, though?” his uncle asked, and Nikos realized that Georgios must have updated Antonis on everything if he knew that too.
“She sprained her ankle from an incident on the stage,” Nikos said, and Antonis gritted his teeth.
“She looked fine to me,” Antonis muttered before he turned his attention to Petros, another one of his men. “Call her and tell her to return to the club within a week. I don’t want to hear any excuses.”
It took everything in Nikos not to speak after hearing those words. He wanted to tell his uncle that it wasn’t possible, that Honey would no longer return to the club, but he knew he couldn’t do that because the moment his uncle’s eyes opened, everything changed, and his uncle knew that too as he turned his green eyes on him.
“Are you ready to return my power?” Antonis asked.
Nikos gritted his teeth.
This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted his uncle to come back. It wasn’t just because he would be an obstacle in his relationship with Honey, but because he knew that everything he had worked hard for over the past half a year would have to be returned. All the power he accumulated was gone just from hisuncle opening his eyes, and though that was something he had initially wanted when his uncle first went out of commission, now he didn’t want it. Because now his uncle would have the power to do anything he wanted at the Gentlemen’s Club, and that included ordering Honey to return.
Knowing that this was a test, Nikos said what was most appropriate and what was true.
“The power was never truly mine.”
His uncle grinned, and Nikos simmered in the reality— his uncle was officially back in commission.
C H A P T E R
40
WITH ANTONIS’S RETURN CAME A CHANGE IN POWER, and Nikos felt it now as he stood before his uncle in an office that three days ago had been his. It was a jarring sight, but a sight he would have to get acquainted with again. Antonis was back in commission and in his rightful position. It felt like a king returning to their throne. Antonis wore the crown now as he sat behind his desk, studiously looking over the books for the last five months, which was how long he had been gone. He looked like a soldier returning home from war, immediately updating himself on all the things he had missed, and Antonis had missed a lot of things, things he would never have expected. But Nikos couldn’t tell him that. Not just yet at least.
With each page Antonis flipped, Theo, who stood to the right of Nikos, fidgeted like a child afraid of getting a failing grade. On the other side of Nikos, Georgios looked smug, like a kid excited to see their sibling get punished. It seemed that in this passing time, Georgios had not gotten over Nikos threatening him with that gun to his head and was only waiting for the day that Antonis would return. It felt like judgment day, and while Theo stood anxious, and Georgios stood excited, Nikos wore no expression at all. He felt nothing, and if he did, it was the feeling of being disoriented from being on the opposite side of the desk now.
There was a knock on the door, interrupting his uncle’s review and his cousin’s uncontrollable fidgets.
“Come in,” Antonis said, and Roberto stepped inside.
“We sent Candy home and relayed your words to her.”
Theo’s eyes widened, giving him a look, but Nikos did not share a look with him.
