“But—”
“I have to,” he repeated firmly, leaving no room for argument. While Honey knew he was right, a part of her wished that Nikos would tell her that he planned on going back to Greece, where he would be safe and let his other family members handle the situation with his uncle. But Nikos wasn’t that kind of man. He had never been. He was the same guy who had jumped in to help her fight off a drunk customer, the same guy who had taken on his uncle’s business when he had gone out of commission. Nikos may have run here to avoid his own personal problems back in Greece, but when it came to fighting for others, it was something he just did. He really was a hero, though she would never tell him that.
“I have to be the one to stop him, Honey, so you won’t have to live like this anymore. So you and Kai can be free,” he said, squeezing her tightly. And Honey wanted all of those things. She has desperately wanted to be free of Antonis since the moment she started working at his club, but not at the expense of Nikos’s life.
“Okay, Nikos. But you have to promise me you’ll come back alive, in one piece. Not shot up or dead,” she told him sternly as she pulled back, looking him in the eyes, giving him the samewarning tone that she gave her own son whenever she wanted him to understand that there would be consequences if he did not follow her rules.
“I can’t promise you that I won’t get shot—” Honey opened her mouth to protest but Nikos stopped her. “—but I do promise that I will come back to you alive. I promise that.”
It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear, but it was the reassurance she needed. The certainty in his voice was enough to disperse the negative emotions wracking through her moments before, enough for her shoulders to relax and the frown to fall from her mouth.
“Okay,” she said, even though she hated it. She hated all of this, hated that either of them had to go through anything like this in the first place, all because Antonis was insane and didn’t understand the concept of no.
Nikos smiled and pulled her back down on the bed, situating her until they were in their previous position again. Honey made no complaints about rushing into the shower; instead, she listened to the sound of Nikos’s heartbeat and decided to believe in his word that he would come back safe and alive. It was the only thing she could hold onto as she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
C H A P T E R
50
IT HAD BEEN A WEEK SINCE NIKOS LEFT; EIGHT DAYS TO BE EXACT. One hundred eighty-five long torturous hours awaiting his return, and as Honey stood in the kitchen dicing garlic, she felt like a soldier’s wife, waiting for her husband’s return from war, which was a silly thought. Nikos wasn’t her husband, and while he had been a soldier in his homeland, he definitely was not one in America. The career he had in the States didn’t hold that same honor, but all the same, she found herself anxiously awaiting his return in the way a soldier’s wife would.
The first day, she had been okay. She busied herself entertaining Kai, who had been wondering when he could returnto school or when Nikos would return so they could play, and even asking when he would see his father again. Kai was such a handful that taking care of him was enough to keep her mind off of Nikos most of the time. The second and third day were the same, but by the fourth day, the worry she thought she had pushed to the back of her mind had slipped to the front and wouldn’t go away, no matter how hard she tried. It rooted its way into her mind and settled down so deeply in her stomach that whenever she thought of Nikos, her stomach would churn.
But how could she not worry?
She had already seen what Antonis was capable of, knew that he had no qualms about killing his own nephew, killing the youngest son of Giannis Drakos, and would have probably gladly kept that secret till his death, all the while smiling in the face of Nikos’ father with no remorse.
Her worry was justified, and she could do nothing but that, wondering if the last touch of Nikos would be his lips pressed against her cheek and the soft rasp of his voice as he told her he would be back the night he left. She wished she had been fully awake and not asleep when he had done so, but, of course, Nikos had snuck off in the middle of the night.
She got occasional updates from Yanis, the guard Nikos had left behind to watch her and Kai. The few times they had gone to meet up with Olivia, Yanis had been the one to take her, watching over her shoulder to make sure she and Kai were safe until Nikos returned.
But now it was going on day eight, and the short “Boss says he’s fine,” updates weren’t good enough anymore. Her worry had turned into full-blown panic, and she could barely focus on anything, which was probably why she wound up slicing her finger a few seconds later.
“Ouch!” she yelped as she dropped the knife, and it clattered against the floor.
“Oh, no, Honey,” Ava exclaimed as she moved from the table, where she had been shucking peas. She brought a cloth over to her and then left the kitchen.
“Mommy, are you okay?” Kai asked. He had been sitting in the living room watching a cartoon and then raced into the kitchen, looking concerned.
“I’m fine, baby,” Honey said as she pressed her finger into the cloth to stop the bleeding. It hurt, but it wasn’t the worst cut she had ever had. At least she hadn’t sliced it as badly as she had seen some do in cooking school.
“Someone on your mind?” Ava asked knowingly as she returned with a band-aid in hand, and Honey could only sigh because if she hadn’t been worrying about Nikos so much, she wouldn’t have sliced her finger. As she placed the band-aid on, she heard her phone ring, and her eyes widened with hope.
“I’ll get it,” Kai announced as he shuffled over to the table where she had left her phone. Kai looked at the screen, and his eyes widened with happiness.
“It’s daddy,” he said excitedly, and Honey felt the small bit of excitement she had welling inside her dissipate in an instant. She withheld her sigh, wondering why Andre was calling. They hadn’t spoken since what happened at the park that day, which wasn’t surprising. It was not as if Andre ever made the effort to call his son.
“Hello, Andre,” she said, even though she wanted to ask, ‘what do you want?’ and skip past fake pleasantries. But Kai stood in front of her, looking like a puppy wagging its tail, and she didn’t want to influence Kai’s feelings with her own dislike for his dad.
“Hey. I was wondering if we could meet up today. I have a gift I want to give to Kai. Maybe we could go to Chuck E. Cheese or something?”
Honey blinked, slightly perplexed and definitely unsure as she looked at her son, whose invisible tail still wagged with excitement from his dad calling. If this were any other time, she would be able to answer much quicker, knowing that despite how she felt about Andre, she always put her son’s feelings first. But with everything happening with Antonis and Nikos, she didn’t like going out unless necessary. And yet, she had always had a hard time denying her son, and she knew that these were some of the rare opportunities that Kai got to bond with his father, even if only for a few hours.
“Okay, but we can’t be out long,” Honey said, hoping that this meeting wouldn’t be more than a few hours, especially going to an arcade.
“That’s good,” Andre said, and Honey could tell he had been holding his breath. He probably thought that after what happened last time, she would say no, and a part of her wishes she was that spiteful, but being a mom meant that you always had to consider your child’s feelings above your own.
“We can meet at the one in Flatbush,” Andre suggested.
