“I’m not going to Costa Rica with you,” she whispered fiercely, not trying to upset her son, who sat next to her, curiously looking between them before he went back to his game.
“You have no choice,” he said plainly before he grabbed her wrist tight enough that she winced. “You will be leaving with me, and you will learn to love me. The days of giving you an option are over.”
“Never,” she said, trying to tug her wrist back, but Antonis held on tight as they glared at each other until they heard yelling. She froze, and Antonis let her wrist go. The moment he did, they heard a gunshot. Immediately, she grabbed her son, tugging him onto her lap.
“Are those fireworks, mommy?” Kai asked. It was nowhere near the Fourth of July, and Antonis’s place was secluded enough that they wouldn’t have heard his neighbor’s fireworks, especially at this hour.
“Go see what’s going on!” Antonis instructed some of his men, and they quickly left, reaching behind their backs and pulling out guns. Antonis pulled out his own.
“They’re playing a game, honey,” she said, not wanting Kai to know how much their lives were in danger right now. She only held Kai tighter, hoping and praying the shooting would stop, hoping and praying someone would save her and her son from this nightmare.
The shooting continued, back and forth, and it sounded like a war zone. Antonis and the rest of his men started picking up the briefcases of money off the table, and instead of carrying out the front like they had done before, they tried to head to the back.
“Let’s go,” Antonis said, trying to reach for her wrist, but Honey evaded him.
“No.” She was scared as hell right now, and she had no idea who was out there shooting, but it didn’t change the fact that going out those doors with Antonis meant a terrifying fate ofliving with him for the foreseeable future in Costa Rica. It was a chance she was not willing to take.
“Honey!” he barked, annoyed, even enough for Kai to jump, which pissed her off.
“We’re not going with you!” she yelled back. Everything had come to a standstill, with Antonis’s men awkwardly standing, looking at each other warily. But Honey did not care.
“Boss, we have to g—”
The man’s words were cut off as the front door burst open, and Honey watched with shock, feeling as if she had been transported into a movie, as that same man immediately dropped as a bullet flew into the room and straight into his chest. The briefcase in his hand clattered to the ground. Antonis quickly came and grabbed her wrist again, but she was so lost in the moment that she didn’t even bother to fight him off. Footsteps clamored down the hall, and Honey was starting to worry if she had made a mistake in not leaving with him until she saw the person who had stepped through the foyer.
“Nikos!” Kai yelled, excitedly, ready to leap off her lap, but she held him close as Nikos kept his gun pointed at Antonis, who also had his gun aimed at him. Aris was also there, gun out and pointed at one of Antonis’s men.
“Don’t you mean, Cap?” Nikos said, winking, and Honey felt the knot that had formed in her stomach the moment Antonis approached her in the parking lot slowly starting to dissolve. She knew he would come for them. She was glad that he had made it in time.
Honey went to stand, ready to run into Nikos’s arms so she could go home with her son and forget this nightmare ever happened, but when she did, she felt Antonis’s tight grip on her arm, who wouldn’t let her stand.
“Let go of me,” Honey barked.
“Never.”
Those words weren’t just for her, but clearly for Nikos too.
“Kai, close your eyes for me, and keep them closed until I tell you to open them. Okay?”
“Okay, Nik,” Kai said, pressing his eyes close and abandoning his game.
“When Giannis asked me to take care of you and show you the ropes, I didn’t expect this,” Antonis said, chuckling bitterly. “I didn’t think it would be my downfall. I didn’t think my dear friend was sending a wolf into my home.”
“I’m also sure my father didn’t think you would try to kill me either. I guess we’re both disappointed,” Nikos said, shrugging.
“When did you start planning this? Turning the brotherhood against me.”
“The first time I made love to Hope.”
Her heart stopped as her eyes watered. He called her Hope. He called her by her name, and she knew why he had.
“Hope?” Antonis repeated, disgust and anger clear in his tone as the gun trembled in his hand.
“You shouldn’t call her that. Only the people who love her can call her that.”
“Uncle, you should end this because it’s over now,” Aris said. “You’re lucky that our father allowed Nikos to handle this himself. Otherwise, it would have been a real bloodbath down here for trying to kill his son.”
“Aris,” Antonis said, his voice filled with affection, the complete opposite of which he had spoken to Nikos, and surprisingly, Honey could tell that it was genuine. He had never called Georgios’s name that way.
