Nikos couldn’t fly away. He couldn’t go back in time and change what happened. The only thing he could do was accept the cards that life had dealt him.
“Okay,” Nikos said. “I’ll do it for the family.”
“Choose your right-hand wisely,” Aris said. “Handle the Ricardo situation and keep Christos close. He’s someone that you can trust. And if you need any help, don’t hesitate to call me.”
“Okay,” Nikos said.
“S'agapó,” Aris told him, and Nikos smiled.
“You too, man,” Nikos told his brother before he hung up. He looked at the sky one more time before he headed back inside, accepting his fate that he was the son of Giannis Drakos and that meant that he had always been destined to be a man of the night, and now it was time for him to be.
C H A P T E R
18
THE NEXT DAY, WORD OF ANTONIS’S INJURY RACED THROUGH THE CLUB LIKE WILDFIRE, and it wasn’t long before those rumors reached Honey’s ears. It was another two hours before the club opened, and all of the dancers mingled around the club, practicing before opening and trading whispers of the incident that no one had seen but only heard about.
Honey was on the corner of the stage with Amber, Allison, Rachel, Sweetie, and Rita. They stretched together, getting prepared for their turn to practice before opening. Honey slid down into a split before stretching over to touch her hands to her toes, knowing that if she didn’t now, she would be in for a world of hurt later on in the night. She didn’t want to get an injury likesome of the other girls got whenever they skipped out on their stretches.
“Do you think it’s true?” Rita whispered curiously, and they all knew what she was referring to without even asking.
“No, it isn’t,” Sweetie said, waving her off. “There’s no way that something like that would happen to Antonis. They said that he’s dead.”
“But I heard he got shot,” Rita said, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
“I heard he was in a coma,” Amber said.
“See,” Sweetie said, shaking her head. “They are nothing but rumors. This is Antonis we’re talking about here. He’s practically untouchable.”
“Yeah, I have to agree with Sweetie here. No one would have the balls to do something like that to Antonis. Even the police are scared of him,” Allison said.
“Then why isn’t he here?” Rachel asked, which caused them to pause.
Sweetie shrugged as she tried to come up with a reason. “Maybe he’s busy with something. I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound like something that would happen.”
“What do you think, Honey?” Amber asked, and all the girls turned to look at her, the only one who had yet to add her opinion.
“Whether he’s dead, shot, or in a coma, I don’t know,” Honey said, shrugging. “But…I do think it’s true that something happened to him, and that’s why he’s not here right now.”
“Why do you think that?” Rita asked.
Honey couldn’t exactly tell them the reason because that meant she would have to mention that Nikos had been at herhouse last night. She remembered the look of worry etched on his face when he got up to leave. He hadn’t told her what happened, but the worry in his eyes alone let her know that something bad had happened.
And on top of that, there was an even more sure reason.
“Whenever Antonis goes away on business, even if it’s for a day, he tells me,” Honey admitted. He had done that ever since she started working here, treating her like she was his wife, letting her know of his whereabouts as if she would be worried sick if he were gone, when in reality, he only gave her relief whenever he told her. Antonis was always at the club before everyone else, and if he weren’t here, it was because he was out on business. But he hadn’t told her anything this time.
Before any of the girls could get the chance to respond, the chatter in the room died. They all turned around to see Georgios enter the room.
Georgios clapped his hands together. “Come on. Chop, chop. We’re having a meeting, and I have something to tell you.”
Like the other girls in the room, Honey had to refrain herself from rolling her eyes because she didn’t like Georgios. He was an asshole who often walked around like a tyrant with a crown whenever Antonis wasn’t around. He thought just because he was Antonis’s cousin that he could do whatever he wanted. He was rude and didn’t listen, and he seemed to take pleasure in having power over other people, always taking advantage of it.
She stood up with the rest of the girls and made her way to the front of the stage. Everyone grouped around Georgios, who stood at the bottom of the stage. Once he had all of their attention, he spoke.
“As some of you may have heard, as of right now, Antonis will not be here for the unforeseeable future.”
A chorus of gasps sounded off around them as if it confirmed people’s suspicions and rumors. Honey felt uneasiness go through her as she processed that information. She wasn’t nearly as surprised as anyone else because Antonis’s absence had been enough for her to realize that there was truth to the rumors, but she wasn’t big on change that could affect her negatively.
