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My mind races through possible scenarios, trying to decide the best course of action. I don’t like a single one.
“We leave her here with you, and she’s gone, or a single hair is harmed on her head when we get back, and I’ll kill you myself.”
Amusement flares in his eyes. “You think you’re man enough to threaten me, boy?”
“I’m just informing you of the facts.”
Fast as lightning, he flings the knife in my direction. I swerve to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade, my cutting stare never leaving his. Behind me, a thunk sounds as the knife impales itself into the wall.
A wicked grin spreads across Stavros’s face. “The kid isn’t going anywhere. You do as you’re told, and you’ll have nothing to worry about.”
For a split second, I debate killing him and taking her away from here. I could do it. Kai would understand and find a way to get himself out.
And if you fail?
She would be the one who suffers.
I think of all the times Stavros has gotten the better of me. Our sparring matches are a fifty-fifty split these days. Am I willing to bet her life on those odds?
And if I leave, what are the chances she’ll be here when I get back?
They need her here to control me. They sell her, and they’ll lose all three of us. They know that.
“I won’t be gone long,” I finally concede, praying I’ve made the right choice.
Kairos and I are only on shore for an hour. My skin crawls with the need to get back the entire time we’re gone. When we return, Tessa is asleep on the floor holding a crayon in one hand and a horse in the other, seemingly unharmed.
“That wasn’t so terrible, was it?” Stavros asks with a sly smirk, bumping my shoulder on his way out of the room.
Three years of tension flee my lungs in a heavy exhale. I’d been dreading that moment since the day she came into our lives.
“That sadistic fuck gets off on toying with us,” Kai says under his breath.
“One of these days, it’s going to be too much.”
“If it does, we plan. That’s not a fight we take on in a fit of emotion, you hear me?”
“Yeah,” I agree, though my thoughts are conflicted. I’m not sure I could hold myself back if they bring Tess into the mix.
The unease weighs on my shoulders like a leaden blanket for days until life settles back into routine. Not long after, the Greek acquires a second boat. Another secondhand yacht that becomes our new home while Stavros takes charge of the older yacht. Without his stain on our daily lives, the sun feels a little warmer and the future brighter.
Escape becomes less of a focus as we pour our efforts into raising Tess to be a strong, independent young woman. We teach her to fight. To think on her feet.
The Greek keeps her with him anytime he considers the risk of us leaving too great. And when we are finally granted the freedom to captain our own ship years later, it is only because Tessa moves to Pouthená with the Greek. She’s seventeen by then and nearly grown, yet she still seems like a child to me.
The transition is hard on all three of us, but we persevere. And precisely as the Greek intended, we rush to get back every time we’re away, anxious to see her again.
CHAPTER 45
ISA
I went back to the bedroom after our argument and didn’t come out for the rest of the day. Though the confrontation started over the tattoo, I walked away more upset than ever over the prospect of being torn between the people I care about.
Elio says I’m his, but my heart belongs to more than one person. My life is in New York. I wouldn’t want to walk away from that whether some fantastical past relationship existed or not. But I don’t want to lose Elio either. If the two are incompatible, however, I won’t be able to have both, and I know Elio isn’t about to give me up.
Would he keep me away from my family? Would my friends and family distance themselves from me because I’m connected to Elio?
The impossible weight of it all drained all my energy. I lay in bed and cried, but those tears changed nothing. And to make matters worse, Elio never came to bed. I know because I waited as long as I could before my swollen eyes refused to stay open.
