by Nikki Ash
My glossy eyes meet hers, and she nods once. “I didn’t know it was her, though.” Her voice chokes up. “It’s all my fault.” A waterfall of tears falls down her cheeks. “I approached Nora and begged her to speak to her husband.”
A knot forms in the pit of my stomach. “About what?” I ask, but I already know the answer.
“To try to make him see reason. To stop you and Kostas from marrying.” A sob breaks through, past her lips. “I didn’t know she didn’t know you two weren’t really in love. I’m the reason she was so upset.”
Oh, no. It’s not my mom’s fault. I should’ve told her. It didn’t even cross my mind she would approach Nora about it. Now, though, it all makes sense. She told Nora the real reason why Kostas and I are marrying and it broke her. It broke her because our marriage wasn’t just a debt to be paid. It was revenge. It was personal. Because Niles couldn’t remain faithful to his wife! Because he couldn’t be satisfied with what he had right in front of him. My mom wasn’t enough. My brother and I weren’t enough. Nothing is ever fucking enough for him. It’s why he is where he is. He’s a greedy, selfish asshole.
“It’s not your fault,” I say, trying to soothe her.
“I approached Kostas too,” she adds, and the small hairs on the back of my neck rise. “I begged him not to make you marry him. He warned me not to interfere…”
“You were just trying to be a good mom,” I tell her, but even as I speak the words, I know Kostas isn’t going to agree. The minute he calms down and thinks, he’s going to put two and two together, and he’s going to want revenge. Just like his father. And when it happens, my mom can’t be here.
“You need to go back to Italy,” I blurt out.
Her brows knit in confusion. “With you?”
“No.” I shake my head. “You need to go. Now. If Kostas finds out you were the one who told Nora about our wedding being a sham, he’s going to go after you. He thought I said something to her and he was livid.” I stand abruptly. “You need to go. Take Nonna and get on the first flight out.” I look around, realizing Stefano isn’t here. “Call Stefano and tell him you guys need to leave.”
“Talia,” Mom pleads. “I can’t just leave you here.”
“Yes, you can, and you will. I can’t risk Kostas hurting you. Please.” Needing her to leave right away, I grab the bags the driver left in the corner of the room and roll them to the door. “Nonna!” I call out. With everything that happened, she lay down for a nap when we got here. “Nonna, wake up!”
My hands are shaking, and my legs are trembling in fear. I’ve seen what my fiancé is capable of, and I don’t doubt for a second he won’t hesitate to torture and kill my mom if he believes she’s the reason his mother shot herself.
As I’m helping my grandmother to her feet, Stefano and Nonno walk in. They both have blood on their clothes and frowns on their faces. Without waiting for them to speak, I rush over to them. “You have to leave.”
Both men look at me in confusion, and Nonno speaks. “What’s going on?”
I quickly explain to them what my mom said to Nora and Kostas, and my grandfather agrees it’s best for them to put distance between them. “He left in the ambulance with his father,” Nonno says. “I imagine he’ll be there for some time.”
“What about Aris?” I ask.
“The police forced him to let go of her and he took off,” Stefano says.
Oh, God! Poor Aris. I need to find him.
After wrapping my mom up in a tight hug and telling her to call me once she’s home, I see them out and then head over to Aris’s villa to find out if he went there.
After banging on the door several times and no one answering, I begin my search of the property. I check the tiki bar to see if he came here for a drink but don’t find him. I dial his cell number, but he doesn’t pick up. Maybe he went to the hospital…I call Kostas, but he doesn’t pick up either. I spend the next couple hours combing through every inch of the hotel. The restaurants, the bars, the pools. I go by his office, but nobody’s there. I check the parking garage and see his car is there, so he has to be somewhere.
Before giving up and heading home, I try his place one more time. “Aris!” I shout, banging on the door. “If you’re in there, please open up. I just want to make sure…” I stop myself before I finish my sentence. Of course he isn’t okay. His mom just killed herself. His father, who she blamed, was shot. He’s the furthest thing from being okay. “Aris, please.” I pound on the door, refusing to give up. What if he’s hurt himself?
Finally the door swings open and Aris stumbles out slightly. “Talia,” he slurs. The blood from his mother is still covering his entire front. “Sweet, sweet Talia.” He smirks, but it’s not playful. It’s sad and despondent.
“Oh, Aris.” I pull him into a hug, and it’s then I notice he’s holding a bottle of liquor. It drops to the floor with a bang, and liquid sloshes out, spraying my feet. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
“She’s…she’s dead,” Aris whispers. His mouth is so close to my ear, I can feel and smell his cool, liquor-covered breath.
“I know. I know,” I tell him, having no clue what to say. Nothing I say is going to make this better. He’s just lost both his parents. His mother literally, and his father…how will he ever get past it, knowing his father is why she killed herself?
“C’mon.” I wrap my arm around Aris’s waist and help him walk to the bathroom, so I can get him into the shower and clean him up. I let go of him momentarily to turn on the water, and he slumps against the wall, his body sliding down into a heap on the floor. His eyes close, and his head bangs against the wall.
“She’s dead,” he murmurs.
“Here, let me help you,” I tell him, needing to get his crimson-stained clothes off him. His eyes are still closed as he extends each arm so I can pull his suit jacket off. Next, I unbutton his shirt, then peel it from his body. His limbs are limp, and his breathing is almost nonexistent. “Aris,” I whisper, needing to know he’s still awake. His brown eyes open. His lids are hooded over, and his pupils are slightly dilated. He looks devastated and lost, and my heart breaks for him. I can’t imagine losing my mom, let alone watching her kill herself.
Reaching out, he pushes several strands of my hair out of my face and whispers, “She’s gone.”
“I know. I’m so sorry.” I yank each of his loafers off his feet, then pull his socks off. “I need you to stand so we can get your pants off.” The front of his pants, where he laid his mother’s head in his lap, is drenched through from the blood.
Aris swallows thickly, and his Adam’s apple bobs slightly. His eyes gloss over, and he nods once but doesn’t make any move to get up. Kneeling in front of him, I position my hands under each armpit and attempt to lift him. He’s too heavy and doesn’t budge. “Aris, please,” I beg. This time when he nods, he presses his hands against the marbled floor and stands. He’s shaky on his feet, but he remains standing while I unbutton and unzip his pants. I push them down and consider removing his briefs but don’t want to go there.
“The water is warm and will feel good,” I tell him as I guide him into the walk-in shower. The water rains down on his face and back, dripping down his body. The clear liquid turns red as it circles the drain and empties. I’m about to go find him a towel, when his hands grip my hips and he pulls me into the shower with him.
“Aris…” I begin, but he stumbles forward, pushing me against the shower wall. His face finds the crook of my neck and he nuzzles into it. The only sound is the water hitting the marble. For a second I think maybe Aris has passed out standing up, but then I feel it. His body trembling against mine. His shoulders shaking up and down. He’s crying. I don’t know what to do or say, so I do the only thing I can do. I wrap my arms around his torso and I hold him tight as his silent sobs rack his body. We stay like this until the water turns cold, and then Aris lifts his head.
“Let me grab us a towel,” I tell him, turning the water off. I find a couple towe
ls under his sink and snag them. I hand one to him and keep one for myself. Without caring that I’m in the room, he pushes his briefs down and wraps his towel around his waist. Diverting my eyes, I say, “I’m going to get these wet clothes off. Can I borrow some clothes?”
“Yeah.” He nods once and steps out. “I’ll leave them for you on the bed.”
After stripping out of my wet clothes and wringing them out in the sink, I wrap the towel around me and then walk into Aris’s room. He’s in there, still in his towel. He’s sitting on the edge of his bed with his head bowed and his face in his hands. I’ve never felt so helpless.
“Hey.” I step in front of him, and he lifts his head slightly. “I don’t know what to say,” I admit. “Do you want me to take you to the hospital? I think that’s where Kostas is…”
Aris’s eyes bulge out of their sockets and then form into thin slits. “He killed her,” he hisses. Of course he blames his father. I don’t blame him. Everything she said. She might as well have handed Ezio the gun. “No, I don’t want to go to the fucking hospital, and you shouldn’t either.” He glares at me, and his hands grip my forearms.
“It should’ve been him, not her,” he sneers. “He should be fucking dead.”
“I know,” I agree. “I hate this for you.” My cell phone rings out somewhere in the villa. “Let me go grab that. It could be Kostas.”
“Kostas?” Aris spits. “Who fucking cares?” We’re both silent for a minute and then Aris says, “You’re not thinking of still marrying him, are you?” He stands from the bed, now towering over me.
“It’s…it’s not up to me,” I tell him. He knows this. He knows I’m being forced. He was there when my fate was sealed.
“That was before!” he roars. “Everything has fucking changed.” He stalks toward me and I back up, my lower back hitting the edge of the dresser. I wince in pain. “You can’t marry him, Talia! Didn’t you hear my mother’s dying wishes? To you? To me? To Kostas?”
“I know.” I nod emphatically. He’s starting to scare me. His chest is heaving in anger, and I’m trapped between him and the dresser. My phone continues to ring, but I can’t answer it because it’s in the other room. “I know what she said,” I tell him softly, hoping to calm him. “And I want to give her what she asked. But in order to do that, I’m going to have to talk to Kostas. That might be him calling.”
Aris flinches at Kostas’s name. “He’s not going to listen. He always does what our father says. He’s going to make you marry him. And then my father will get what he wanted. You can’t marry him. You can’t.” He shakes his head. His eyes bore into mine, and he almost appears to be possessed. My hands shake at my sides. I need to figure a way to get to my phone, or get out of here. Something’s not right. Something is off.
“I understand,” I say to Aris to placate him, “I will—”
Aris cuts me off. “No, there’s nothing you can do. There’s only one way to stop Kostas. There’s only one reason he would call off this wedding.” His eyes rake down my body, stopping when they get to the knot holding my towel together. Reaching forward, he tugs on it enough to loosen it, but not enough to make it fall. “If you’re tainted…then he won’t want you, and my dad won’t get his way.”
“Then I’m as good as dead too,” I choke out, pushing at his chest. “You know that.”
Another sob makes his entire body shake. “Fuck, Talia, I’m sorry.”
Relaxing in his arms, I gently hug him. “It’s okay.”
“He doesn’t deserve you,” he murmurs, his breath hot against my ear. “He doesn’t deserve you.”
A shiver runs down my spine when his lips latch onto the side of my neck. He sucks on my flesh in a reverent way. My towel slides down, exposing my breasts.
“Aris,” I whisper. “Aris, stop.”
He pulls away enough to look me right in the eye. His are bloodshot from crying and drinking. Before I can grab the towel, his lips crash to mine in a demanding kiss. I abandon trying to keep the towel on in an effort to push him away. Turning my head, I manage to break the kiss.
“Aris,” I whimper. “Please—”
His grip finds my jaw as he guides my face back to his, attacking my lips once more and silencing me. As he kisses me, all I can think about is how bad this is. If Kostas finds out his brother was kissing me, it’s not going to end well for me.
He’ll kill me.
My thought has me frozen in fear. Distracted. Worried. Confused. Hot skin against my own has me crying out in shock.
Holy shit.
Aris is naked and he’s rubbing his erection against my stomach. This is bad. Really bad. I have to put a stop to it. My hands find his chest and I push against him to no avail. He’s strong. Really strong. Oh God.
Kostas will kill me.
He. Will. Kill. Me.
Aris’s strong hands bite into the backs of my thighs as he lifts me. I scream against his mouth as terror floods through me. His mouth consumes mine as he shoves my ass against the dresser.
No. No. No.
I claw my fingers down his chest, trying to stop him. My lips finally break from his and I scream. But that one small moment allows him to nudge the head of his cock between my spread thighs and he thrusts.
One thrust to destroy my world.
Another scream rasps from me as everything spins around me.
Numb. Darkness closes in on me and numbness takes over. Pain tears at me from the inside out while I try desperately to block it out.
He will kill me. Kostas will kill me.
Oh, God.
What have I done?
A loud, ugly sob rattles from me and my body goes limp.
I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.
“You’re not going to die,” Aris growls, dragging me to the heinous act, making me realize I’m chanting those words.
I squeeze my eyes shut, blocking out the way he drives into me in a painful way. I try to ignore the way he kisses my neck and grips my breast.
This can’t last forever.
This. Can’t. Last. Forever.
I’m crying so hard I can’t breathe. Loud hiccups resound from me and snot runs down my lip. Everything aches, but it’s my heart that hurts.
Why did he do this?
Why?
He makes a grunting sound and then heat floods inside me. A burst of elation rushes through me. He’s done. He’s fucking done.
“You’re not going to die,” Aris says again, swiping away the snot from my lip with his thumb. “I won’t let him hurt you.”
His cock softens and he pulls out of me before stumbling over to the bed, falling face first onto it. I stand staring at him, my entire body shaking uncontrollably as his semen runs down my thigh. For far too long, I gape at the man in horror, until his breathing evens out into soft snores, jarring me from my frozen state.
Oh God.
I need to get the hell out of here.
Kostas
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
My cousin Victoria yammers on the phone loudly to her husband, and I want to tell her to shut the fuck up. Instead, I grit my teeth and continue to pace the floor.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
She’s dead. My mother is dead. I’ll never hear her laughter again. See her smile. I’ll never be able to tease her about being the favorite son. I’ll never again smell her lovely floral perfume scent she’s worn since childhood.
I pause my pacing as a violent tremble shakes through me.
“Kos, hon, you okay?” Paulina, my other cousin, asks.
“I’m fine,” I growl.
But I’m not fine. Everything is a fucking mess.
I need for my father to be okay. I can’t lose both my parents in one day. I’m barely holding on to my sanity, which means Aris has probably gone off the deep end. He was a momma’s boy, and he, like me, watched his mother blow her head off right after she shot our fucking fath
er.
Fuck.
Paulina hands me a tissue, but I wave it off, opting to swipe at the rogue tear with the palm of my hand.
I should have pressed Father on the Nikolaides issue. I’d known something was fucking wrong, but I ignored it. I hoped Father would come out and tell me why he was obsessed with making Niles pay.
Revenge.
My mother is a cheater, and he wanted to make them all pay for it.
An ache forms in my stomach. How could I have not seen this? All these years, I thought my mother and father loved each other. Sure, he was an asshole, but he would kiss her and occasionally playfully carry her up the stairs. I took it for face value. I’d never dreamed she hated him and was only staying with him because of us. He spent years tormenting her over this shit.
I want to be angry with him, but I understand his need for revenge. He loved his wife. They had a contract—that’s what marriage is after all—to love one another. She was the mother of his children. And she stepped out of the marriage. With Niles fucking Nikolaides of all people. He conned her like he tries to do everyone else.
I’m going to end that motherfucker.
String him up by his goddamn ballsack.
“Kos,” Paulina says, “are you sure you’re okay?”
“Fucking go away,” I snarl. “I just watched my mother blow her fucking brains out. How the hell do you think I’m doing?”
Paulina gapes at me and Victoria quickly ushers her away from me. I continue my pacing. Father has to be okay. We’ll get through this and make a plan to get Niles back.
My blood turns icy.
Melody.
If she’d kept her damn mouth shut, my mother may not have lost it like she did. But she didn’t. Melody blabbing to my mother was the catalyst for the events that took place. As soon as I can fucking think clearly, I’ll send Adrian to fetch them for me. Melody, her pussy husband, her prissy parents. I’ll fucking destroy their entire line in one swoop. Phoenix too. But Niles, I’ll save him to torture him slowly.