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“Good. Now be a good girl and do everything the officer says for you to do. If he says sit, you sit. If he wants you to jump, you jump. Get the picture?” he added sternly.
“I will,” I professed quickly. My words hitched in the back of my throat, and I tried to swallow back a tear-filled cry. I blinked several times, trying to keep a hold of myself while I felt like I was breaking apart on the inside.
“Listen to me, Maci-girl. Everything is going to be okay. Trust me. I’ve always seen to it that you were cared for before, haven’t I?” he asked, his voice softening a little.
“Yes,” I whispered.
The truth was that he had. Ever since my parents’ death, he had watched over me from afar. He’d made sure that my grandmother and I led comfortable enough lives. He’d even set up a small trust fund for me to use once I turned twenty-five or graduated from college, whichever came first. I’d lived a normal, happy life, at least until now.
“I’ll be there soon. Take care of yourself until I get there,” he added.
“Thank you, godfather,” I answered.
“You’re welcome, Maci-girl.”
I hung up the phone and turned back to the officer, who led me back to my holding cell in silence.
CHAPTER 2
Athens, Greece
Nikolaos Kaligaris
Jesus Christ.
I didn’t need this today.
I hung up the phone with a sigh. My goddaughter was generally a good girl. She got good grades, was in the most advanced classes, and had good prospects for a ton of college scholarships when she finally got her ass in gear and applied herself after taking this ridiculous gap year she’d insisted on.
If she were my daughter, college was exactly where she’d be.
With a firm shake of my head, I brushed my fingers against my brow. This was a headache I didn’t need right now. I was in the middle of a very expensive acquisitions deal for a vineyard in Santorini and the negotiations were growing increasingly tense. The Kostopoulos family wanted more money, and I was already offering a very generous amount. I hadn’t reached my cap yet, but it was time to play hardball.
They were going to learn that my family name meant something, and they were going to learn that very quickly.
I leaned back in my chair and glanced at the clock. It was only three in the afternoon, which meant it was eight in the morning back in Pennsylvania. As soon as I chartered my private jet, the trip would be a solid ten-to-eleven-hour flight, but it was one I was familiar with since I’d made it time and time again. Philadelphia had a massive port, and there were plenty of times I was needed there to personally handle several high value cargo deliveries to the right buyer.
I sighed again, shaking my head with frustrated annoyance. I didn’t want to go to the United States today. The timing was particularly bad, and there was business that needed to be tended to.
I should just let her deal with the consequences of her actions. She was nineteen now, a fully grown, highly intelligent adult that should know better than to get into cars with drunk boys, but I knew that I couldn’t ignore the whole thing because this wasn’t going to go away on its own.
I had the power to change things for her and make sure she still had a good life. I would need to do nothing more than make a few phone calls, sign a few checks, and bring in the right people to make this disappear for her.
With a heavy sigh, I knew I couldn’t leave her to handle this on her own.
She’d made a mistake. She didn’t deserve to suffer the rest of her life for it, not when she had the potential to truly become something great, plus I’d made a vow to her father years ago that if anything ever happened to him and his wife, I’d look out for her as best as I could.
Years ago, I’d flown to the States when she’d been born to visit my old college buddy, Michael. It had been just like old times. I smiled fondly just thinking about them. I still remembered the way she’d smiled up at me with those pretty blue-green eyes of hers. Michael had chosen me as her godfather right then and there, and I’d taken the honor to heart.
I hadn’t expected him and his wife to die only a few years later.
I wished things had been different. I wished there had been some way I’d been able to save them from that drunk driver that night, but even with the best doctors and medical care in the world flown in to help them, they’d passed away within hours, leaving their three-year-old little girl alone with nothing more than me and her grandmother.
I’d taken care of her, but in a way that wouldn’t bring her into my world. I’d made sure her grandmother’s mortgage was paid every month, that her water, electricity, and everything else was taken care of. I’d given her a normal life and helped steer her in the right direction from time to time when she needed advice, but those moments were few and far between over the years.
I hadn’t seen her since she’d been a toddler, not since her parents’ funeral.
I picked my cell up off of the wooden surface of my desk and dialed my secondhand man, Andreas Dounas.
