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“You want a front-row seat as I wield a knife. Is that what you’re saying?”
“I’ve already experienced this. I rather watch an interrogation.”
“Shut up, Nerine,” Theo muttered so only I could hear. “Stop agitating him.”
I glanced to my side and then at Andraius, not giving a fuck.
Theo knew nothing about what this monster had done to me with his blade.
I’d lived as someone’s pawn for way too long. This man planned to hurt me whether or not I played by his rules.
Lifting a brow, I held Andraius’s gaze and then smirked before I used the words from the night he couldn’t get it up. “Are we doing this or not?”
He shifted as if he planned to lunge at me before he got himself under control. “Gentlemen, let’s give her what she wants.”
Twelve
Nerine
“Mama, I’m so happy to hear from you,”I said in Greek when I picked up the call.“I wish you were here.”
There was a bit of comfort in speaking to her in our native language. Growing up, I only used Greek with the elders of the household since the younger generation preferred English. Then when everything went down, I refused to speak Greek with Andraius to spite him.
He’d tried the “I’ll only ever speak Greek to you” shit, and I’d acted as if I hadn’t a clue what he was saying.
My favorite line to use against him was, “What did you say? I don’t understand. It’s all Greek to me.”
Yeah, I was a royal bitch, but he’d made me into one.
“Cara, if only things were different. Tell me, what have you been doing? I called you on this new number earlier, and you didn’t answer. I thought I’d made a mistake. Why do I feel you are sneaking around and may get into trouble?”
In my mind’s eye, I imagined her wrapping me in her arms and engulfing me in the scent of her flower and spiced perfume.
Mama was home. The safe place, the love and joy of my childhood, all packaged in one person.
God, I missed her so much.
It had been nearly eight weeks since I last spoke to Mama. I was different now, stronger. Well, I was getting there. I trained in something every day: defense, business, finance. If it wasn’t one of the Squad, it was Theo or Xander administering the curriculum.
“It’s an encrypted line, just like the one phone I sent you. Only use that phone when you talk to anyone about me or want to have private conversations from now on. Tell the girls the same things about their phones.”
After my last conversation with Mama, I’d discovered Andraius had someone bug the phone from her side. And he’d come storming into the library demanding I never talk disparagingly about him to her again. I’d only referred to him as the imposter Angelos, nothing else.
From the beginning, we suspected Andraius monitored and reviewed our conversations, so we spoke in code to relay private information. Only this last time, I decided to test him, and he’d proven me right.
“I’m not stupid. I did notice that you didn’t answer any of my questions. Something is different about you.”Mama grew quiet for a moment and then sternly asked,“What have you done?”
Typical mom, thinking I’d done something terrible. Technically, I had, but it was for a good cause—our freedom, so there was that. And it wasn’t really terrible. I wasn’t planning to kill anyone. I only hoped someone else killed him.
“I have found some hobbies to keep me busy.”I smiled to myself.“And made friends.”
“Doing what?”
“So suspicious”
“Answer the question.”
“Mama, it’s not that bad. I’m learning to protect myself.”
