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In the eyes of the organization, he’d remain the backstabbing betrayer Andraius Stratos. First, he’d weaseled his way in by marrying Angelos’s cousin, and then, when she died in childbirth, he’d decided to stay. After that, he’d pretended his undying loyalty to Peter Angelos, our beloved boss, all the while setting up people to overthrow him.
When Andraius took over, he’d made everyone swear allegiance to the Angelos Family, not him. To us, the Angelos Family were Peter’s surviving children. His daughters, Nerine, Christina, Ariana, and Fiona. Giving them our absolute fidelity took nothing from us.
We’d do what it took to protect them and the family’s legacy. Theios Peter had named Nerine his heir, even if Greek syndicate practices didn’t traditionally accept female leaders of an organization, business, or syndicate. Then again, Theios Peter had no choice but to modernize his views, having had four girls in the family and no sons for most of his life. Even after Linus’s unexpected birth, he’d never altered his perception.
“Would you like the visit to the Caves arranged? This way the men will know to expect your wife’s arrival,” Theo asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
The glare he shot me said Andraius had been waiting for my response, and Theo had to jump in before he noticed that I’d spaced out.
Theo preferred to watch and rarely spoke unless absolutely necessary.
Well, the only exception was with Nerine. But then again, she’d gotten under his skin when she hit fourteen and he was seventeen. So his teenage way of dealing with his attraction to the then-boss’s daughter was to needle her until she tried to punch him.
Enemies to lovers, at its finest.
Then there was me on the other end of the spectrum. The best friend, the one who watched out for her, the one who’d beat a motherfucker to a pulp for picking on her.
She was the one person who saw past my bulldozer exterior and allowed me to care for her. The polished one fought with her nonstop, and the brute cuddled her.
Even before our Angel turned us into a trio, my relationship with Theo went beyond that of best friends. We felt more and wanted more. It wasn’t until we hit high school that we acted on it. Then Nerine blew into our world, throwing both of us off balance.
We loved her, and she felt the same for us. Our unconventional relationship worked.
“Yes,” Andraius answered with a smirk. “Set it up for some time in the next few weeks. I want to spring it on her. Keep her on her toes.”
Fucking manipulative bastard.
“Back to watching her. I want the two of you to take over personally.”
He was serious about this.
“What about our duties to you? Aren’t those priorities?” I asked.
The last time I’d played any security detail duty, I was in the middle of puberty. By the time I left high school, enforcement had become part of my weekly routine and then turned into my full-time gig by my first year of college.
“You’ll suspend travel unless it is absolutely necessary. As for your duties, I know you two are well-versed in multitasking. So delegate things others won’t fuck up and handle everything else as you normally do.”
Meaning he planned to continue to sit on his ass, take all the credit, and let Theo and I do all the work.
Theo moved closer to the desk. “Is there something you aren’t telling us, sir? Is there a threat against Nerine you need us to eliminate? If so, I will have my top men prioritize research and data collection before disposal.”
I had to give it to him. He had a way of being diplomatic, even when talking about slaughtering a fucker for information. And the smile on Andraius’s lips said he was eating up all the bullshit European genteel training.
I wouldn’t say I hadn’t learned the same lessons. I just chose not to use them in front of this dick. The ability to fake polish and charm only lasted as long as the means justified the ends. Andraius viewed me as his muscle and strategist.
Being the rough, unrefined one of the Theo-Xander duo worked in my favor.
He’d realize soon enough the calm ones were the people to worry about. They hid their darker sides. When Theo joined me in the Caves, he garnered answers ten times quicker than anyone else I knew.
I played the psycho for Andraius, but the true unhinged one sat next to me.
“Nyx Mykos-Drakos seems to have taken an interest in Nerine.”
Good for Nerine. She needed someone like Nyx in her life.
Nyx took shit from no one.
And as the wife of Simon Drakos, the head of one of the largest Greek syndicates on the east coast of the United States, it was either hold your own with the man known as the master of death and fortune or get run over. Nyx was also the daughter of Phillip “the surgeon” Mykos and sister to Tyler Mykos, who ran another large syndicate. The alliance between the two families made them the most powerful group in the eastern half of the United States if not the whole country.
