Katerina's watching me too closely. She sips her wine, one brow barely raised.
"I was just telling Ares how we ran into my cousin today," she says casually as she twirls her glass.
I nearly choke on my water.
"Oh right, I forgot," I say, taking another long drink, trying to hide the fact that I just had sex with him in an alley and my panties are soaked because of it.
"Fucking Petrous," Ares says, shaking his head.
"I thought they were business allies?" I ask, trying to sound casual. "I mean?—“
"We tolerate them, sure, thanks to Dad's old way of building alliances," Ares interrupts, "but they just take and take, like parasites." His hand tightens around his wine glass. "But if they got too close, I'd kill..." He stops suddenly and turns to Katerina. "I don't?—"
She waves it off. "Stavros is the one I hate. You could do whatever to him, but Niko's less evil."
Ares grunts.
"He's not like his father," she adds.
"Still," Ares says firmly, "he's his son. Next in line to run that family. He can never be trusted beyond what is necessary to keep peace."
My stomach twists.
If only you knew what was really going on, he'd snap.
The rest of dinner passes in a blur. I'm too caught up in my thoughts, in the lingering sensation of Niko's hands on my body, in the growing dread of what might be happening inside me, and what Ares said.
I keep my head down, picking at my food. I can't taste it. I can't even remember what I ordered.
We finally finish and head back to the hotel.
Once inside, I excuse myself quickly, claiming exhaustion. Ares barely acknowledges my departure with a distracted nod, already on his phone dealing with God knows what. Katerina's eyes follow me as I walk away, but she doesn't try to stop me.
Inside my suite next to theirs, I lock the door and finally breathe.
I change and curl up in bed, my hand resting on my stomach. The soft sheets do nothing to comfort me as my thoughts spiral out of control.
What if I am pregnant?
What if they find out about us?
How the hell could this ever work?
I close my eyes and grip the diamond at my throat.
Even if I love him and he loved me, it wouldn't be enough. We would still be consumed. Destroyed.
Emptiness washes over me, and for the first time in a long time, I cry for a loss that hasn't happened yet, but already feels inevitable.
18
NIKO
I'm two hundred feet away from her when she bends to smell the flowers at an Athens street vendor's cart. The vivid yellows and purples lay gently against her face as she closes her eyes, and I have to grip the edge of the magazine stand to keep from walking to her.
Two whole days. That's how long I've been watching her from afar, unable to touch her except for those stolen moments in the alley. Two fucking days of torture where she's so close, yet so far from my grasp.
My phone buzzes in my pocket again. I ignore it. My father. I've screened his calls since our last meeting, knowing exactly what he wants. The same thing he always wants: compliance and servitude. I still can't get what he said about Calli out of my head. The rage hasn't subsided, so I find it best to wait. I've sent my men on assignments normally handled by me to keep things running smoothly, so my father technically has shit to say to me.
