“I do not have a father,” she said flatly.
He tilted his head and considered her, the smile still on his face. He did love a spar. “Then I suppose the name Erjon Hyseni means nothing to you.”
He could see it flash in her eyes. She knew. Which made his plan that much easier to implement.
He settled back in his chair, sipped his wine and knew he would enjoy this bout.
Ari had to bite her tongue to keep from demanding how he knew who her father was. He had to be in some kind of business with her father to know that because Erjon and her mother were the only ones who knew.
Weren’t they? That had always been her understanding, but Ari knew that no matter what facts she managed to scrabble together, it was never the whole story. Never the whole truth.
Except one simple fact.
Her father was an evil man who had assaulted her mother. Who had made her childhood a violent jungle gym of threats and fear. Until ten years ago when he had disappeared, gone into hiding, leaving her only with the threat of his return someday.
That had given her time to build herself into the kind of machine who would deal with any threat.
But she hadn’t seen this silk dagger coming—she could admit she’d expected some kind of sexual proposition. Or maybe something to do with boxing. She knew that most men saw that as the two things she had to offer.
Perhaps she should have known Zervou Kritikos would not followmost.
Any mention of her father should certainly send her running. She should grab the envelope and walk out, but the smell of dinner was wafting in the air, and she had not eaten much today. Mother had somehow convinced the grocer to give her alcohol in place of Ari’s standing order of food for the week. It left her in a tight spot—not just financially but in terms of now needing to find a new grocer to make a deal with.
She hoped the sound of her stomach growling did not reach Zervou.Thatwould be embarrassing, and whatever this was, however he knew about Erjon, to show any weakness to this man would be a death sentence. She didn’t need to know anything to know that.
But was there any use denying the truth? Even if she didn’t think he should know it. She wasn’t worried about keeping the secret. Not in the way most people might. Because when she ended her father and his threats and the shadow he’d created over her and her mother’s life, she would want everyone to knowwhy.
“You see, Hyseni murdered my father, in cold blood,” Zervou said, as if commenting on the weather. “In front of my mother. When I was just a boy.”
For a moment, good sense warred with a soft heart. It was easy to think a man with his wealth and power had never suffered, but she knew better. Life was suffering.
And though she could not imagine the powerful man before her as anything so small and inconsequential as a boy, she could pictureachild in that position. And she knew just how much children suffered.
“I am sorry to hear that,” she said, wishing she did not sound quite so soft.
He paused in lifting another bite from his plate to his mouth. He looked at her as if she’d surprised him, though she didn’t understand how or why. “Ever since that moment, I have vowed to find my revenge. I was close ten years ago, but he managed to escape my plans for him.”
Ten years ago.Ari’s breath caught.Thisman was responsible for her father being in hiding? It seemed… Well, she could see why someone would hide from him. He had a ruthless sharpness about him. It seemed he tried to mask it under wealth and prestige maybe, some easy charm, but there was no hiding a weapon.
Not from Ari.
Still, she didn’t seem to have the good sense to fear him.
“He will not escape this time. And since I have spent the past decade learning everything there is to know about Erjon, I learned of your existence. I have spent years planning my retribution.”
Join the club, she wanted to tell him. But even with a common enemy, she knew better than to trust a man such as Zervou Kritikos. Of course, that didn’t mean she couldn’tusea man such as he. If she was careful,
“I think you might just be the key, Ariadne Milas. Or should I say Ariadne Hyseni?”
“My name has never been Hyseni,” Ari replied, trying to keep the snap out of her tone. Failing.
“My apologies.”
He did not sound apologetic. Or trustworthy. Or safe. Still… She could at least get a decent meal and that envelope of cash out of this, couldn’t she? Hesitantly, she moved toward the table, lowered herself into the chair. Everything smelled like heaven. Her stomach rumbled loudly.
She pretended she didn’t hear it and filled her plate casually. Before she took the first bite though, she grabbed the envelope and shoved it deep into her pocket. She didn’t need to count it. If he’d lied about the amount, she’d discover it after she left and react accordingly.
For now, she was getting a dinner out of…whatever this was. “How did you discovermyconnection?”
