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I have to give it to Tahir, he has some balls on him to threaten me, knowing at any given second I can have Basil or Malichi kill him with just a look. The only thing that’s stopping me from giving the order is the beautiful woman lying in my bed upstairs. They just got him back and I would hate to be the one to take him away again. Only this time, it would be permanently.
Giving Tahir back the same expression, I declare, “You are right, my people are the Kourakos Greek Mafia Family, but I can assure you that what happened had no affiliation with my family. Some motherfucker with a death wish is trying to scare Deanna into selling her bookstore and that shit is never going to happen.”
He rubs his chin before saying, “I’m sure with your family’s connections you’re trying to find out who this person is?”
I nod. “We already know who the asshole is.”
“And he’s still breathing?” Tahir demands.
“Not for long,” I honestly vow.
He calms, then asks, “Does Dee know about your family?”
“Deanna knows my family owns businesses around the city anything other than that I haven’t told her. She’s an intelligent woman, so I’m sure she has her speculations but hasn’t said anything.”
He points his finger at me, stating, “Whether you think she speculates or not, you need to tell her. I might’ve been gone these past five years, but I’ve kept tabs on my little sisters and I proud of what they’ve accomplished for themselves. If Dee is going to be in your life,” he says, then turns to Basil. “Or Zoe in yours, then I need to know that the two of you will keep them out of harm’s way by any means necessary. They seem to like you two and I have never been one to interfere in my little sister’s love lives, but them being with the two of you can inadvertently put a target on their backs.”
Basil twists in his seat to make sure Tahir can clearly see him before expressing, “Zoe and Dee are always protected. Yiorgos and I would give our lives for theirs.”
Tahir peers at him, “That’s all I want to hear. It may not seem like it, but my family means the world to me.” He starts to get out of his seat. “I’m going to go upstairs and see how they are doing.”
“Sit down,” I command. Tahir gives me a puzzled look. I answered his questions, now it was time for him to answer mine.
He lowers back into the chair. “Yeah?”
Getting straight to it, I ask, “Why have you been away from your family who means so much to you?”
Tahir leans forward, placing his elbows on his knees, and clasps his hands together as he hangs his head. “Let me first say this, it was never my plan to be away from them. I’m sure they told you the parts of what they heard concerning what happened at the dice game. Well, shit was deeper than a fight breaking out.” He sighs.
“There were some big-time dealers at the game that night. Things were going fine until one of the dealers, a guy named Dutch accused me of cheating, which I wasn’t. He was mad Lady Luck was on my side that night. Anyway, he caught me by surprise when he rushed me with a knife, stabbing me in the side but it was another rival dealer that tried to take him out in the process by shooting at him, but he failed, and the asshole got away. My so-called friends ran, leaving me laying there bleeding out. When the police and ambulance got there, I was barely hanging on. They got me to the hospital just in time and as I recovered, the Feds came to me with an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
“And what was that?” I ask.
“Apparently, they were already building a case to take Dutch down and with him stabbing me, they could add attempted murder to the long list of what they had on him. They put me in Witness Protection and moved me to another hospital outside of the city while I healed. The Feds said I couldn’t reach out to my family because we didn’t know if Dutch had eyes on them. As much as I wanted to go home, I reluctantly agreed not to contact them for their safety. Weeks later, Dutch was finally arrested. I don’t know who he’s affiliated with, but he was able to pay a ridiculous amount of bail. He shouldn’t have been able to, but he was free to walk the streets until the trial. I was told that once it was over, I could go home but that didn’t happen. The day of the trial, Dutch was a no-show. I knew what would happen if I went home after that, so I stayed in Protection and was moved up state.”
Basil faces him, asking, “And they still haven’t found him?”
“No, they’ve come close but he’s always one step ahead of them. I should still be there but after the Agent I check in with called and told me what happened to Dee’s bookstore, I said fuck it. I’d been gone long enough,” Tahir snarls.
I take in his words, then put them on my mental balance scale. Yes, shit was about to get deep. “Tahir, you do know now that you’ve resurfaced not only will we have to deal with the fucker that’s coming after Deanna but if this Dutch finds out you’re back in town, he’ll be coming for you and perhaps the rest of your family?”
He opens his mouth to respond but his words fall short as we hear, “Yiorgos, Basil where the hell are you two ugly Greeks hiding?”
What the fuck? Why is Alistair here and if he is, that means Balthazar is too. Most times, you’ll never see one without the other just like Basil and I.Shit. I really need to get a locksmith here to change the locks and put in new access codes.
“Is that who I think it is?” Basil asks with a knowing smile.
Getting up annoyed, I close my eyes to prepare to see them. Knowing Balthazar, he’s probably been linked into everything that has transpired since I called him.
“Yes, it seems our cousins have arrived...unannounced,” I dryly reply.
Making our way to the front entryway, Alistair, Mike, and Tech are standing there.
Going to Alistair first I hug him, then ask, “What are you all doing here?”
He grips my shoulders replying excitingly, “Well, once you told Zar what was going on up here he hit Mike and Tech up. Tech was able to link into Deanna’s security feed and we were able to see the shit that went on last night. Tell me cousin, did she really think that one little extinguisher was going to put out all of that fire?” He laughs.
Like I said before, Alistair and I have never had any issues, but I don’t find his playful rhetoric amusing at all. When the not so humorous look on my face catches him, he quiets down.
