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“I’ll explain everything I know here.” I squeeze my sisters’ hands in comfort.
Kayla leads us to another sofa where we all sit together. Aris glances at the space beside him. A flash of disappointment darkens his eyes before disappearing. It happens so fast that I question if it is a product of my imagination. It can’t be wishful thinking, right? Aris frowns at me, but I’m preoccupied by the emotion I glimpsed.
“My sisters will think you’re intimidating me or coercing me if I sit next to you right now.”
With a begrudging nod, he says, “Ask your questions. I’m sure this conversation will also put some of Aniyah’s concerns to rest as well.”
“Who are you and how did you come to marry our sister?” Kayla snaps.
“I’m Aris Glezos, the promnestria your father hired to pawn your sister off to the Arroyo family. As my men did with you two, I abducted Aniyah and whisked her off to marry her instead of signing her death certificate with the sham marriage your family seems hellbent on.”
“How did you kn—” bursts from my lips before I contain my reaction.
“You fell for her that first day?” The wistful not in Trinity’s voice saddens me for some reason. Maybe it’s because my sister still believes in fairy tales as if the children’s stories haven’t always been dark and full of bloody deaths.
“No,” Aris’s curt response, said so quickly, slices invisible cuts into my skin.
I hug myself as a cloud of confusion surrounds me. Aris is nothing to me. From the little we’ve shared, I don’t even know what I am to him. His reasons for marrying me are as murky now as when I awoke on his plane. Yet, denying the hollowness in my chest won’t change anything.
“Why did you agree to marry him Niyah?” Kayla regards me with the same uncertainty I feel.
“Because I showed her a video of you blindfolded and tied to a chair,” Aris answers for me.
“That didn’t happen!” Trinity leaps from her seat.
“I saw your bracelet, Trin.” I grab her wrist until she sits once more. “You and Kayla were wearing the same clothes from yesterday.”
“How?” Kayla asks.
“My men drugged you to ensure I would have the footage I needed. You were never in any danger from them. And as long as you don’t interfere with my marriage to your sister, I won’t pose as a danger to you, either.”
“You tricked me?” I glare at Aris who calmly scratches under the cat’s chin as if my world isn’t being reshaped as we speak.
“Look on the bright side, agapiméni mou. I never make empty threats. As you get to know me, you’ll come to appreciate this about me.”
“It wasn’t empty, you threatened their lives,” I argue.
“Did I? What exactly did I say to you?”
I replay the conversation on the plane, searching for the threatening ultimatum. Does it matter if your sisters’ lives depend on you going through the ceremony? The more the phrase repeats in my head the more I question if his intent was to threaten or imply a threat. Everything in his phrasing was more theoretical than a statement.
“You bastard!”
“You may be right, I never knew my parents.” Aris resettles the cat in a carrier sitting beside the couch and rises.
“You knew what I thought when you brought my sisters up and showed me that video.” Frustrated tears pool in my eyes.
He loops the bag over his arm. “Have we answered all your questions?” he asks my sisters.
Kayla and Trinity exchange glances while I fume in silence.
“For now,” Kayla bites.
“Good.” Aris offers his hand for me to take. “My wife and I are going to our new home. Kayla and Trinity, you are welcome to make this place your new residence if that is your wish.”
“You mean prison.” Kayla glares up at Aris who hasn’t dropped his hand yet.
He chuckles. “You’re free to stay, come and go, or go back to Daddy. The choice is yours. But before you do, consider this, someone is so used to using your livelihoods as bargaining chips that Aniyah didn’t question when I implied I would do the same. If you willingly put yourself in that situation again, I won’t be so forgiving when your people come after Aniyah.”
