52. Kennedy
Kennedy
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
About a week later
I’ve just checked the news to see if there was any more information about Ryan's father's arrest, because ever since it happened, it's all anyone talks about in the country. Unfortunately it was the same news I already knew: that Ryan Corey II was arrested and accused of being the mastermind behind an attempt on my and Hades' lives.
I'm also anxious about the Prosecutor's Office likely dropping the charges against me. It would be a blessing if it happened before my wedding.
I gather my drawing materials and am about to leave the library to spend some time with King and Ernest when my phone rings.
"Hello?" I ask tensely, because I know who's calling.
Hades gave me a phone, and all the important numbers, especially those of family and my lawyers, are stored in it, but he also recorded Mrs. Vina's number so that I could be on alert if she tried to call me.
I now know that his relatives have been checking the footage from Hades' grandfather's house going back years to see if they find any evidence that could help me. He told me they want to check if Ryan had ever been there before I went to live with Pam and her grandmother, but honestly, I doubt it. Pam wasn't stupid. If her grandmother wanted her married to their protector, she wouldn't have liked to see her granddaughter hanging out with a playboy who did nothing in life but use drugs. I doubt the former Kostanidis housekeeper was involved in the beach house plot. If she dreamed of us becoming wives to the Greek brothers, Pam's plan would have ruined everything.
"Juliet . . . Or rather, I guess you prefer Kennedy, right? That's what Hades calls you.”
“Hello, Mrs. Vina, how are you?”
Even to my own ears, both our tones sound odd. Mine because I feel like I'm acting, knowing through Hades that Vina initially questioned him for supporting me; Vina's because it’s as if we haven’t been out of touch for three years, or as if she doesn’t believe, as far as I know, that I’m complicit in her granddaughter's murder.
After everything, is what I prefer to be called really what matters? I’d feel like laughing if it wasn’t so sad.
“I don’t care what you call me. I don’t think we’ll be around each other enough for it to matter.”
I’m tired of pretending. If I had confronted Pam from the start, the way I wanted to, maybe things would have turned out differently. I put up with a lot while living with them, not for the comfort of that house, but out of loneliness. The need to be loved and have a family.
Unfortunately, that's not what they were for me. To Pam, I was a new toy she wanted to discard once she was done with it. To her grandmother, maybe I was a project. A way to wedge herself into the Kostanidis family if Pam's situation with Hades didn't work out.
"What’s wrong, my child? After all this time without talking, is this how you treat me? You’ve always been like a granddaughter to me."
I decide to lay my cards on the table. "By 'always,' do you mean, like, the two months I lived in your house? Because we didn't even have time to grow to love each other." Hades told me she no longer lives on the property that belonged to his grandfather. Pam's grandmother asked him to move her to another house because the old one brought back bad memories. He complied with her wish and now intends to sell the old mansion. "I don't know why you called me, Mrs. Vina, but just so you don't waste your time, Hades told me about the conversation you had and that you didn't want him to help me."
"I—”
"Please, let me finish. If I were in your shoes and thought you had killed my granddaughter, I would do the same, but I would stick to my position until the end, not call you trying to reconcile. So my question is, since you never visited me while I was in a coma, why contact me now?"
"I was sad, confused. Besides, soon you'll be a Kostanidis. I saw the engagement announcement. Congratulations! I didn't know you had a son or that he was Hades'. I could have taken care of him for you while you were in the hospital-prison, but that's water under the bridge. I'd like to meet King and?—”
"No."
"No?"
"You won't meet my son. We have no connection."
"I'm close to Hades."
"Are you? Have you confirmed that with him lately?"
"Why are you treating me like this? I don't understand."
"I remember."
"What?"
"I remember what you told us on Pam's birthday night. You wanted Hades and Ares to be interested in us. How long have you been planning this? Was that the reason you invited me to live in your house? Because I thought about it and concluded that you changed towards me when I told you in the kitchen, in New Orleans, that I wanted to go back to school and wouldn't give you any trouble. When you saw that I wasn't the woman your daughter had painted for you, you recognized the opportunity not to have just one chance but two to fit into the Kostanidis family. What did you think when your plans went wrong?"
"What do you mean by that?"
Any capacity to feel sorry for her disappears when my anger emerges. "Pam died. Ares married Serenity. I was accused of a crime. Your schemes were in vain."
"That's in the past."
"Not yet. It will only be in the past when I'm free from these accusations."
"I wanted the best for you and Pam. What's wrong with that? Of course I'd have been happy if each of you married one of the Greek boys. What girl wouldn't want to become 'Mrs. Kostanidis?'"
"I didn't and don't give a damn about his last name. I fell in love with Hades at first sight, back in New Orleans. That viper you raised tried everything to separate us." I almost mention that Pam drugged Hades, but then I remember he asked me not to tell anyone else we knew about the cameras on his grandfather's property.
"How did Pam try to separate you guys? I didn't know that! How dare she?"
I roll my eyes. Christ, she's worse than I thought. "Stop. This conversation makes no sense. Once again, I don't know why you called me. We're on opposite sides. I'm accused of being an accomplice in your granddaughter's murder."
"I can testify that you were always wonderful to Pam, which is the absolute truth, and that you would never have harmed her."
"What?"
"Think about it: Hades is supporting you. If I do too, it'll reinforce in your defense."
"You’d do that just to have the chance to be friends again?"
"Of course. I'm dying to meet my great-grandson."
Over my dead body. She'll never get anywhere near King.
"What do you say, huh, Kennedy?"
Kennedy. No more Juliet. Let's call her the name Hades Kostanidis approves.
My God, she's a monster!
"Tell me, what were you lacking? What made you so ambitious?" I ask her.
"What?"
"Why did you want one or both of us to marry a Kostanidis so badly? To ensure a comfortable future for yourself? Hades allowed you to stay in his grandfather's house for years! You had everything!"
"I deserved more. You know nothing. I was that old bastard's lover almost my whole life and he never offered me the position of wife. I hope he's burning in hell."
"What?"
"You heard me. You were clever, caught Hades as you should, with a child. I made a mistake not doing the same. I stayed with their grandfather until the end, and as the Kostanidou are 'very generous,' they let me live in the caretaker's house. Bunch of bastards!"
"So, you saw in Pam a fresh chance to join the family?"
"Yes, of course. She was perfect. She was beautiful, went to good schools, and Hades loved her. I prepared her from a young age to be a Kostanidis wife, and I regret the day I brought you into my house, because you ruined all my plans. Now you're at the top, but if it weren't for me, you probably would have remained a poor thing forever."
"You're sick, Vina. I feel sorry for you. Never call me again."
I hang up, trembling, and wrap my arms around myself to try to regain control of my body. I see the library door open, and then Hades enters with King in his arms. Just one look at me and he understands that something is wrong.
"What happened?" he asks, approaching me and giving me a kiss. For a moment, I cling to both of them, hoping to calm down.
As if sensing that I'm not okay, King gently strokes my face.
"Kennedy, what happened?"
"Vina called me."
"Hungry!" King says.
"I'll take him to Ernest and the nanny, and then I'll come back to talk."
Hades
About twenty minutes later, I still can't believe it when Kennedy tells me the details of her conversation with Vina.
"I never suspected they were lovers."
"No?"
"Of course not! My grandfather always treated her like a servant."
"She had a lot of anger towards him, Hades. I . . .”
"What?"
"Nothing, it's just that she let so much resentment show in her voice. You said your grandfather ordered the cameras to be installed, but Vina didn't know about them. Do you think he was afraid his mistress might do something to him?"
"It's possible. In the end, he was unwell, although his death was caused by falling down the stairs after a heart attack."
"How?"
"He had a heart attack and fell down the stairs," I explain, but suspicion creeps into my mind as I conclude the explanation. "Wait a moment—I need to talk to Odin."
"Of course."
I dial his number, and my cousin answers promptly. He already knows about all the discoveries we've made regarding Kennedy's video and that we're waiting for the Prosecutor's Office to drop the charges against her.
I recount Kennedy's conversation with Vina and how she admitted implanting in Pam's mind, from a young age, the idea that she would marry me.
Odin reveals that he already knew about it because he’d watched numerous interactions between the two, practically since Pam arrived to live with her grandmother, where Vina daily told her she would be my wife. My cousin says he was just waiting to finish all the footage related to Pam before sending me the details. However, after what I've just told him about Vina’s confession that she was my grandfather's lover, he says he'll focus on the time around his death.
He had already told me that he couldn't find any images of Pam entering or leaving Ryan's house or vice versa, nor could he find any phone calls between the two.
Perhaps she maintained contact with the scumbag through an extra cell phone. The fact is, in this regard, we have nothing. However, Ryan's car was filmed passing through a toll in the direction of the beach house, and the police already have the recording of the same vehicle fleeing the crime scene.
"I'll let you know as soon as I have any news," Odin promises.
"Thank you, cousin. If Vina had anything to do with his death, I'll make her pay."