30. Ilias
ILIAS
V aso and Kostas had already tromped upstairs and shouted their hellos before heading to the office, so I knew they were waiting.
Galena disappeared upstairs to our room to get ready for Sloane, but I found myself wishing I could skip talking to my brothers and soak up time with her instead.
However, I knew we were already behind after being out of our regular schedule for so long.
I had a competent staff, but generally, I ran the operations with a firm hand.
I wondered if I should start turning more things over to my brothers now that Galena was in my life.
When I reached my office, the door was already open.
Vaso was sprawled on the couch like he lived there, one leg draped over the armrest, phone in one hand, a half-eaten protein bar in the other.
Kostas stood at the bar cart, laptop open, a glass of water in front of him.
The sunlight streaming through the tall windows caught the tension in his posture, the subtle tightness in his jaw.
“You look like you didn’t sleep,” Kostas said, glancing over the screen.
“I didn’t.” I set my coffee on my desk without additional comment. Like I was going to tell my brothers about the fact that I’d spent the night fucking my wife into oblivion.
“You’re glowing,” Vaso added, grinning without looking up. “Want to talk about it?” He waggled his eyebrows. “We want to hear about it now that you’re all wifed up.”
I shot him a look. “Shut up.” Vaso could be such an instigator. He always liked to joke, but even now, I knew he meant well.
Kostas closed the lid of his laptop and turned toward me, shifting the tone to business. “We’ve got updates.”
“Let’s hear them.” I forced myself to focus.
“The Singapore contracts are holding. The takeover of Antilles Freight should close by Friday, assuming no further issues.”
I took a slow sip. The whole deal had been a mess.
We’d offered a considerable sum for the additional shipping line, and the family had agreed.
Still, there had been complications when the black sheep of the family had come out of nowhere with allegations that we were taking advantage.
Even after we’d produced all sorts of documentation showing true value markers and costs of onboarding the business, the kid was still making waves. “Define issues.”
“Well, everyone else has greenlit the project, and contracts are signed, but I still have a bad feeling about the whole thing. I just wonder if the kid might try a last-ditch move. He thought the old man shouldn’t sell.”
“Fuck, he wasn’t there to help keep the whole business running and turning a profit.
Throwing a fit when his father wants to retire isn’t the right move.
” We’d already covered all that. His father agreed, his siblings agreed, and we weren’t trying to undercut the deal.
If anything, I liked old man Antilles. He was a stand-up guy.
Hard worker. His youngest was a jerk. If it were anyone else, we’d have walked, but we stuck it out.
Honestly, the thirty ships he had were going to help us out; otherwise, we’d have walked away from the deal after all the drama.
I exhaled through my nose. “That’s been handled. Hopefully.”
Vaso sat up straighter now, business replacing banter. “We’ve got a new problem stateside. Not a huge one, but something to be aware of. Someone’s been sniffing around the Brooklyn port.”
My jaw tensed. “How close?”
“Close enough that our customs chief called me directly. Someone pretending to be with the city. They requested manifests from the last six months. Tried to pass himself off as an inspector, but our customs chief sent me a message. Phony badge.”
“Feds?” I asked.
“Possibly. Or someone pretending to be. Either way, it’s attention we don’t want.”
It wasn’t unusual for us. There were always people looking to find something.
If they weren’t law enforcement, then they were rivals.
Either way, it wasn’t good news, but we could handle it.
I turned to Kostas. Rotate the security schedules.
No predictable patterns. Sweep the office again—every terminal, every box.
” Kostas nodded once, already typing instructions. “What about the Paris shipment?”
“Delayed,” Vaso said. “Strike along the rail line.”
“Reroute it through Calais. Eat the toll. I don’t care what it costs—we’re not exposing our back channels.” There was a brief pause as both of them adjusted their strategies accordingly. The room was quiet, except for the clicking of keys. “Scarpato?”
“Nothing.” Vaso crumpled up the last of his protein bar and lobbed it in the trash can. “Fucker is hiding somewhere nearby, though, and we’re gonna find him and put him in that nice little hole Angelo dug.”
“I was thinking we could try video calling Polina.” Last night, after Galena had fallen asleep, I lay awake for hours, consumed by a mix of emotions, but threaded through those was my to-do list. One of the things on that list was making up with my sister.
I generally had a hard time sleeping, so I used the time to set up my strategy for the next day or the following week.
Mentally, I went through what needed to be done, who I had to talk to about what, and loose ends that needed to be tied up.
I’d spent a lot of time reflecting on my sister and the mistakes I had specifically made.
Everything had been a shared family decision, but ultimately, I made most of the final choices regarding family matters.
Kostas was a year older, but he preferred his computers and statistics.
He was an exceptional asset, but his strengths didn’t include leading.
Vaso was four years older than I was, and technically the oldest, but he never wanted to be in charge of the company or family decisions.
He pretended to joke around, but if anything, he held things closer to the vest than any of us.
Together, they’d make a good team if I decided to take some time away. At least I think they would manage.
Vaso gave a dark laugh. “She’s probably so fucking pissed at all of us. I wonder when she figured it out.”
“It doesn’t matter, does it? We need to fix it.” Kostas was pragmatic as he opened the laptop and pressed dial to start his video call. It was still morning, so I wasn’t sure if she’d answer. I didn’t have her class schedule, or she might be so pissed that she wouldn’t answer at all.
“What?” Her face filled the screen, her mouth pursed in clear irritation. “Oh, it’s all of you. Goodie.” The sarcasm was thick in her voice, and I could tell that she wanted to roll her eyes.
“Come on, Polly Pocket. You love us and you know it.” Vaso edged into the frame so she could see him better. “At least me. Tell me you love me. I’m your favorite.”
“Nope. Theo is my favorite. You’re interrupting me.” She set her phone up by her mirror while she bent and twisted to put on her shoes. “It’s snowing here. What’s the weather like there?”
“Forecasted for snow tomorrow,” Kostas answered, and I bit back a reminder to put on a hat.
“So …” Vaso drawled. “Ilias tells us that our secret is out.”
She barked a laugh. “Is that why you’re calling? You’re worried that I’m going to be mad that you’re criminals? You and your friends?” She snorted. “I couldn’t care less about that.”
“Really?” This wasn’t the response I was expecting. “You don’t care?” I wasn’t about to question how she knew about our friends. I still wasn’t sure exactly what she thought she knew, and I itched to ask.
“I’m not going to throw stones for how you earn the money that buys my books and pays my tuition.
I care that I’m excluded from family stuff.
That’s what I care about.” She tugged on a jacket.
“I have to go to the lab. My crickets have to be checked.” She clicked off the call, the screen going dark without preamble.
“What the fuck?” Vaso ran his hand through his hair. “Not even an ‘I love you?’ Theo’s her favorite? That’s a lie, right? And what does she mean by excluded? We don’t exclude her.”
“Yeah, we have. I have. She’s right.” It wasn’t just the weddings that I kept her from, but also dinners and holidays, all because I made up lame excuses, saying the city was too hot for her to come home.
I thought I was protecting her or keeping her away from known criminals, but in reality, I’d been isolating her. That wasn’t fair.
“Well, we gotta fix that shit.” Kostas slammed his laptop shut. “A.S.A.P.”
I agreed, but I knew myself well enough to realize there was no way I was going to let her come to the city before Scarpato was dealt with.
That fucker needed to be put down first. He was a wild card, and I might be crazy, but I secretly thought deep down that Galena hadn’t disclosed everything about what went down in that alley.
Not that I’d shared all the dark and dirty details about what my dad did either.
Sometimes things that happened in the dark needed to be brought into the light, and sometimes that was just bullshit.
Sometimes they just needed to stay there where they could wither and die.
I would never push her to reveal a fucking thing.