Chapter 9 Dimitri
DIMITRI
Istep outside and inhale the cold night air, letting it clear my head.
I cannot believe I'm here. One minute I'm at my brother's wedding, the next I'm at a safehouse I haven't been to in three years.
Now more than ever, I'm just thankful we have men come around every now and then to check up on these places.
It's pitch black outside. No lights except for the stars and the moon.
I need to focus.
I start walking toward the car we took, and her words play back in my head.
Cosmo Kouris.
It seems only one of us actually knows the truth.
Cosmo, that piece of shit, ordered the hit on my father. He signed the death warrant, but he wasn't acting alone. I didn't kill him. Theo's the one that put a bullet in him, but fuck it, I'll take the credit because I would have done it too.
However, I'm looking for the one who made Cosmo do it. The "S" locked in that damn secure phone.
Someone Cosmo was afraid of. Someone powerful enough to put a leash on a man like that.
And now I have to deal with Athena.
She's beautiful, but she's lost and broken. Clearly someone manipulated her into this fucked up tangled web.
But now that she's here, she's the center of everything for me, as much as I hate to admit it.
She doesn't know it. Not yet. But whoever gave her whatever intel she had, whoever sent her after me, they're connected to the same "S" phantom I've been chasing since the night we killed Cosmo. They have to be.
And I'll use her to the bitter end to find out who the fuck they are.
I just need to be careful. Not overwhelm her.
If she shuts down or doesn't give me what I'm after, my usual tactics for gaining information I can't use.
I'll kill a man without thought to get what I'm after, but a woman.
.. I see a bit of Calli in every lady, so I can't. But if I don't let her know that, the thought of what I'm capable of should push her over the edge to give me what I need.
I reach the car and open the driver's side door. The dome light floods the interior. I look for the trunk button and press it.
It pops open, and I duck back out to take a look.
Empty.
I go around to the passenger seat next. Check the glove compartment, floor mats, under the dash, seats, behind the visors.
Nothing.
Then, I notice a button in the center console. I press it, and a compartment pops open. It's bigger than I thought.
Inside I find a cheap, plastic burner phone. Black tape holding the battery secure. Basic. Disposable.
I press the screen, and the phone comes to life. A blue screen with one contact listed: John G.
My finger hovers over the call button. I want to call it. Find out who the fuck this is.
Every instinct says to do it. I'm one press away from a direct line to whoever orchestrated this little dance. But calling now would be amateur. I need more before I make that move.
I power it off and slide it into my back pocket. First thing tomorrow—or later today, given the time—after I've pressed Athena properly, then I'll decide what to do with it.
I look back down in the console. What else is she hiding here?
I pull out a manila envelope and tear it open. Photos fall out into my lap.
Dozens of them.
My jaw tightens. "What the fuck," I say out loud.
They're of my brothers and me entering restaurants, leaving clubs, attending meetings.
Some clearly taken from across streets or parking lots.
In one, I'm stepping out of Theo's office building in downtown Chicago.
In another, Ares is getting into his car after dinner in Greektown.
In others, Calli takes sips of coffee sitting at a table outside some place I don't recognize, and Theo is getting out of his car.
Shit.
Someone's been watching us for weeks. Possibly months.
Mixed in with my family's photos is a dead man on the floor in a pool of his own blood.
Cosmo Kouris.
They look like crime scene photos. Not official ones, but someone took these immediately after Theo killed him, before the police showed up.
But why would anyone give these to Athena? These aren't the kind of images you hand to a grieving daughter.
Something's not adding up.
There are two more things buried in this impossibly deep center console.
I reach for the first, and it's three cream-colored envelopes.
I open one. A wedding invitation. Theo and Stassi's wedding.
The other two envelopes are the same. Between them there are at least a dozen identical copies, as if someone wanted to make sure they could show it to get in without issue.
Guest list was tight. Security was tighter. Someone had to get a real invitation to be able to do this, or Athena would have never made it past the gate.
My mind snaps to her in her red dress. The perfect trap. Beautiful woman at a family event, with access she shouldn't have had.
I shake my head. Forging a wedding invitation. Nothing is off limits anymore. Times are changing.
The final thing is a thin green folder. I open it, and it's a medical examiner's report on Cosmo Kouris. My eyes narrow as I skim the details.
It's fake. It's got most of the right details, but under cause of death, in black block letters, it reads: Gunshot wound by Dimitrios "Dimitri" Kastaris.
This isn't just inaccurate, it's impossible. Medical examiners don't list killers on death reports. That's not how these forms work. This is fabricated, and badly.
Someone built this narrative and fed it to her. If I didn't think she was in over her head before, it's clear as day now.
She's been fed manufactured evidence by someone with a very specific agenda. Someone who knew exactly how to manipulate a grieving daughter with talk of revenge.
John G. Whoever the fuck he is, he's using her.
And now I have to figure out why.
I run my hand over my face, considering what to do next. I need to find out everything she knows about this John G. character. See if—
A loud crash erupts from inside the house. Glass shattering, something heavy hitting something else.
I'm on my feet instantly. My gun is in my hand, and I'm running toward the house.
My mind empties of everything except the target and the threat.
Athena.
I don't know if it's an ambush or another stupid move, but either way, she's mine to deal with now.