Chapter 17
ATHENA
The air is cooler now. The ruins feel different.
The adrenaline from earlier is gone, leaving only exhaustion and a buzzing sensation all over my body.
I'm pulling my sweatshirt back on, fingers trembling as I pull my sweatpants back up, which don't tie now since they're cut.
Across from me, I watch Dimitri tug his shirt down over his head, his tattoos on his skin disappearing under black fabric that clings to the hard lines of his body.
I try not to watch, but my gaze lingers.
His tattoos, the bruises, the raw power of him, his hands all over me, it's all still vivid in my mind. On my skin.
I clear my throat.
Neither of us speaks. What is there to say after something like that?
Dimitri turns to look at me, his eyes scanning up and down.
"I grabbed you some shoes back at the safe house," Dimitri's voice breaks the silence. "They're in my bag. Meant to give them to you earlier, but all that shit happened."
I glance down at my bare feet, scraped and dirty from running through the ruins.
"Oh, thanks," I say, my voice still raw. "I guess I'll need something."
"Well, until then," he says, and without asking, he sweeps me into his arms.
His grip is sure, effortless. It's as if I weigh nothing.
His chest is solid against mine, his arms thick and warm.
"You can put me down," I protest, but there's no real fight in my voice. "I can walk back."
He nods and starts walking. "Yeah, and I can carry you."
I want to argue, to prove I don't need him, but my body disagrees. Instead, I let my head rest against his chest, listening to his heartbeat as he carries me through crumbling columns and fallen stones.
His embrace feels comforting now, different from the erotic undertones it just had. His muscles flex as he walks, and I feel almost secure. Protected. Wanted.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
"Back to our little shelter for now. You know, 'Plato's House.'"
I laugh.
"You keep saying that. I'm going to start believing it."
"Then it'll be our own little myth, Alepoudítsa."
I smile. "That's starting to grow on me now."
As we walk through the ancient debris, the reality of our situation crashes back into me. We're not just two people who had sex in some Greek ruins. We're still who we were before. Him a killer, me his captive. A vague vendetta between us.
The thoughts of what I did, or tried to do, flood my mind.
"Oh, have you spoken to your brothers?" I ask suddenly. "They probably want to kill me."
He laughs, but it's a bit gentler than his loud rumble.
"No. I had a phone to contact them, but it took a bullet in that gas station mess. I'll call them once we get where we're going." His arms tighten around me. "Though your little kidnapping stunt probably didn't win you any fans."
"Yeah," I admit.
"But don't worry. You're not on their kill list, and even if you were, I'm the one who handles it. So I'd skip you."
I don't know whether to fully believe him.
But I do know one thing. He hasn't lied to me yet. Not really.
We reach the shelter, our little half-collapsed ruin.
He ducks through the entrance, setting me down gently.
"I will say, this is the nicest place on the block," he says with a wink.
He then walks immediately over to his bag and kneels down. He pulls out a fresh set of clothes, a black t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a belt.
"Here," he says, handing them over. "You'll get better ones soon. I promise."
I take them, suddenly aware of how exposed I feel in my torn clothes. I turn away from him to change, though it seems ridiculous after what just happened between us. I peel off the knife-slashed sweatpants and pull on the jeans. They're too big, but the belt helps keep them on.
I put on the shirt. It's baggy, but I can tie the bottom into a knot so I don't feel like I'm swimming in it too much. As I tie it off, I try to calm the nerves fluttering in my stomach.
My body still aches in all the right places.
But my mind is a mess.
When I turn back, Dimitri is sitting against the far wall, gun resting across his lap.
He doesn't look at me.
Doesn't speak.
I try to act unaffected.
Like nothing just happened between us.
But the air between us is thick, heavy with everything that's changed.
Neither of us knows what this is now.
I walk over to him and sit in silence, trying to act relaxed. Comfortable, but questions keep popping up in my head.
What does what we just did mean? Where do we go from here? What do I do now?
And the moonlight coming in, making him look more dangerous, more beautiful, doesn't help answer anything. Silence won't solve my swirling thoughts.
Answers will.
I fold my arms across my chest, a subtle attempt to protect myself. To feel safe while also acting bold.
"You owe me a reason," I say, looking at him, breaking the silence. "A real reason why you killed my father."
He turns to look at me. His predatory eyes focus in on me.
There's a long silence, and then Dimitri's jaw tightens.
"Your father destroyed my family," he says flat and cold. "He had to die."
The words hit me like physical blows. The way he says it so simply, like nothing, it makes my throat burn, my eyes sting.
Tears blur my vision.
"I wanted to believe that maybe..." I choke. "That maybe it wasn't all true. That you weren't…."
I stop and turn away, pressing my fists to my temples. Even I am surprised by my own level of delusion. That I fucked him really thinking there was a chance he had nothing to do with it. That John G. lied. But no, not about that anyhow.
"Athena," he says, but I don't look at him.
"Athena, look at me. Now."
I stop and turn back to him. "What?"
"He killed my father, or had him killed anyhow."
I swallow hard and fully turn to him.
"What are you talking about?"
"Did your friends not tell you that?"
I shake my head and wipe my tears away. "No, I didn't—"
"My father was killed. Murdered. Here in Greece. My brothers and I, we started looking into it, trying to figure out who did it," he says and gets up. He comes over to me and sits. "And it led us to your father."
"Are you sure it was him? That he was even involved?"
Dimitri nods. "Yes. He admitted to it. But," Dimitri sighs, his hand moving to brush hair from my face with surprising gentleness.
"Cosmo Kouris was a puppet, Athena. There was someone above him, someone who pressured him, used him, to have my father killed.
" His eyes are intense in the firelight.
"Someone called 'S.' He's the one who ordered the hit and made Cosmo have my father murdered.
And I'm sure the same people who recruited you, who tried to kill us at the gas station, they work for this 'S' person too. "
"How do you know this?"
"Your father had an encrypted phone on him, with recent calls to and from an "S" contact, but we don't know who that is yet."
I stare at him, trying to process this. "Are you lying? Trying to confuse me?"
"Why would I lie now? After everything?" His hand drops from my face. "Think about it. Those men at the gas station, I know you recognized them. They weren't trying to rescue you. They were shooting at you too."
His eyes narrow.
"You still think I'm the monster here?"
I stare at him.
Part of me wants to say yes, but something inside me is breaking. All the lies I'd believed are cracking.
My mind races, remembering the bullets that shattered the windshield around me. The man who aimed directly at me before Dimitri shot him.
"I'm being 100 percent honest with you, and since we're being honest now," he pauses and leans forward slightly, "who was John G.?"
The name twists in my gut.
"He's the one who gave me everything about you. The photos. The report. Promising everything he gave me was the truth."
I shake my head in disappointment with myself.
"And he's one of the men you killed at the gas station."
He nods. "I kind of had a feeling that may be the case."
"Why me?" My voice cracks. "I never did anything to anyone. I mean, I don't even know how they knew I was his daughter or how they figured they could use my mom's death to trick me, knowing I would want to do it for her. Not him alone."
Dimitri holds me. "They know a lot, whoever they are. But we'll find them. Make them pay."
I look up at him. "So what now? We're both targets."
He shrugs. "Now we—"
A noise outside cuts him off. The distinct sound of a footsteps. Dimitri freezes, eyes narrowing as he reaches for his gun.
"I heard it too," I say, looking around.
"Stay here," he whispers, moving silently toward the doorway.
My heart pounds as I watch him disappear into the darkness, leaving me alone with too many unanswered questions.