Chapter 38 Athena
ATHENA
I've been staring at the blue accents in this suite for so long I think I'm starting to imagine they all have different shades of the same color.
My back aches from sitting in the same position, but I can't bring myself to lie down, to make myself comfortable when everything around me is in chaos.
The food they brought me sits uneaten. My appetite is nonexistent. What is present, however, is my focus on the clock on the mantel.
Two hours have gone by.
Two hours of waiting, of mapping out every possible outcome in my head that I can think of, and I'm sure it's not even half of what they're talking about.
I’ve often heard that anticipation is worse than reality, but I'm not so sure anymore. The reality I'm living in involves mafia families, murder, and the kind of betrayal that spans decades. What could be worse than that?
I trace the embroidered pattern on the throw pillow I'm clutching with my fingertip. One loop, two loops, back around to where I started. Just like my thoughts, a never-ending cycle.
What if his brothers convince him that I'm a liability and to cut me loose? What if Stavros finds us here?
The questions cycle through my mind like a carousel I can't stop, each one more terrifying than the last. I'm so lost in these thoughts that when the door finally opens, I nearly jump out of the bed.
Dimitri walks in, his broad shoulders filling the doorframe. I can see the tension in his jaw. He looks like a man carrying an impossible amount of weight.
I sit up straighter on the edge of the bed, heart racing in my chest. In addition to all my thoughts, I've also been replaying everything else: the ambush, the escape, the look on Ares's face when he realized who S was.
And every time my mind goes through it, I end up here, wishing Dimitri would come back so the room wouldn't feel so big and empty.
And finally, he's here.
"Hey," I say in a tentative tone.
He walks over and sits next to me. His familiar scent fills my nose and a satisfying level of comfort washes over me.
"Hey," he says, his voice rougher than usual.
We sit in silence for a moment, both of us staring at the wall as if it might offer some answers.
"So what happens now?" I ask, rubbing his thigh.
Dimitri turns to me, his blue eyes catching the lamplight. "Now we kill the man who started this," he says. "But we can't do it the way I normally do."
"Which is?" I don't know why I ask. I already know.
"Guns blazing," he says with a sigh. "Hard and fast."
I tilt my head, pretending to consider this seriously. "So what you're saying is, we have to be sneaky like an Alepoudítsa?
He smiles, “Exactly.”
"Well, it's a good thing you have me to help now isn't it?”
l laugh and lean my head against his shoulder.
"He'll be tricky to get. More dangerous than anyone we've gone up against. So, patience as Theo says."
Dimitri reaches out, his fingers brushing my cheek with unexpected tenderness. "But after that…" His voice trails off. He clears his throat and tries again. "After that, I want something else."
"What?" I ask.
He turns my head to have me look at him.
"I want you," he says simply.
I let out a shaky breath and look into his beautiful eyes. "You already have me."
"No," he corrects me, eyes locked to mine. "I want you forever. By my side. In my bed. Having my children. The whole nine yards."
The words hit me like electricity, jolting through my body and leaving me breathless. I can feel a smile spreading across my face.
"What are you trying to say, Dimitri?" I ask, my voice cracking
He lifts his gaze to the ceiling for a moment, and then he looks back at me.
"I never knew what love was," he admits, tone unsure. "I was raised to protect, to fight, to be a weapon. I was never taught this." He pauses, his thumb still brushing across my cheek. "But I'm telling you I'm not capable of anything else in my life if you're not in it."
My vision goes blurry with tears. My stomach drops and my heart swells in my chest, pushing against my ribs as if trying to reach him.
“I love you, Alepoudítsa."
I reach for him at the same moment he leans in, and our mouths meet in a kiss that feels like it's saying everything he needs to.
It's not a frantic kiss, or even a lustful one. It feels exactly the way I imagine forever feels when you finally find it.
"I love you too, Dimitri."
My mother always told me beauty was my only power. She was wrong.
This love, this future, is mine.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out something small. A ring, old but beautiful, with a delicate setting and a beautiful stone that catches the light.
"It was my grandmother's," he says, turning the ring between his fingers. "If you're willing to kill for me, protect me, stand beside me, then you're my family now. And hopefully soon, we'll build our own."
I cover my mouth with one hand as tears spill down my face. He takes my other hand and slips the ring onto my finger. It fits perfectly, as if it was always meant to end up here.
"I'm going to destroy Stavros for what he's done to me, to both of us," he says. "Then I'm going to marry you, make love to you, and have you bear me so many children you'll beg me to stop. So get ready."
A startled laugh breaks out of me, and I choke on a sob at the same time. I wipe my tears away and laugh some more.
"You're insane," I say.
"You love it," he says.
"I do," I admit.
I then throw my arms around him, burying my face in the crook of his neck and wish I could live in this moment forever.
"Wait," he says suddenly, pulling back. He slides off the bed and drops to one knee, looking up at me with those intense blue eyes. "I should do it like you're supposed to," he says.
He takes my hand in his, his grip firm. "Beautiful Athena Lianou, will you marry me?"
The world seems to stop for a moment, everything narrowing down to this man kneeling before me, offering me a life I never thought possible.
I laugh, tearfully. "Yes," I say without hesitation. "God, yes."
He rises to his feet and kisses me.
For one perfect moment, it feels like nothing else exists, just this man, this ring, this promise.
But I know as much as we want to pretend the world has stopped turning, Stavros is still out there. And soon, the real war will begin.
"I know you wanted to wait until after everything to try for kids," I say and bite my lip, "but we can still practice, right?"
Dimitri's blue eyes burn dark and full with desire and lust. He scoops me up and tosses me on the bed like I'm weightless.
"All fucking night."
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P.S. Make sure to check out Calli’s story. The final book in The Kastaris Greek Mafia Series.