Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
E lias
“I fucking hate you,” I muttered to myself and gripped my hair. “Where did you hide, Calista? Where did you fucking go?”
Two weeks of calling in every favor possible, and nothing. Not a damn thing.
Calista must have fallen off the face of the earth because of how well her kidnappers hid her.
Either that or?—
No. I shook my head. I refused to believe Calista was dead.
No matter what my pragmatic side said, I couldn’t stop looking.
On top of everything, Ozias had escaped by nightfall on the same day I’d taken over the Xenos family. We lost several of my loyal guards, who told me someone from the inside worked against us. Then early the following day, we found those traitors with their throats slit.
Laya confirmed that they were some of the men from the bar. My father had killed them as a precaution, just in case I got my hands on them.
Vik and I combed through the Xenos men, searching for answers and any other rat, but none knew anything.
Ozias had disappeared, depriving us of a chance to get answers from him.
The Xenos and Vitalis men investigated every rumor and whisper linked to Ozias or Calista, but all we found were dead ends.
Then, there was Avra’s family in Boston. They blamed me for everything. I accepted their accusations. I hadn’t protected the sisters as was my duty. Now, their forces searched alongside ours.
I’d failed my wife.
The only positive in this fucking mess was the world understood the Xenos and Vitalis families were a united front, and our common enemy was Ozias Xenos.
I glanced at my mobile, willing it to ring. Why wouldn’t they call? I was tired of waiting.
My desperation reached such a high or low that I contacted the northern Italians. To my surprise, they welcomed my call. Now, I had to wait for them to extend whatever assistance they planned to offer .
The fucking politics of things never stopped. But if it meant finding Calista, I’d do it.
Her absence was tearing our lives apart. Avra and Laya were losing their minds, and the hope for a happy outcome diminished in their eyes with each passing hour.
I had to make it right.
I wasn’t the one who’d orchestrated this, but it was my father who caused them this heartache.
I would bear the guilt for not keeping a closer eye on Ozias for the rest of my life. I knew he was the worst of humanity, and I shouldn’t have allowed anything to shake my vigilance to know his every move.
My gaze locked on the picture I kept of Avra on my desk. It was a candid shot from our wedding day. She bore the type of beauty written about in mythology, natural, unapologetic, and in your face.
Shadows lay heavy under her eyes now from lack of sleep and days upon days of worry. Avra wasn’t one to show her emotions to others, except in this case, the woman I loved was so desperate to find her sister that anyone who looked her way saw the fear of the possible outcome.
My cell phone rang, and I grabbed it, answering, “Xenos.”
“Mia stigmí, kyrie.”
Did he say, “One moment, sir, in Greek?” I fucking asked for the Italians.
I waited on the phone, pacing faster, wanting to know what the fuck was going on.
Then it dawned on me. The Italians were related to Nikolas Galanis. He ran a territory in the south rivaling the size of the territory Juno Vitalis once owned. Having his help as a Greek and an Italian was an offer I couldn’t turn down.
Nikolas Galanis was a hard man, according to the reports I’d found, but that didn’t matter. He could be a fucking asshole so long as he helped me find Avra’s sister. Manners were overrated.
“Xenos,” he answered as a greeting.
“Thank you for stepping in to assist us.” Okay, perhaps manners did matter at times. I wouldn’t kiss anyone’s ass, but I’d ensure he grasped how serious this situation was.
“I've heard about your efforts to locate a woman-your wife's cousin?” There were noises on his side of the call.
“Sister. My wife’s sister.”
“Yes. She is a cousin to my cousin’s wife.”
Instead of commenting, I said, “Do you have information on her?”
“I’ve had my men on the streets in Athens. Some of them have been reporting rumors of a high-value product.”
I tensed, gripping my phone tighter. Already, this sounded promising. “Any more details?”
“A woman confined in a basement in a high-traffic neighborhood.”
My pulse skyrocketed. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but?—
“Fuck, I am glad you have men in the area.”
“I have men everywhere.” He chuckled wryly. “From what my men have heard, they think it might be a Vitalis. ”
Athens? I was flying there immediately. “Can you get closer?”
“Of course.” He paused to listen to some conversation in the background. “The property I mentioned belongs to what we call freelancers. And they confirm a woman is with them.”
I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes.
Freelancers. Guns for hire were what they were. They pledged no loyalty to any family and followed no formal structure. They worked for a paycheck.
He spoke some more with his men. I heard him give directions about discretion and call up others in the area as backup.
My heart hammered in my chest as thoughts of what they could have done to Calista came to mind. How would I tell Avra any of this? I wouldn’t hide any details from her, but this wasn’t good.
Avra was strong. She tried to take it in stride, but she would break inside. At least she knew Cali was alive instead of succumbing to the worst-case scenario.
When Nikolas returned, he instructed, “Meet me at my estate outside Athens.”
“Done,” I said. Athens wasn’t too far.
“I’ll be waiting,” he replied, telling me when to call back.
Just as we prepared to hang up, he shouted, stopping me. “Hold on. Hold on. Xenos? Elias! Are you there?”
“Yes.” I hadn’t disconnected yet. “Yes, I’m here.”
“Get ready to fly. We’ll wait for you to raid, but I can confirm it’s your sister-in-law. Calista Vitalis.” Papers shuffled from his end of the call. “One of my men managed to grab a picture of the woman tied to a chair.”
I swallowed. “Alive?”
He grunted. “Barely. Beaten and bloody, but comparing the girl to the picture we found online, it’s her.”
“We’re on our way.”
I hung up, running inside to tell Avra.
“Avra!” I sprinted toward our room.
Laya had just woken from a nap on the couch, and she was startled so much that she rolled right off to the floor, muttering and mumbling as she snapped, “Cali?”
“Avra!” I pushed open the door, catching her in the middle of a workout.
She stared at me, sweat dripping down her face. Her lips quivered, and I nodded.
“Let’s go.”
Her eyes went wide. “You found her?”
“Yes, in Athens.” I grabbed her hand as we hurried out the door.
She remained at my side during the flight. Her excitement and determination to get to Cali rejuvenated her.
Laya and Avra bombarded me with question after question, barely taking a breath between them. I gave them the unfiltered truth, sparing them no detail, warning them of all the scenarios we could walk into.
Meeting Nikolas was a brief blur of formal greetings. He was all about business, helping us get near the area they’d been scoping. Since it was his turf, and he knew the lay of the land, I deferred to his lead. We kept our men to a minimum, and before too long, we positioned ourselves outside the warehouse where his man had taken a picture through the window of the woman bound inside.
“You stay back,” I ordered Avra and Laya before we got too close.
This was the moment we’d been waiting for. We’d lost sleep and appetites, too full of worry over Calista’s fate for so long.
We couldn’t screw it up now.
Not if Avra insisted on being the hero and distracting me with anxiety about her safety, too. She was a bold, badass fighter. I knew this. But I was also painfully aware of the mental toll this had taken on her. She wasn’t as sharp as she could be, too jittery with the need to protect her sister. She wasn’t as alert and logical, operating with a precise reaction time. Instead, she moved, emphasizing her emotions: rage and impatience.
We couldn’t risk sloppy work. We all had to be at our best to get Calista out of there alive.
“Avra, you stay?—”
She shot me a stern look. “Tell me what to do again and see what I do to you.”
Laya moved right up next to Avra and braced herself to creep closer until the scout signaled the all-clear to bust through the windows and doors.
Fuck.
She wasn’t going to listen. Why was I surprised ?
The second we got the signal, she went in with Laya, guns drawn.
I followed them, trying to remain as close to them as possible.
We would get Cali back, making it one small part of my repentance for all the ways I’d failed them because of Ozias.
If given the chance, I would kill every last one of those fuckers who’d touched Cali.
Nikolas narrowed his gaze as he focused on Laya before giving instructions to his men, who gathered closer to Avra and Laya.
I waited for Avra to say something, but in the next second, someone burst through the basement entrance of the building, and everyone’s attention homed in on the task at hand.
Soldiers blocked all exits, and soon, all that rang out around us were the sounds of gunshots, the breaking of furniture, and shouts from fighting. A battle of trained killers and skilled fighters ensued.
A murderous haze filled my mind, and I stalked straight to the area where I knew the fuckers held Cali. I gunned down anyone who got in my way and all who targeted Avra as she charged in the same direction.
My heart stuttered, almost stopping with the stark realization that one of the assassins grinned as if he recognized Avra and pointed his weapon at her head.
Fuck, no. The thought of losing Avra sent me into a frenzied rage, increasing my speed and accuracy. I emptied my clip relentlessly, taking out every threat targeting her without hesitation. Avra pushed through the door before her, pivoted, and fired straight at the man standing next to Calista. Laya took out the tall brute holding guard behind the door.
And there she was, bound and bleeding, tied to a chair. Her torn, tattered clothes draped off her petite frame, and her head hung low. There wasn’t a way to see if she was breathing.
Avra kneeled before her and pressed her fingers to Cali’s pulse point.
“Dead?” one of Nikolas’s men asked.
“Unconscious,” Avra replied as she cut the ropes holding her youngest sister captive.
For the next few minutes, she concentrated on freeing her hands while I cut at the rope around her ankles.
She glanced up at me, tears glossy in her green eyes, and whispered, “Thank you. Thank you for finding her.”
I stared into her eyes, knowing it was far from over. My father was still out there, and I would never earn gratitude there.
“I will always keep my promises,” I reminded her as Cali slumped forward, free.
I picked her up, ready to carry her somewhere secure so she could receive medical attention. As I adjusted her fragile, too-light weight in my arms in a fireman hold, hurrying before anyone came back here or fired again, I pulled Avra close to my side and kissed the top of her head.
My wife would always come first.
And saving her sister was part of the package I was glad to have for the rest of my life.
There was nothing I wouldn’t do for her in the name of love.