Chapter 25 – Markos
I shouldn’t have done that.
A night spent with Zephyr, taking care of a problem employee, put me on edge. The information extraction proved useless. He was just a dumb fuck who happened to cross his boss, skimmed a bit of money, and thought he would get away with it. There was nothing nefarious in his actions.
But the bloodshed brought out the beast inside.
My plan upon returning to the condo was to exorcise the monster, work out, and go for a long swim. Before I could do any of those rituals, the little goddess appeared—and wouldn’t leave.
So this morning, I wanted to make sure she awoke to something nice. Something pleasant. Even though there was plenty of food in the house, I didn’t have the first idea how to cook it. So I placed an order for takeout, collected it, and set everything on the kitchen table.
When Serena emerged mid-morning, she didn’t say much as we ate. The silence was worse than anything she could have said.
I tried to catch her eye, but she stared resolutely at her food, pushing pancakes around the moat of syrup she’d poured over them. Her gold hair fell forward, creating a curtain between us.
“I should go,” I finally said, unable to bear it any longer.
“Why?” One word, flat and empty.
“Because this—” I gestured between us “—is clearly making you uncomfortable.”
She looked up then, her eyes piercing mine. “What happened to you last night?”
The question hung in the air. I could lie, make up some bullshit about a business meeting gone late. But something about the way she was looking at me—like she already knew the answer—stopped me.
“You don’t want to know.”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.” She set down her fork with deliberate care. “There was blood in your hair.”
Something flickered across her face. Fear? Disgust? I couldn’t tell. My ability to read people seemed to malfunction around her.
“It’s one thing to know that I’m in the mob, it’s another to hear the details,” I stated firmly, taking my barely eaten food to the fridge, where I covered it and put it away.
“You know, I’m not such a stranger to...alternative business practices,” she said quietly.
So quietly that I had to strain my ears to hear.
“What the hell does that mean?” I demanded, bracing my hands on the counter.
Serena picked up her plate, repeating what I’d done. Only when her hands were free and the fridge door fell closed did I move, standing to trap her in the galley kitchen.
We stood there, facing off. The unspoken truth hung between us—she knew more than she was willing to tell.
Well, that wasn’t going to work. I would force the secrets from her.
As if reading my intent, Serena let out a harsh laugh. “I thought you were leaving, pirate.”
Her eyes met mine, those deep pools of brown that seemed to see right through my barricades.
“Come with me,” I prompted, giving us a way to end the stalemate.
A gold brow flicked in amusement.
“Let me take you fishing,” I insisted and took a step forward. “We haven’t spent much time together.”
Trapped on a boat, I could wear her down. Bring her secrets to the surface.
“See, here’s the thing.” Serena held up a graceful, delicate finger. “Last night, your boss commanded you to go fishing, and you came back bloody. I’m not sure I’m eager to ‘go fishing.’”
“Atlas isn’t my boss.”
“And you didn’t fish.”
A ragged sigh of frustration escaped my lips. “Taking an employee fishing is code for dealing with a problem. That’s not the kind of fishing I’m proposing to you. You said before that you’d only been on the water twice—and those were lakes. Let me show you a whole new world.”
If my words offered relief, she didn’t show it. Nor did she rise to the bait.
“If Atlas isn’t your boss, then who runs your syndicate?” she countered.
I pushed a hand roughly through my hair. Theos! She was maddening.
“There are twelve of us, no one greater or less.” The innermost workings of our organization slipped from my lips. “Atlas just gets off on bossing the rest of us around.”
Serena nodded. “There, that wasn’t so hard.” She stepped forward, walking her fingers up my sternum.
Heat sparked under her touch, and a rush of blood shot straight south.
“I come from a business world where the morals aren’t black and white. Men I know thrive in the grey.” She flattened her hand. “The mob makes deals with those willing to make sure the work gets done at all costs.”
The information vaulted through my mind. I shared a secret with this little creature, and in turn, she shared one of her own. Was that...how it worked? I narrowed my eyes. Perhaps I could repeat the tactic out on the water and see what else she was willing to share.
“So fishing?” I prompted.
“I’m not touching anything slimy,” she asserted and ducked under my arm to go to her room. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready for you to show me your world, pirate.”
I forgot how to breathe. That sweet sentiment reduced me to a shocked pillar of stone. Lost for words, unable to react, I simply stared after her. The princess completely bewitched me.
***
“Do you have any sunscreen?”
Serena’s voice startled me. I looked from the dot on the horizon where the prow was angled to the beautiful face beside me. “Sunscreen is full of toxic chemicals that make you burn.”
The withering look she gave me should have turned me to stone. “And a sunburn will cause skin cancer.”
“Technically not, but you’ve been brainwashed, prinkípissa.” I rustled around in the compartment below beside the captain’s chair. “Here!”
I tossed her a mason jar with salve.
The side of her nose crinkled in the most adorable way, and her eyes widened as she gingerly opened it. “What manner of voodoo is this?” she muttered, so soft, I barely heard her over the bluster of wind.
“It’s beef tallow and zinc oxide. Not only will it protect you from the UVs, but the tallow is ultra moisturizing—”
A war yell split the air in two. The explosive outcry shattered the peace, tearing through the wind-laden silence.
The volatile blast of Greek condemned me to hell and the care of the devil.
In an instant, the words registered as the fisherman’s curse.
Instinct sent me ducking as shots fired overhead.
Bullets whizzed past, splitting the fiberglass trim, sending shards flying like ricochets into the air.
They were deafening, whipping past with the furious wind.
The sky spun above me, wild and bright, as I flung myself behind the shelter of the compartment door.
The sun sat directly overhead, blistering and white, my shadow nearly indistinguishable beneath me.
I heard the click of the chamber, the scrape of metal on metal as he reloaded.
It wound me tight as a spring. I was on my feet then, lunging forward, firing back.
I crouched as I moved, dodging his scattered, frantic shots.
One bullet clipped his hand, sending his gun spinning wildly from his grasp, a flurried arc through the air.
It clattered uselessly on the deck. His eyes widened, bewilderment cutting through his fury.
The other took out a knee, which effectively dropped him.
The would-be assassin hit the deck in a heap with shocked, agonized disbelief.
They were hard shots to make, well-nigh impossible in the rocking boat.
But I maneuvered better with the roiling sea under me than most men did on land.
The world tilted around me, and I moved recklessly in its chaos.
His cut-off yell echoed over the water. I stood over him, victorious, but then my throat closed on a cry I couldn’t contain.
Serena.
Serena!
Scanning the open deck, I looked past the sail and rigging where Serena had been moments ago.
She was...nowhere.
Nor was there any blood.
“Serena!” I roared her name to the winds.
Panic seized my chest. I scanned the deck frantically, my eyes darting to every hiding place, but she wasn’t there. The attacker was groaning on his boat, clutching his bleeding knee, but I couldn’t care less about him right now.
“SERENA!” I bellowed again, rushing to the port side.
I couldn’t lose her. I just...couldn’t!
I didn’t know to which deity to pray. None answered me before, why would they look kindly on me now that my sins had compounded with every passing year?
“Please,” I whispered to anything listening.
There was a long pause where I aged a decade. And then, from over the railing came a sweet, melodic voice. “Is he dead?”
I dashed to the starboard side. There she was, paddling alongside the sailboat. A real life, motherfucking mermaid minus the fins.
“Christos sancti!” Merciful heaven. She was alive.
I hadn’t lost her.
Digging my heels into the rocking deck, I leaned forward and reached for her, and after a slippery attempt to grasp me, she caught hold of my arm on the second try.
“I dove overboard the moment I heard gunshots. Figured you would take care of it, and if not, I would paddle to that island we’re bound for and live off the land till help arrived,” she drawled as I lifted her back onto the boat.
I looked her up and down, trying to convince myself she was unharmed. My heart wouldn’t slow down, racing wildly against my ribs.
“You? Live off the land?” I mocked.
Serena rolled her eyes. “I’m a fast learner, and your aunt is a good teacher.”
A rough laugh barked up my throat. I leaned against the railing and tried to quiet the panic in my body.
“Who was he?” Serena jerked her chin to the lump of flesh by the wheel.
“Is—the fucker is still alive,” I muttered. “I’m going to have to take care of this when we land, instead of fishing.”
Serena shrugged. Shrugged! I narrowed my eyes. She’d just been shot at and swam along the boat like a pro. And now she shrugged at the mere mention of information extraction?
“Who are you?” I leaned forward, snatching her chin in a hard hold.
Her nostrils flared slightly, and those deep brown eyes widened. “I’m your wife, apparently.”
There was so much more to her than met the eye.
As I held her stare, I felt a pitter-patter in my chest. The damn organ was coming back to life after all these years.
Theos! If it did revive, if I did develop something more than lust and admiration for my wife, I would be vulnerable. Because death would haunt me again.
This time, he’d better take me with him. I wasn’t going to live if I was left standing alone on the wrong side of a grave of someone I cared about—someone I treasured.
And Serena, I was beginning to realize, was someone worth treasuring.