Chapter 2Ari
Chapter Two
ARI
I had the cab circle the block and drop me at the same location where my soon-to-be bride, Anna Georgiou, was dropped off a few moments earlier. Right in the middle of West Loop, and maybe twelve blocks from her apartment located near the Riverwalk.
My phone chimed and I pulled it from my pocket. “Ari.”
“Hello, Ari. Anna was informed of our arrangement last night,” her brother, Jason, said.
Yeah, I’d guessed that when she exited the guy’s building the night before. Once I knew my fate, I’d checked out the future Mrs. Kalantzis to get a read on her before I introduced myself. I didn’t realize she would hail a cab, nor did I put much thought into telling the cabby to stop for her.
The second she’d plopped down next to me and tossed her dark blonde hair back, I knew I was in trouble. Her sweet scent had collided with my senses, and it’d taken me a second to get my thoughts together. I’d felt her hazel eyes on me. They had traveled from my head to my feet and back up.
Then it was my turn, only I was far more subtle. I’d raked my gaze down her form when she wasn’t looking, and man, she was stunning. I’d seen pictures and knew she was attractive. But photos had failed to capture how beautiful she was. Her heart-shaped face, perky nose, and pale pink lips, shaped like Cupid's bow, made it no surprise that she was a model.
Finding out she was twenty-two caught me a little off guard. I’d done a little research before offering myself up and thought our age difference was closer to three years, not eight.
I’d caught her staring at me. Her deer-in- headlights look lasted a fraction of a second before she’d unabashedly answered yes . The offer to introduce me to people so I could land an audition was comical. I’m not unattractive, but I could say with complete confidence that was a line I’d never heard before.
She was sassy too. To my detriment, I loved mouthy women. I wanted a woman who would challenge me. One who would push me to be a better man. Someone willing to put up a fight, and the bedroom make-up frolic that would inevitably happen once the argument was over.
She’d paused with the door slightly ajar, and I knew she was waiting for me to ask for her number. There was no way a woman as hot as her didn’t get loads of requests, which was why I didn’t ask.
I wasn’t giving her my name either. At least, not in the cab. I could see her launching herself at me, teeth bared and claws out. Once she knew who I was, the fight would be on, and I suspected she was far more spirited than that small vehicle would accommodate. That little huff and near-slam of the cab door was amusing.
“Good. Did it go well?” I wouldn’t tell Jason that I’d been following his little sister since last night. We weren’t family yet, and I didn’t need our tentative alliance jeopardized by my curiosity.
I crossed the courtyard, ducking behind one of the tall shrubs framing the entrance of the building Anna entered seconds before. I didn’t like being out in the open. Not when my family was on Franklin Benoit’s radar. At the moment, with him and his daughter mucking around in my family, I wasn’t taking any chances.
Franklin, that repugnant short Frenchman, was responsible for my baby sister’s death. We’d lost Gianna and my dad within weeks of each other. Shortly after Gianna was found by a pier near Lake Michigan, Dad was stabbed in front of a convenience store. With the way it happened, my theory was that Dad had proof of Franklin’s involvement and he’d been murdered. To this day, I didn’t understand why he’d gone alone, and I guessed I never would.
Jason grunted a mirthless laugh. “Hardly. Listen, Anna can be a handful, okay? Give her a second to get used to the idea.”
She wasn’t the only one who needed to adjust to the thought of holy matrimony, but I’d volunteered. She might take a minute to swallow since she’d had it foisted on her, so I’d be as understanding as I could. “Yeah, I think we’ll both need a second.”
“I’ll text you her number and leave the rest up to you.”
“Thanks.” I already had it, but again, that was information he didn’t need. I ended the call, stepped out from my temporary shield, and headed to the coffee shop to park myself inside until Anna reemerged.
I’d barely ordered my coffee when my phone chimed. It was my brother Dimitris . “Yeah?” I took a sip of my drink.
We had an odd dynamic. As the eldest, Lucas was the boss. Dimitris, as the second oldest, should have been Lucas’s second, but he’d outright refused to take on that role. He was also more inclined to punch things first and then ask questions. The position required a little more finesse, so I’d taken the position as Lucas’s second. Our sister Thea, and our youngest sibling, Alexander, or Lex as he liked to be called, fit when and where they were needed with Lex often throwing himself in the fray with Dimitris.
“Something with Benny and Marco isn’t sitting right with me.”
I cursed under my breath at the mention of their names. Franklin Benoit was boss of the French family mafia, and Marco was the boss of the Moretti mafia family. If they were working together it could make everyone’s lives more difficult.
Women and girls were shipped in, held in horrid conditions, and then sold. The coffee in my mouth turned bitter. I knew our family had dealt in skin at one point. Not that particular stream, but skin, nonetheless. It’d never appealed to me. Lucas didn’t seem to have an issue with it until Gianna was killed. Once Mom began having heart trouble, it was an even bigger issue.
Gianna’s and my dad’s deaths hit her hard. My baby sister was innocent, and we’d all concluded that we were going to keep her out of our world. We’d even given her a narrow degree of separation by giving her the last name of Kalantz. We should have changed her name altogether, but Dad couldn’t do it. There were a couple of other families with that last name, and we thought it’d be enough.
Dad was the love of Mom’s life and losing him was the final straw. Her heart began to fail. Slowly, she’d declined. The last time I saw her, she’d been a ghost of my vibrant, full-of-life mom. She’d requested to visit with Lucas alone shortly before she passed. He stepped out of that room a completely different man. He had demons to slay, and he’d picked up the biggest sword he had and started swinging. In no time, our only remaining business was guns, and our stream of income was drastically cut.
The last three years were lean, but we’d managed to keep our distress to ourselves. To the outside world, the Kalantzises were fine, and to a degree, we’d maintained our lifestyle. That was the reason I continued to keep my taste in clothing unchanged. If any of the other families smelled weakness, we’d be chum in the water.
It was a large part of the reason I’d volunteered to marry Anna. Money was great, but strength was more important. Once Lucas married Claire, the money problem would be solved. If he actually managed to get half of her two-hundred-and-fifty-million-dollar trust. If , big if. I didn’t trust her or her father, Franklin.
Normally, I could get a good read on people pretty quickly, but Claire was throwing my radar off. She showed up at our restaurant, Lykos, followed by her father. It didn’t sit right with me. Against my advice, Lucas had pursued her. Hopefully, he wasn’t leading us into a trap.
“What do you mean by something with Benny and Marco isn’t sitting right with you?”
I heard the click of his lighter and the deep inhale. “I don’t know. It’s a feeling.”
“All right. You going to chase it?”
“You okay if I do? I don’t want to muck nothing up.”
Taking a sip of coffee, I replied, “Keep a low profile, and I think you’ll be fine.”
“Loud and clear.” He ended the call, and I tucked my phone back into my pocket.
An hour and a half later, Anna stepped out, and by the way she was pounding the pavement, something had her even more ticked than when she left her brother’s office the night before.
I quickly hurried out of the coffee shop to catch up with Anna. I’d kept my presence from her, but the closer I got, the more confident I was that something had angered her.
Head down, hands jammed in her coat, she stopped every so often to window shop. I caught her lips moving here and there, and I wished I was closer so I could hear what she was saying.
We’d gone maybe a half block before my sister, Thea, peeled off the wall of a building and matched my pace. Her arm slinked through mine. “Hello, Ari. Out for a stroll?” There was no masking the humor in her voice. She knew exactly what I was up to.
“Yeah, you could say that.” I glanced at her. “How did you know where I was?” I knew how dumb the question was the moment it was out of my mouth. My sister could pinpoint a cricket in Africa. I had no idea how she did it.
“Our new sister is having a bachelorette party tonight, and Anna will be attending. I’m making sure that she brings Claire a gift.”
“When did this happen?”
“The party or the insistence that Anna attend?”
I shrugged. “Uh, both, I guess.”
“Well, I informed Anna about an hour ago. When you have the looks of a model, such as moi , you can get into an audition fairly easily.”
With a sigh, I shook my head as I smiled. “Okay.”
“As for sis, the party is a surprise. I already have a restaurant picked when she ultimately tells me she hasn’t a clue where she wants to go. I’ve nixed all the clubs. Can you imagine a Benoit getting funky under some strobe lights?” She laughed. “The scandal.”
“I don’t understand why you’re going to the trouble. How can you trust Claire?”
Patting my arm, she replied, “I didn’t until I went with her to take care of the wedding plans. Something is off between her and Franklin. I know it.”
Shaking my head, I scoffed. “Yeah, and I’m saying they’re in it together. You even agreed with me. They’re playing us, and Lucas needs to be careful.”
“Such the cynic.”
I laughed. “I’m… Thea, you are a bouquet of mixed signals and venom. Half the time, I don’t know what to think when it comes to you.”
Her shoulders drew back, and she palmed her chest. “Oh, Ari, you say the sweetest things.”
All I could do was roll my eyes. Seriously, this woman had never made sense to me. If a man ever won her heart, he’d deserve a medal.
“Okay, I have a few more errands to run before I drop in on Claire and tell her about the party. Give my best to Anna.” In a blink, she’d unhooked her arm from mine, and then she was gone.
Uh, yeah. I doubted I’d be doing that.
After a few more blocks, Anna stopped at a lingerie store and stepped inside. Lingerie? How could she buy something for Claire without the woman’s size? Unless it wasn’t for Claire.
Fury burned in my belly. Exactly who was my bride getting this stuff for? Was she secretly seeing someone? I quickly checked the store and found a few people milling about. Taking a chance, I slipped inside and took a sharp left. If Anna heard the door, it wasn’t immediately obvious. She seemed too focused on the rack of skimpy bras and matching panties.
The longer I stood there, the angrier I got. Her past relationships were hers, but now that she was promised to me, she was mine—teeth, claws, and whatever else she might have as weapons.
She finally settled on a devilish red number, and I swear it was a flag in front of a bull. Instead of charging though, I strode back outside to wait for her. As much as I wanted to confront her, I was more interested in where she was going next. I stepped around the side of the building and waited for her.
When she exited, she surprised me by going back the way we came. I quickly realized she was returning to her apartment. As she got closer to her home, I pulled out my phone and started typing out a text. I wanted to see what response, if any, I’d get back. What better time to poke the bear but when they couldn’t attack back?
I was caught off guard when I saw one of Moretti’s henchmen propped against a wall in front of her apartment complex. Talk about piquing my interest. I stashed my phone back in my pocket and slowed my pace. Was that who she was meeting?
I received my answer as Anna passed. He shoved off the wall and knocked into her. This was a fake chance meeting. He smiled, dipped down, and picked up her bag. They chatted a moment and she shook her head. Man, I wanted to be closer so I could hear what was being said. I wasn’t comfortable with the exchange in the first place and became less so when he handed her his phone.
I could barely contain my rage. She knew she was promised to me and still gave a guy her number. That was not going to fly with me. She’d quickly learn that I didn’t share.
She handed his phone back to him, smiled, and continued walking, a newfound spring in her step. What was this woman doing? Did she not realize she’d given her number to a Moretti family thug? She might have been oblivious.
He’d been waiting for her though. I knew enough about that family to be certain of that. Why though? Were they informed of our meeting with Anna’s family? Could she be in danger?
I planned to… Well, to be honest, I didn’t have a plan, or at least not a well-thought-out one. I started the day with the hopes I’d slake a little more of my curiosity.
I quickly caught up with Anna right before she could slip inside her apartment building and said, “Hello.” Before she could react, I took her by the elbow and led her off to the side so we could chat privately.
She gasped. “You? What are you doing?” She yanked her arm away from me. “Who are you?”
“Ari Kalantzis.” I dropped my name like a lit firework and watched it explode in her eyes.
Her jaw clamped down as her lips pressed into a thin line. “Creep.”
Me? “If you’ll recall, you were the one trying to pick me up.” I smiled.
Seriously, I was pouring gasoline on this fire, and I knew it .
Anna’s mouth dropped open. “I was not.”
I leveled my eyes at her. “Really? Did I come from a modeling shoot? If I wanted, you could put me in touch with designers.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she grumbled something inaudible under her breath. “I was being polite, you jerk.”
“Were you being polite when you gave your number to that thug who bumped into you?”
“Who I?—”
“Let me stop you right there. Everything you do is now my business. That man is not a good guy.”
Her head tilted as she cocked her hip. “And you are? Following me? Not being upfront with who you are?”
“I’m no saint, but I don’t sell women and children. That guy? He works for the Morettis and they do. Don’t go near him again. Do you understand?”
Shock flashed in her eyes, and for a heartbeat, I thought she might actually listen to reason. I should've known better. Fire lit in her eyes again.“I’ll do what I want when I want, and with whoever I want.”
“Not anymore you don’t.”
Anna’s next move thoroughly threw me for a loop. Her high-pitched scream coupled with the disturbed flock of pigeons gave her enough of a distraction to dart away and head into her apartment building.
I knew immediately that I wasn’t following her inside by the look on the doorman’s face. Either I was leaving of my own accord or by police escort.
Fine. Game on, brat. I’d see her later. Until then, I’d work on finding out who that Moretti guy was, and why he was sniffing around my girl. While I was still unsure about everything, there was a protectiveness that she brought out in me. I’d also have a guard on her to ensure her safety.