Chapter Forty Ava
A fter dragging in a ragged breath, Dad shook his head sadly. “For thirty-three years, we’ve lived in fear of this day.”
I furrowed my brows at him as panic began slowly creeping through my veins. “I don’t understand,” I whispered.
Mom took my hands in hers. “We hoped you’d never have to know the awful truth.”
“About what?”
“We’re not your biological parents.”
Slowly, I shook my head back and forth. “How can you possibly say that? You know I look just like you.”
Mom nodded. “That’s right you do. But not because I’m your mother. I’m your grandmother. ”
Shockwaves reverberated through me at her statement. For a few seconds, I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t draw air into my lungs. It was like I was paralyzed by the mere words that had come out of her mouth.
“No. It can’t be. I’m your late-in-life baby,” I protested.
“I’m so sorry, my love,” Mom replied.
As I stared at the portrait on the mantle, there was no question who my mother was. “Thea wasn’t my aunt, was she?”
“No. She was your mother.”
This couldn’t be happening. My dead sister was my mother. The mother who raised me was my grandmother. Snatching my hand away from Mom’s, I demanded, “Did she really die in a car accident, or did you lie about that, too?”
“We never wanted to lie to you, Ava,” Mom protested.
Dad grimaced. “But it was the only choice to keep you safe.”
“From the man who killed Nick and wanted the necklace?” I choked out in a whisper.
“Yes,” Dad replied.
Rubbing my forehead, I replied, “I’m so confused.”
“I suppose it’s best we start at the beginning. Or at least at our life back in Greece,” Dad said.
As Dad paced in front of us, Mom drew in a deep breath. “Back in Athens, I was employed as a cook in the Trakos family.”
At Dare’s sharp intake of breath, my gaze flickered from Mom to him. “How do you know that name?”
“They’re one of the leading mafia families in Greece.”
I gasped. “You worked for the Greek mafia?”
As Mom nodded, Dad said, “She wasn’t the only one.”
My eyes widened. “You too?”
Dad nodded. “I was a bodyguard to Aristotle Trakos.”
“But you always said after you left the army, you went to work at the wharf.”
“It was a part of our cover story. I’d grown up working the ships before I joined the army.”
As my gaze took in my mild-mannered father, I couldn’t imagine him acting violent and tough like one of Dare’s bodyguards. “Did you…” I swallowed hard. “Did you ever kill people?”
Dad’s face flushed. “No, I certainly did not. The Trakos’ had enforcers to do that,” he blustered.
“Just because we worked for the family, we weren’t a part of their world like you’re thinking.”
“Well, one of us was,” Dad said softly.
Mom’s expression turned to one of anguish. “And we all paid the price.”
As my mind whirled with out-of-control thoughts, I couldn’t help focusing on one of them. “My mother fell in love with someone in the Tzavaras mafia, didn’t she?”
While Mom’s attention went to the portrait over the mantle, Dad nodded. “Aristotle had two sons–Dimitrios and Christos. The oldest, Dimitrios, was always too kind for his family and their business. He truly had a heart of gold, which in the mafia is a weakness. Christos coveted his role. When Aristotle was taken out by the Malgieri’s from Sicily, Dimitrios automatically assumed the position as the head of the family. Even though he was the rightful heir, his ascension angered Christos. So much so he started a war against his own family.”
“That’s awful,” I remarked.
“It truly was,” Dad replied. “We lost so many of our own family as well as those in the Trakos family.
“Did my father die in the war and leave my mother pregnant?”
Mom and Dad exchanged glances. Several long moments passed. Dare shifted closer to me on the sofa before taking my hand in his.
As a revelation hit me, I sucked in a breath. I remembered the other night when Mom was talking to me about the necklace. A name ricocheted through my mind.
After taking off his glasses, Dad rubbed what must’ve been tears from his eyes. Then he pinned me with an agonized gaze. “Your father was Dimitrios Trakos.”
As I gasped, my hand jerked out of Dare’s to cover my mouth. Next to me, Dare muttered, “Fuck.”
“Was?” I questioned. “He’s dead?”
“Yes, he was murdered by Christos,” Dare answered. At what must’ve been my questioning look, he replied, “I know the history of all the mafia families.”
“He was just twenty-seven,” Dad lamented sadly.
I stared down at my hands. I would never know my biological father. He had been taken from me by his own brother. I couldn’t imagine what kind of man my uncle was to do such a thing.
“And my mother? Was she so grief-stricken that she killed herself?”
“Christos ambushed the car that Dimitrios and your mother were riding in. She was shot and died at the scene.”
Creasing my brows, I tried processing all the information that had just been thrown at me. “Did he fail in killing me as well because I’d already been born?”
Turmoil clenched my stomach when tears began overflowing Mom’s cheeks. Glancing over to Dad, I said, “What happened?”
Dad once again began to pace in front of the fireplace. “Despite Thea not coming from wealth or being part of the mafia world, Dimitrios married her in a secret ceremony shortly before they were killed. He wanted his child to be legitimized so he could have an heir. The day they were killed your mother had gone into labor. They were on the way to the hospital when they were ambushed.”
As Mom silently sobbed, Dad wiped his own tears from his eyes. “Since we worked for the family, we heard of the assassination the moment it happened. Your brothers and I raced to the scene. When we got there, your father was gone, but Thea…”
He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing. “She was barely alive. The last thing she said to me was to save you.”
Jolting back, I gasped in horror. “You….” I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. It was too horrible to imagine.
Dad’s anguished expression broke my heart. “I didn’t want to. I knew it would kill her when I did. But it was her dying wish. How could I possibly tell her no?”
I couldn’t imagine what he went through at that moment. To have his only daughter dying in front of him and begging him to save her child. I tried to imagine if it had been Piper. I knew I would do anything in the world for her, even that.
“But you were a soldier and a bodyguard. How did you possibly know how to do that?”
“I was a medic in the Greek army. I knew enough to get by.”
“Jaysus,” Dare murmured at my side.
Tears welled in Dad’s eyes. “I never expected you to live. I’ll never forget when I cleared your mouth of fluid and you began to cry. Even though she was gone, I swear a smile came over your mother’s lips.”
“Oh Dad,” I murmured as tears streamed down my cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Ava.”
As I rose off the couch, I shook my head. Wrapping my arms around him, I said, “Don’t be sorry. You saved my life.”
“That’s why we named you Ava since it meant life.” Dad gave me a sad smile as he cupped my cheeks. “Through you, Thea lives on.”
Although those words should’ve given me comfort, they didn’t. I’d been raised by the most amazing parents in the world, but at the same time, I’d been denied being with the ones who’d given me life.
Breaking the silence, Dare asked, “Did Christos drive you out of Greece?”
As Mom shook her head, Dad replied, “We couldn’t raise Ava in Greece. They would’ve killed us all. So, we gathered your brothers, and we left with only the clothes on our backs.”
With a sad smile, Mom added, “And the jewelry that Dimitrios had given Thea. It bought us this house, the restaurant, and new identities.”
“Fuck,” Dare once again muttered under his breath. When we all looked at him, he said, “That’s why Gianni couldn’t find anything about the threat Wesley mentioned. He wasn’t looking under the right names.”
“What threat?” I asked.
“He told me when he was stalking you, he found there were people looking for you. I had Gianni search for me, but he couldn’t find anything. I’d given up that he was just bullshitting me. Cocking his head at my parents, he asked, “They weren’t looking for the Carras family, were they?”
Dad exhaled a painful breath. “No. We all received new first names along with the surname of Carras.”
“Would Christos have any reason to believe that Dimitros’s child hadn’t died in the accident?” Dare asked.
“While I brought Ava home, Nikolaos and Georgios set fire to the car. If they searched the ashes, they wouldn’t have found the baby. But if that was the case, I think they would’ve come after her sooner.”
Dare nodded. “That also tracks with Wesley putting Ava’s image on the dark web.” Turning to me, he said, “You look just like your mom. Someone must’ve seen the picture and got suspicious. They realized the true Trakos heir was potentially alive.”
The Trakos heir. I was an heir to a Greek mafia family. As the realization crashed over me, I staggered back. “No. I’m not the heir.”
“But you are. You’re Dimitros’s daughter.”
“But I don’t want to be. I want nothing to do with the family who killed my parents.”
“You don’t have much of a choice. It’s destined by blood.”
“But why do they want the necklace and not me?” I asked.
“That’s a good question,” Dare replied. “Do you two know anything about the origins of the necklace?”
“Just that it had belonged to Dimetrios’s mother.”
“So Christos wants it back because it was his mom’s?” I asked.
Shaking his head, Dare replied, “I have a feeling it’s more than that. Where is it?”
“Upstairs in the safe,” Mom replied.
“Can you get it for me?”
Mom nodded before rising off the couch. As she disappeared upstairs, we sat in a pained silence. Leaning over, Dare wrapped his arm around me, drawing me against him. I welcomed his strength. It felt like at any moment I was truly going to fall apart.
When Mom returned, she handed the box to Dare. After popping the lid, he took out the necklace. After examining the sparkling sapphires and diamonds, he flipped it over to look at the underside.
I pointed to the spot with the lever. “That scratched me really bad the other night.”
Frowning, Dare began to move the lever back and forth. When it popped up, I gasped. “You broke it,” I lamented.
“I did. But for good reason.” Dare leaned forward over the coffee table before shaking the necklace. A rattling noise came before something clinked on the table.
We all leaned over to peer at what looked like a small silver key. Its embossed design made it look antique.
Dare took it between his fingers and held it up to us. “This is why they want the necklace.”
“What do you think it goes to?” Dad asked.
“Something very valuable,” Dare replied.
“Something worth killing for,” I murmured, my chest clenching in agony at the thought of Nick.
Dare nodded. “Besides its aesthetic appeal, there was a reason why Dimetrios gave this to Thea. I’m sure he thought if he was killed that it would remain protected in her possession.”
“My entire life is built on a life,” I whispered.
“The only lie we told is who your parents were.”
“ Everything is a lie! For fuck’s sake, you’re not even Tobias and Helena Carras.”
“We had to do it to keep you alive. Look what happened when they found out.”