Chapter 15 - Simon
There are documents spread across my desk that paint a picture of Alek Mykros.
But this is the picture he wants the world to see.
It’s carefully crafted to convey a specific image of a man who poses no threat to anyone.
Even his tax records and banking history…
It’s all there. The humble properties he apparently owns are nothing like the mansion he actually lives in.
The Hyundai he drives is a family car, nothing like the Bugatti he drives in real life.
This isn’t the real him. This is what he wants people to see.
From here, just looking at this, he appears to be an older gentleman who runs two legitimate companies that make a fair but not huge amount of money.
Enough to live a comfortable life with his family.
All records are well kept for tax purposes.
His social media pages are minimal, featuring a handful of candid family shots and a few images of him at charity events and similar social events.
His face is never fully facing the camera and is always slightly obscured.
But not something you would notice unless you were taking notes.
He looks like someone’s grandfather. A pleasant person with a mediocre, comfortable life.
Beneath the surface, when I dig much, much deeper, things start to get interesting.
And even though I’ve done the biggest deep dive I have ever done on an individual, I am convinced that this still isn’t everything there is to know about Alek Mykros.
Honestly, I am shocked at how well he hides himself and his real businesses.
There are two real versions of him.
The man. Cruel, arrogant, brutally manipulative, willing to do anything to get what he wants. He acts as if he owns people, treating them as commodities and pawns in his games.
And the myth.
The myth is someone called The Ghost. Neither a single man nor an organization.
It is an idea that has life and can move things and people, make them disappear, or make it as though they never existed in the first place.
The Ghost is well known in Bratva circles, but very few people link Alek Mykros to the myth.
And even if they do, it is only in whispered rumors that don’t dare say too loudly in case they end up disappearing too.
It takes every connection I have to come up with a list of names. Names of families that The Ghost has helped in some way or another. Names of families that are in debt to The Ghost.
Families that can be called upon at any time to return the favor.
It’s then that I start to understand what Selene meant when she was trying to tell me not to underestimate his reach and his influence and what he is capable of. I scratched the surface here—and it goes deep.
This man has an army waiting to move for him. An army of people whose secrets he has locked away, ready to use as ammo against them.
The first thing I do is make several calls to increase security on every Volkov family member, including my own penthouse. I also hire external, new security teams that I can be sure have not been infiltrated in any way, as backups for the teams already in place.
I sit at my desk, biting my lip, mulling over the potential of where this situation will lead. There are far too many possibilities to consider. Far too many things that could go wrong. Far too many angles he could strike from.
My stomach knots with tension and worry.
I’m deep in thought when Raya walks in.
“Hello!” she says cheerfully. “I just stopped by to drop off some toys for the twins and say hi to Selene. Just saying hi to you before I head out again,” she says, flopping onto the chair opposite me.
I look up at her with a blank expression on my face, my mind still flooded with the research I’ve been doing.
“Oh oh. I know that look. You’re down a rabbit hole. What’s going on?” she asks, leaning forward.
I glance at the door, nervous that Selene might be within earshot. I want to talk about the things bothering me. And if anyone is the right person to use as a sounding board… It’s Raya. But I can’t risk Selene overhearing my thoughts.
Raya follows my gaze and understands immediately. “She’s downstairs making popcorn with the twins. Talk to me, Simon.”
Sighing, I rub your hands over my face. Raya leans forward and studies the documents on my desk, trying to gather her own ideas about what’s bothering me. “Her father…” she says, looking up at me.
“What if I have to kill him?” I blurt out the question that I have been trying to pretend hasn’t been looping through my head.
“Oh,” Raya says, leaning back, her head tilted to the side as she considers my question. “He is her father. But… he has been pushing hard against her. He hurt her… if it came down to it… but…” She scrunches her nose. “But he is her father…”
“You see my dilemma. What if I have to make that choice and she hates me for it? Because personally, I have no fucking problem with putting a bullet in the guy’s skull. He’s a fucking monster for what he did to her. But will she hate me for it?”
Raya bites at her lip and shakes her head. “You should talk to her about this,” she says. “It’s something you should discuss so she is aware that it might come down to that. This should be a choice she makes with you. Or at least… she should be aware of the possibility.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think she should be burdened with that choice. How can I ask her to decide if it’s okay to kill her father or not? It’s not fair. She shouldn’t have to worry about that. When the time comes, I will do what I need to do. What has to be done.”
Raya throws me a look of utter disapproval.
“A secret like this is dangerous,” she warns me.
“And it’s not your choice to make. You need to realize that carrying this choice alone is the same as keeping a secret from her.
And secrets are what almost tore you two apart in the past. Don’t make that same mistake again and lose her. ”
Raya stands up, gathering her purse and throwing me one final look of warning.
“Talk to her, Simon. She’s not naive or weak. This isn’t a burden like you think it is… It’s something important to discuss.”
I nod, smiling tightly as she waves goodbye. Once she has left the office and I am alone again, I think about what she’s said.
But no matter how I position the idea in my mind, I know I’m doing the right thing, but keeping this to myself. I can’t put this on Selene, not after everything she has already been through. I can’t ask her to make this impossible choice.
What if she says no, we can’t kill her father, and what if it’s the only option to keep the twins safe?
No.
This is my burden to carry.
Not hers.
The next morning, I wake up with Selene in my arms, still sleeping peacefully, and I have an overwhelming urge to whisk her away somewhere beautiful.
“Princess,” I whisper against her ear.
“Mmm,” she murmurs, halfway between life and dreams.
“You need to wake up and pack. We’re going to the beach house for a while.”
“Mm?” she mumbles again, trying to pull herself awake as she rolls to look at me. “We’re going…” she murmurs.
“We’re going on a beach holiday. The twins are going to love it. We’ll get out of the city; we’ll get to spend time alone with each other… We’ll be somewhere where we don’t have to worry about all of the drama. We can take a break from it all,” I tell her.
Her eyes flutter, then focus on me. “A beach holiday,” she says, sounding more awake and a bit excited. “I’ve never taken the twins to the beach. They’ve never been in the ocean,” she says.
“But… how is that possible?” I ask, stunned.
“Prisoners,” she shrugs, as though that word explains everything. “The beach was a luxury we never had a chance to experience together.”
I grin. “Well, then, this is the perfect idea. Let’s have coffee, pack, get the twins up, and leave as soon as possible?”
“You just want to disappear? Just like that? No planning?” she giggles, reaching up to touch my face.
“What is there to plan? I’ll call the pilot and have him get the private jet ready. We throw some things into a suitcase… and we leave. It’s as easy as that. This is how all adventures are supposed to happen.”
“I’m in,” she smiles, already rolling away from me to get out of bed. I grab her back into my arms. “Not without a kiss,” I demand.
She presses her lips against mine. A flicker of guilt touches me and then vanishes. It’s not her burden to carry.
“Let’s go,” I say, pushing her away playfully. “Stop trying to distract me.”
She laughs as she slips out of bed and grabs a robe to wrap around her perfect body.
Three hours later, we are climbing the stairs to board the jet.
The twins are beside themselves with excitement. So is Selene. She’s talking fast and hasn’t stopped smiling since we woke up.
Inside the jet, the twins rush to the sofas, jumping onto them while they argue over which sandcastle they are going to build first. Solenne is convinced she is going to make friends with a dolphin. Arron is convinced he will find pirate treasure in the sand.
As we settle in for takeoff, I type a message on my phone to the beach house manager so he can prepare a few things for me. I grin mischievously as I show Selene the message and gesture for her to read it silently.
Her eyes glitter as she stares back at me, smiling so perfectly that it sets my soul on fire.
“They will love it,” she whispers.
I’ve organized a boat ride that will take us all out to sea so that Solenne can swim with dolphins. And I’ve organized for a treasure chest to be buried… and a map in a bottle to happen to wash up on shore near Arron while he’s playing.
And I’m excited for both of them. I’m excited to see their faces light up when their wishes come true.