Chapter 34
Iwalked over to the window, enjoying the early morning sunlight, and opened my phone. My head of PR had forwarded the promised statement, but after one read-through, I deleted it. No one spoke for me but myself.
There would be a press conference later, and I knew the story was significant enough to attract numerous media outlets and scandal-hungry bloggers. I wasn’t concerned. I would state my position clearly and directly.
The past week had been a circus of legal meetings, strategy sessions, and damage control. Dede would stand beside me at today’s press conference, and I’d kept my promise to include her in every strategic decision.
After showering and shaving, I noticed the babies becoming restless. I changed their diapers and rolled both bassinets out of the bedroom to allow Dede a few more hours of sleep.
I wheeled the bassinets to the elevator we had only recently begun using. In the breakfast room, I was surprised to find Chrysanthos, who typically never emerged before ten, already enjoying a substantial plate of eggs and bacon.
“Good morning,” I said, steering the bassinets into the room.
Chrysanthos gave a nod between bites of bacon, though his eyes softened as they landed on the bassinets.
Matthaios barely lifted his head. A grunt emanated from his throat while his thumbs continued their rapid movement across his phone.
My mother’s face lit up instantly. “Good morning, Ari! And good morning to my precious little ones.” She rose immediately, moving toward the babies.
“Sleep well?” Aunt Irida asked. She poured me a cup of coffee before joining my mother in cooing over the twins.
I kissed my mother and aunt on the cheek, surveying the breakfast spread with appreciation. With the day ahead, I would need proper sustenance. But first, the babies.
I picked up my daughter and handed her to Irida along with one of the bottles I’d warmed before coming down. Irida accepted her, and settled her against her shoulder.
Mother eagerly reached for Periklis, her face transforming with unmistakable joy as she cradled him. Watching them gave me a sense of satisfaction.
After she settled into her chair, I handed her Periklis’ bottle. She accepted it, though her attention remained fully absorbed by her youngest grandson.
I filled my plate with eggs, toast, and fruit, then settled into my chair. The coffee was strong and black, exactly what I needed.
“Big day,” Chrysanthos said, looking up from his breakfast. “The legal team seems confident.”
“They should be. The claims are baseless.” I cut into my eggs.
Matthaios’s thumbs finally stopped moving. He glanced at Chrysanthos, and something passed between them. “The internet’s going crazy,” he said with a smirk.
“The facts will speak for themselves,” I said simply.
Chrysanthos took a sip of his coffee. “I’m sure they will.”
Mother shifted Periklis, adjusting the bottle’s angle. Her voice, when she spoke, carried a note of bewilderment. “I never would have thought Phoibe capable of something like this. Your father always spoke so highly of her work.”
“People change,” I said. “Or perhaps we simply didn’t see what was always there.”
“It’s cruel, what she’s doing to you.” The gentle rocking motion she’d been using with Periklis became more agitated. “Filing a lawsuit like this, trying to destroy your reputation...”
Before I could respond, Kostas burst into the room, looking uncharacteristically agitated. “There’s been a leak.”
“What are you referring to?” I demanded.
“The media obtained the footage from your office.”
“Impossible!” My fork clattered against my plate as I rose to my feet.
“There are even before-and-after images of Phoibe, showing how she transformed her appearance after her separation from her husband.” Kostas approached, holding his screen toward me.
I took the phone and scrolled through the images. “These came from within the organization,” I stated flatly, handing the phone back to him. “From someone with high-level access.”
“And now they’re everywhere,” Kostas added, his tone grim. “Spreading across the internet rapidly.”
Without looking up from his phone, Matthaios said, “Good.”
My brother and I turned to him simultaneously. “What did you do, Matt?” I asked calmly, despite my rising anger.
Still frustratingly unruffled, he responded, “You’re welcome.”
I took two steps toward him, my hands bracing against the back of a chair to keep them from clenching into fists.
“You leaked private internal documents and surveillance footage to the public? To the press? What could have possessed you to do something so reckless? That’s a significant security breach and a potential lawsuit.
Aren’t we dealing with enough legal complications as it is? ”
Unsurprisingly, Chrysanthos spoke in our cousin’s defense. “Everything Matt shared was evidence you were planning to present to her lawyers, anyway. He simply shared it with the public.”
“Without my authorization,” I said sharply.
“Because you would have said no.” Chrysanthos met my eyes. “You were prepared to go into that press conference and make your case to a room full of skeptical journalists. Now, the internet is seeing the truth.
The muscle in my jaw twitched. “That’s not the point.”
“Isn’t it?” Chrysanthos leaned back in his chair. “You wanted to protect your reputation for Mom, the twins and me. Matt just ensured you wouldn’t have to spend the next six months fighting for it. The court of public opinion has already ruled in your favor.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and sat back down. “You should have consulted me first.”
“Aris, you wanted to handle this with dignity and class. We get that. But she wasn’t playing by those rules.” Matt’s voice was matter-of-fact.
“He has a point, Ari,” my mother said. “Sometimes the direct approach is best. Your father used to say that timing is everything in business, and in war.”
Aunt Irida nodded while rocking Yianna, who gurgled softly in her arms. “The woman was trying to destroy you. The boys simply beat her to the punch.”
I closed my eyes, forcing myself to breathe deeply and think past the anger. My father would have done exactly what they did. He would have struck first, struck hard, and made certain the opponent never had a chance to recover.
Phoibe had planned to drag this out for months, bleeding me slowly in the court of public opinion while her lawyers prolonged the case. Instead, she’d wake to find recordings of herself she knew nothing about.
When I opened my eyes, Matt was watching me with an unapologetic expression while Chrysanthos had returned to his breakfast. They’d acted to protect me. However much I disliked their methods, I couldn’t fault their motivation.
The charged silence was interrupted when the head of our household staff appeared in the doorway. “Mr. Christakis?”
Every man at the table looked up.
She flushed. “Mr. Aristides, I apologize for the interruption, but there’s a situation at the front gate.”
“What kind of situation?” I asked, noting her unusual hesitation.
“There’s an American woman at the front gate in a waiting taxi. She claims... she says... she’s Mr. Dimitrios’s wife.”
I heard my mother choke on her tea, and I glanced at her with concern, but Irida was already attending to her.
“His wife?” Kostas repeated into the stunned silence. “Did she provide a name?”
“Yes. Nadège Mondesir Christakis.”
“I’ve accessed the camera feed at the gate. I can’t verify the ‘wife’ part yet, but there are two women in the car and they’re not alone,” Matt added.
“Who’s with them?” Chrysanthos asked.
“A young boy. And he looks like Dimi. Like a Christakis.”
The silence that fell over the breakfast room was absolute. Even the babies seemed to sense the shift, falling quiet in their grandmothers’ arms.
“A son,” my mother whispered. “Dimitrios has a son?”
“That’s impossible,” Konstantin said. “He would have told us. He wouldn’t...”
But even as my brother spoke, I saw the doubt in his eyes. We both knew how well our family members could keep secrets.
“Instruct the guards to admit them,” I directed. “Someone should locate Dimitrios immediately.”
This was his story to tell, his situation to handle. But a Christakis child, if the boy truly was one of ours, that affected the entire family. Dimitrios would need to explain himself, and soon.
As the rest of the family erupted into speculation, I excused myself to finish preparing for the press conference.
When I entered our bedroom, the scent of coconut oil and shea butter filled the air. Dede sat on the edge of our bed in my monogrammed bathrobe, her braids neatly piled on top of her head, one leg extended as she smoothed moisturizer along her calf.
She looked up at the sound of the door, and her face immediately brightened with a smile. The world might be in tatters, but returning to her settled everything into place.
“There you are,” she said softly. “Where are the babies?”
“With Mother and Aunt Irida,” I assured her, crossing the room in a few strides. “They are being thoroughly spoiled as we speak.”
I sat beside her. Her robe had slipped off one shoulder, and I pressed a kiss to the exposed skin. When I pulled back, she was staring at me.
“You’ve got that look.” She reached up to touch my cheek. “The one that means there’s a Christakis family situation brewing.”
I captured her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “There is always situation. However, I am happy to have you to myself.”
She laughed. “Tell me what’s happening while I finish my routine.”
I watched as she returned to applying her moisturizer. “Matt leaked the footage from my office to the press.”
Her hands paused. “I bet that’s actually working in our favor, isn’t it?”
“It seems to be, yes,” I admitted. “Public opinion is already shifting.”
“I support your graceful approach, you know I do, but I can’t say I’m unhappy Matt fought fire with fire. That woman didn’t deserve the courtesy you’ve been extending her.”