Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
VIOLET
Istood in the center of the living room in Lykos’s penthouse, high above the streets of Athens. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, the ancient Parthenon and the rest of the city stretched in layers of shadows under the moon of the night, indifferent to what we’d just endured.
We waited with bated breath for the doctor to examine the children. I was terrified that in the chaos and commotion of saving them, we’d also hurt them.
“They’ll be okay,” he murmured as if reading my thoughts.
Down the hallway, a door clicked, and we both jumped as the doctor stepped out, his gray hair slightly disheveled, his forehead deeply lined.
He clutched his black bag in one hand, knuckles pale against the worn leather.
He started walking, his black shoes stark and loud against the white marble floor as he made his way toward the living room.
I searched his face for relief, concern, even the smallest hint of reassurance, but found nothing I could hold on to.
The doctor finally reached us and my lips parted, but Lykos spoke first.
“Are the children okay? Should we take them to the hospital? What do we need to do?”
The doctor offered a small smile.
“They’re going to be okay. They’re resting now.
” His words drew a deep, relieved sigh from us both.
“The children are a bit disoriented, but they don’t need to go to the hospital.
I put oxygen masks on them to ensure recovery.
They’re shaken up, but give them a few days and they’ll be back to normal. You two, though…”
He trailed off, surveying us, almost as if his eyes were an X-ray machine.
“The window in my bedroom was open, so I think I’m okay,” I responded. “But Lykos should probably get some oxygen.”
“I’m fine,” Lykos objected.
“If you notice any breathing issues, I need to be informed right away,” the doctor retorted.
“Thank you again for coming in the middle of the night, Doctor,” Lykos said, extending his hand and shaking it. “I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it.”
“Anytime, Mr. Costello.” The old doctor turned to me and added, “Keep an eye on him, yes?”
I nodded and he headed out of the penthouse, leaving us alone.
A tremor rose, threading through my body and spreading.
It started in my hands, a faint quiver, before spilling into my arms, my legs, until it felt like I was unspooling from the inside out.
The room tilted, the polished floor seeming to sway beneath my feet, and for a terrifying second, I thought I might simply fold in.
My knees buckled, and I would have collapsed if Lykos hadn’t caught me.
His arms came around my waist, firm and unyielding. Although there was tension in his body, I found strength in his warmth, letting it ground me.
“Easy,” he murmured, his breath brushing the soft skin at my ear.
I clutched at him, my fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt and anchoring myself to him. But the tremor didn’t fade; instead, it lingered beneath my skin.
“Are you sure you don’t need a doctor, Violet?”
I shook my head, offering a small smile. “I’m fine. It’s just… I was worried about the kids. If something happened to them…”
“I know, but they’re okay. You saved us,” he murmured while I buried my face into his chest. “I should have killed her the day she tried to harm the children,” he continued.
I lifted my face to look at him. “I thought I could help her,” I admitted. “Maybe I should have thought about ending her. A good mother would.”
Still holding me, Lykos’s muscles stiffened and he looked down at my face.
“If you want to kill someone,” he growled, “you tell me. You don’t soil your hands with blood. You understand?”
I stared at him, confused. “Wh-what?”
“You’re too good and too innocent to kill anyone. You want someone dead, you tell me.”
“Okay.” I blinked, unsure how to take his words. “So you’re not mad I planned on killing your wife?”
He let out a sardonic breath.
“I planned on killing her myself, but then you showed up.” My mouth parted into a silent O as I processed his words.
He continued. “It’s probably something I should have done a long time ago.
It would have been a more merciful end to her life than…
” He swallowed, his eyes darting to the room at the end of the hallway.
“Dimitros has seen too much of his mother’s madness, and Aria thinks she will be mad like her.
” He huffed out a frustrated breath. “She’s not even her daughter! ”
She’s mine, my heart screamed, but I knew that would take time to tell Aria, and tonight definitely wasn’t the right time.
“Dimitros doesn’t know?” I asked quietly.
“No.”
He would have been six when Aria was born, old enough to realize something was off, but rather than point that out, I decided to change topics.
“Thank God you have this place. Checking into a hotel at this time of night without personal identification would have been a nightmare.”
His dark eyes flickered and the corner of his lips tipped up into a smile. “I got it ten years ago. For you.”
“Huh?”
He let out a heavy breath.
“Right before I asked you to be my mistress.”
My cheeks flushed while my chest twisted at the reminder.
It seemed like a different lifetime—hell, a different me.
If I’d taken him up on the offer, I would have seen Aria grow up.
Maybe even Dimitros. But that was neither here nor there.
There was no turning back time, and the idea of being the other woman still didn’t sit well with me, even with the circumstances.
“I’m sorry,” I rasped.
He bent his head, resting his forehead against mine. “Don’t be. You deserve so much more than being my—anyone’s—mistress. I see now how stupid it was to ask something like that of you.”
“Maybe,” I muttered.
“There’s no maybe about it,” he grumbled. “I finally understood what my father was talking about all along when he claimed he fell for my mother the moment he met her. It made me selfish because it finally made sense what he was saying. The moment your eyes locked with mine… I just knew.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “That fast?”
He shrugged. “When you know, you know.”
I thought back to that first night. Yes, I found him handsome, and yes, something about him resonated with me, but I was too much of a realist to believe in love at first sight. Today… Now, I loved him because he took care of our child. Because he protected her. Because I knew he’d protect me too.
“Maybe this is our second chance,” I whispered. “I feel like I don’t deserve it, but—”
“We deserve it,” he cut me off. “And we’re going to snatch it and make the best of it. Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
We stared at each other, the past ten years of loneliness slowly fading away.
“You were the only one, you know,” he murmured, breaking the silence.
“I told you this before, but maybe you didn’t believe me.
Please trust me on this: you’re the only one I broke my vow with.
I’m not proud of it, but I don’t regret it either.
It gave us Aria, and if even for just a few hours, it gave me you. ”
I let out a shuddering breath, the sound breaking loose from somewhere deep in my chest, and then I wrapped my arms around him. We clung to each other.
Our pajamas were still smeared with gravel and dirt, carrying the faint, acrid scent of smoke and fire, but none of it mattered.
All that mattered was this.
His heartbeat against mine. The solid warmth of his body anchored me. We both needed this moment of stillness and reassurance as a reminder that we were here, alive, together. We needed this comfort. We needed each other.
“I don’t regret it either,” I admitted in a whisper.