Chapter 39
C H A P T E R
FORTY-FIVE MINUTES AFTER LEAVING HONEY’S PLACE, NIKOS ARRIVED AT HIS UNCLE’S PENTHOUSE SUITE IN UPPER MANHATTAN.
He knocked on the door, and a second later, one of his uncle’s men opened it and ushered him inside.
Nikos looked around warily, not knowing what to expect because tonight he had been blindsided.
While at Honey’s place, thinking he would spend his night relaxing with her and playing between her thighs, he received a call from Christos, who had just learned that Antonis had been spotted tonight.
He had been shocked, but before he could even prepare himself for the fact that his uncle was awake now, he had heard his uncle’s voice in Honey’s home.
He was lucky that he had been in Honey’s bedroom, so he could easily slip out onto her balcony without being noticed.
If his uncle had seen him there, Nikos was certain he would have killed him whether he was Giannis Drakos’s son or not.
“Nephew,” his uncle greeted him, gesturing for him to take a seat with him on the couch in the living room.
Nikos took his seat across from his uncle, taking in his appearance.
He was as Honey had described him. His uncle had clearly just gotten out of his coma recently because he still looked tired, pale, and unlike the man Nikos had first met when he arrived in America.
But it seemed that no matter how tired Antonis was, after being away from the land of living for so long, he planned to get to business.
“Uncle,” Nikos said as he inclined his head respectfully.
“You don’t seem surprised to see me,” Antonis mused as a maid came over and poured them both drinks. Nikos took his glass, taking a small sip from it, wanting his mind to be clear.
“I always knew you would come back,” Nikos said, and he meant it. There had never been a doubt in his mind. He knew the possibility of his uncle coming back would happen. He just hadn’t expected it to be so soon. He thought there would be more time.
“Where have you been?” Antonis asked. “I stopped by your place earlier, and you weren’t there.”
“I was at Allison’s place,” Nikos lied smoothly. His uncle stared into his eyes as if he could see the truth there, but Nikos didn’t blink.
“Call Allison,” Antonis told Roberto, who had been his second-hand in-charge after Evangelos passed away. Roberto nodded before pulling out his phone and calling Allison, and Nikos frowned.
“What’s going on?” Nikos asked, but his uncle didn’t respond and waited. Words were exchanged over the phone before Roberto hung up and gave his attention to them again.
“Nikos was there,” Roberto said. His uncle arched a brow with surprise before he slowly nodded, and in the back of his mind, Nikos reminded himself to thank Allison for lying for him.
He was glad he had been cautious enough before coming here to get an alibi.
He had a feeling after his uncle’s visit to Honey’s place that he would want to know his whereabouts.
“I just had to make sure of something,” Antonis told him, and as Nikos had suspected, his uncle was suspicious of him, which he found to be slightly puzzling.
At the club, he always made sure his interactions with Honey were strictly professional.
No one knew about his relationship with her, and even then, with someone like Christos, he could only suspect.
He didn’t understand why his uncle was wary of him or what made him suspicious.
“Give me an update on what I’ve missed while I was away,” Antonis said.
Nikos went over everything that had transpired after his uncle went out of commission, going over the books, the business at his clubs, down to the war with Ricardo. By the time he was done, they both had finished their drinks.
“I’m impressed,” Antonis admitted. “I see why your father was adamant about you joining the family business. You’re clearly built for it, and you didn’t even need my help to do it.”
“Thanks,” Nikos said.
“No thanks are required. After all, you might even be better than Aris,” Antonis said as he placed down his glass. “Pierce has the brawns, and Aris has the brain, but you have both. That makes you dangerous.”
Nikos couldn’t tell whether he was being praised or mildly threatened.
He could never say that Antonis had been his favorite uncle, and he was pretty sure that was vice versa.
But he had never been uncomfortable around him before until now.
His uncle felt prickly, and Nikos felt like he was walking on a minefield, trying his best not to blow up the situation, not just in regard to his secret relationship with Honey, but his position in his uncle’s organization.
The maid came over and poured Antonis another drink, and when she came over to him, Nikos stopped her. She nodded before stepping back and taking her place to the side next to Antonis’s guards.
“Tell me about Honey,” Antonis said.
“What do you want to know?” Nikos asked.
“Everything.”
It seemed that tonight Antonis had been making pit stops everywhere before he arrived at his penthouse. Nikos was certain one of those pit stops probably had been at Georgios’s place too, which meant he probably knew about the things happening at the club. Nikos decided it was best to be honest.
“I let Honey do floor performances,” Nikos admitted.
“And why is that?” Antonis asked as he gripped the glass in his hand.
“So she wouldn’t leave,” Nikos said, remembering what he had told Honey.
Even back then, he had made sure to cover his bases when he allowed Honey to do floor performances, telling her to tell the other girls that she had threatened to leave.
“I didn’t think you would be too happy if that were the case. ”
His uncle nodded, but his grip on his glass did not release. “The backroom?”
“I acquiesced again so she wouldn’t leave,” Nikos said. “But on her first night, there was an incident in the backroom, and she decided not to work back there anymore.”
The glass in his hand shattered, and Nikos was startled.
The maid quickly came over and offered Antonis a towel before she cleaned up the mess.
No one else in the room seemed surprised, and Nikos realized that this must have been a normal occurrence for him.
It finally occurred to him then why Christos always warned him— his uncle was obsessed with Honey.
And while he had been in a comatose state, Nikos had done the one thing he was not supposed to do— not just taste the forbidden fruit but devour it.
“Who was it?” Antonis asked, a scowl piercing his face.
“David Henderson,” Nikos said, knowing that David had been an important member of the club and had been quite pissed when he banned him from the club. But after what he had done to Honey, David should have been lucky that he hadn’t gotten worse.
“Did you handle him?” Antonis gritted out.
“I did, and I banned him from returning to the club,” Nikos admitted. For Honey’s sake, he made sure not to have his men go too far with him, knowing she didn’t like things like that on her conscience. “But I didn’t kill him.”
Antonis nodded at Roberto, who pulled out his phone and left the room, and Nikos knew he was probably making a call to have David killed. Nikos couldn’t say that he was upset by it. After taking on this position, he had long accepted death, especially with those who deserved it.
“I’m angry about this because I would have never allowed Honey to work back there,” Antonis said, clenching his jaw.
“She would have left,” Nikos argued, but Antonis didn’t seem satisfied with that answer.
“Though Honey may be the equivalent of your aunt, if you needed to threaten her, you should have done so,” Antonis said, and Nikos had to refrain from showing his displeasure at his uncle’s words.
“But I’m glad to know I won’t have to worry about her asking to go back there again.
It had been a tedious conversation between her and I. ”
Nikos nodded.
“Why hasn’t she returned, though?” his uncle asked, and Nikos realized that Georgios must have updated Antonis on everything if he knew that too.
“She sprained her ankle from an incident on the stage,” Nikos said, and Antonis gritted his teeth.
“She looked fine to me,” Antonis muttered before he turned his attention to Petros, another one of his men. “Call her and tell her to return to the club within a week. I don’t want to hear any excuses.”
It took everything in Nikos not to speak after hearing those words.
He wanted to tell his uncle that it wasn’t possible, that Honey would no longer return to the club, but he knew he couldn’t do that because the moment his uncle’s eyes opened, everything changed, and his uncle knew that too as he turned his green eyes on him.
“Are you ready to return my power?” Antonis asked.
Nikos gritted his teeth.
This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted his uncle to come back.
It wasn’t just because he would be an obstacle in his relationship with Honey, but because he knew that everything he had worked hard for over the past half a year would have to be returned.
All the power he accumulated was gone just from his uncle opening his eyes, and though that was something he had initially wanted when his uncle first went out of commission, now he didn’t want it.
Because now his uncle would have the power to do anything he wanted at the Gentlemen’s Club, and that included ordering Honey to return.
Knowing that this was a test, Nikos said what was most appropriate and what was true.
“The power was never truly mine.”
His uncle grinned, and Nikos simmered in the reality— his uncle was officially back in commission.