Chapter 51
C H A P T E R
THE TWO-HOUR DRIVE WAS LONG ENOUGH FOR KAI TO FALL ASLEEP, but Honey could not allow her eyes to blink as she watched the signs on the highway until they arrived in New Jersey.
She had heard rumors about the mansion Antonis had in New Jersey.
Some of the girls who had performed at Antonis’s place whenever he had important guest over had described it as being as big as the Playboy mansion, and it was, stretching what looked to be over twenty thousand square feet, surrounded by green grass and vast land.
She almost would have been in awe of a place so beautiful if she weren’t so disturbed by the man it belonged to.
A permanent frown was etched on her face as they got out of the car and were escorted by Antonis through the private estate, leading them through the gravel stone path, up the stone stairs, and through the thick maple wood doors that led them inside.
With the eyes of Antonis’s men on her, she followed Antonis with Kai’s hand clutched tightly in her own.
Those eyes felt like sharp lasers ready to shoot her down if she tried to run, and with everything in her, she tried to rein in her fear and focus on keeping herself and her son safe.
They walked up the curved staircase and were led to a bedroom that was as big as her apartment.
Honey frowned even more, looking at Antonis suspiciously as one of his men came into the room and passed him something.
The man left the room, and Antonis came over to them, holding out an item for Kai.
Defensive and scared, she was ready to go off until she noticed that it was a handheld game.
Immediately, Kai’s eyes lit up with excitement, and he nearly grabbed the game until he paused and looked back at her for permission.
Honey’s frown refused to fade, though, as she still eyed the gift suspiciously.
She wanted to say no, but at this point, she needed something that would distract Kai from this madness, who had been awfully quiet at the beginning of their car ride before he fell asleep, which was unlike him.
Kai was usually very talkative and friendly with most people, which was why earlier today, he had spent most of the time bombarding Yanis with the curious questions of an eight-year-old kid.
But Kai had not said a single word on their way here.
“Okay,” Honey said, reluctantly.
“Thank you,” Kai told Antonis.
“You’re welcome. I’m Antonis Tsagkarakis, and I’m a friend of your mother.”
Honey scuffed, knowing that was complete bullshit. He was nothing to her anymore, not even her boss. He was just a crazy, controlling man who could not accept that she did not want to be with him.
“I’m Kai.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you under good circumstances. I thought the day would never come.”
“Let’s go sit over there, honey. So you can play your game,” Honey said, cutting this conversation short. She almost wished she had sent Kai off with his father if she had known something like this would happen. She didn’t want Kai interacting with Antonis at all.
She sat Kai down on the couch near the window.
Kai immediately started up the handheld game, his attention completely focused on it, and she was grateful for that.
Once he was settled, she walked over to Antonis, who stood near the balcony, gazing out at his backyard, which could only be described as land.
It was so vast, with a large pool, and she could see the lake that wasn’t too far away.
“We need to talk,” Honey said with her arms crossed. Antonis did not respond, only looking forward, but she was not deterred.
“Antonis, I said we need to—”
“Four years ago, I had this place built with you in mind,” he announced, and her eyes widened with disbelief.
“I always imagined you living here. There’s a big kitchen downstairs, four times the size of your own.
Your son would have his own room. There’s even space for a garden in the back because I thought you would like that. ”
“I didn’t ask you to do that,” Honey said, voice tight with anger.
“All of this could have been yours if you had just given me a chance.”
Honey chose to ignore his comment and focus on the situation at hand.
“Please let my son and me go.”
“The estate is around seven acres, you know. It took some time to buy it, but I felt that New Jersey would be better for us than New York.”
“Ugh,” she said, annoyed, feeling like she was speaking to someone who spoke an entirely different language. But it had always been that way with Antonis. They could never have a normal conversation like other people because he had no regard for what she wanted.
“Why won’t you love me?” he asked her as he finally turned to face her, giving her the full attention she had wanted mere seconds ago, but now that she had it, she wished he had never turned around.
Honey looked away from him, unable to bear the intensity of his gaze.
“Answer me,” he bit out, the anger seeping through his voice, and Honey had a feeling that if her son weren’t here, those words would have more base in them.
She sighed bitterly before she turned her cold, dark eyes on him. If he wanted to hear the truth, she had no choice but to oblige.
“Whenever you looked at me, it made my skin crawl, Antonis,” she said, not giving a damn if it hurt his feelings or not.
“You scare me, Antonis. You scared me the first night I met you at Diamond’s club.
You scared me the first night I started working at the Gentlemen’s Club, and you’ve been scaring me ever since.
Not a day has gone by without me being terrified of what you might do to me or the people around me.
You hurt Kai’s father. My exes all magically got hurt or disappeared.
You want to own me, like I’m a doll or a trophy you won.
This house isn’t for me. It’s a trophy case for you to lock me in just like you’re doing now.
It’s a prison. You don’t love me. You can’t possibly, so I don’t understand how you could have the audacity to ask that of me. ”
“Don’t question my love for you,” Antonis said angrily as he took a step forward, and she immediately took one back, wanting to maintain the necessary distance between them.
“This house is nothing. I would have given you the world and all of my love with it. My affection for you is real, and I don’t see you as a doll or toy as you claim. ”
Honey scuffed, but Antonis continued.
“But I see you as a gem, my gem. A beautiful gem that I found, but now my gem was claimed by another, and yet you look at me as if I’m a monster for taking back what was rightfully mine.
What I found,” he barked. “Why question my feelings when my nephew has done nothing but screw every woman at the club?”
Honey didn’t respond as she continued to gaze at him coldly, unmoved by his words.
“You were supposed to be different. You were supposed to be special, but you gave yourself to my nephew, that cretin, that boy who neither loves you nor recognizes you for the gem that you are. Every day, I imagine putting more bullet holes in him for touching you.”
She gasped in shock, disturbed.
“Do you know why he came to America? What he did to the last girl, the one he was actually in love with?”
“I know all of those things,” Honey said, and even Antonis looked surprised, and whatever tirade of words he had for her to make her question Nikos’s feelings died on his lips there.
“And you don’t have to speak to me about how Nikos feels about me because I already know how he feels. I know that he loves me.”
“He doesn’t—”
“I know he does,” she affirmed, feeling it in her heart. “He’s never said it, but from his actions, from the way he treats me, from the way he treats Kai, I know he does.”
They had never gone into details about their feelings, always avoiding those conversations and only focusing on the moment.
And Honey liked it that way. It was easier to navigate their relationship without making it deeper, especially when, at the time, she had still been worried about Antonis.
But though Nikos had never said he loved her, whenever he looked at her, his eyes were filled with so much affection that it felt like love.
She had never been looked at like that before by any man; Not by Andre and definitely not by Antonis.
“I don’t believe it,” Antonis said. “My nephew is a frivolous boy who has fooled you, and I thought you were smarter than this. And even if he did supposedly love you, why would it matter? Have you not been holding my occupation against me this entire time? Nikos does the same thing I do. He’s not innocent. His hands have blood on them.”
“That’s true,” Honey admitted, thinking about the first time she had seen Nikos around her neighborhood with splotches of blood on his face and clothes.
The lost look he had that night had never left her mind, especially since she had never seen it again, even after Nikos took over Antonis’s position.
He had only become more resolute, and she had never seen that same innocent Nikos again.
“But he’s a good person, unlike you. He doesn’t do it by choice, but he does it for his family.
He does it to feed them and protect them.
He doesn’t take pleasure in harming people like you,” she said, pointedly.
“He listens to me, and if I ask him not to harm someone on my behalf, he does it. Why? Because what I want actually matters to him. I’m not a doll or a toy or a gem to him. I’m just me.”
Antonis’s jaw was clenched tight enough that she could see the veins in it, and she knew he was infuriated, hearing her praise Nikos. But she didn’t care. He wanted the truth, and so she gave it.
“Antonis, I don’t want anything from you. Not your love or this house. I just want to go back home with my son,” she said, unfolding her arms. “Where is Nikos?”
She waited, and with each second that passed, her heart sank further and further until her eyes watered, hoping and praying that he had not killed him. Her heart wouldn’t be able to take it if he were truly dead this time.
“Do not shed tears yet,” he growled. “Nikos is still alive.”
She sighed with relief, clutching her chest.
“That ungrateful nephew of mine has been going around gathering up people within our family and turning them against me,” Antonis admitted bitterly.
“He has been telling them about my private backdoor dealings and saying that I have stolen profits. The profits can’t be stolen if I earned them, but not everyone sees it that way, unfortunately. ”
Honey’s eyes widened. She had been wondering what Nikos had been doing this past week, but she didn’t think he had been doing that. At most, she thought he would get his father involved. But it didn’t seem to be necessary when he had that kind of dirt on Antonis. She wondered how long he had known.
“Save your tears for the real tragedy,” Antonis said. “Nikos might have taken my empire from me, but he won’t be able to take you away from me. You’re the possession I will keep until death. No one can take you from me.”
“You crazy son of a bitch,” she said in disbelief, her skin crawling with disgust. But Antonis did not care, a determination in his eyes that she had never seen before.
“I am crazy about you,” he admitted without shame. “Now, get ready for our life together because Nikos will never be able to have you again. I’m going to make sure of that.”
Honey watched as he left the room, and she stood there in disbelief, wondering if he would stay true to his word or if Nikos would be able to save her instead.