Chapter 52
C H A P T E R
HONEY WATCHED AS THE SUN WENT DOWN, AND THE MOON ILLUMINATED THE SKY AS IT CLOSED AROUND MIDNIGHT.
In that time, she had watched as Antonis’s men trudged up and down the stairs, carrying boxes and luggage and loading them into trucks.
Antonis’s warning had remained fresh in her mind, going off like an alarm whenever she saw another box loaded.
Now, get ready for our life together because Nikos will never be able to have you again.
By the time she and Kai had made it back downstairs while being escorted by Antonis’s men, Antonis’s warning made her legs shake with fear as she sat on the couch with Kai in the living room.
Antonis stood near the foyer, instructing his men in his native language, and it was driving her crazy that she had no clue what he was saying.
She wished she could just walk out of those doors with her son, but she knew there was no escape, and she would have to go along with whatever crazy, delusional plan Antonis had cooked up.
He had told her to get ready for their life together, but she was not ready at all, and she would never be.
“What is going on?” Honey asked, and Antonis finally came over.
“Everything is packed, and everything you and your son will need, we’ll get in Costa Rica.”
Honey’s eyes widened so large that they hurt, but she was in such disbelief that she could do nothing but stare at Antonis as if he had turned into an alien before her very eyes.
But that was what it felt like at that very moment because she could not recognize him at all.
Had Antonis always been this crazy, or had the coma caused some screws to come loose?
“Costa Rica? What about Costa Rica? What does that have to do with me and my son?”
“Costa Rica is where we’ll be living from now on.
Do not fret. I may not have the clubs anymore, but I have more than enough money that I’ll be able to take care of you and your son,” he said, and Honey’s eyes went over to the briefcases lined up on the table, filled with money.
But she didn’t give a damn about that money.
She didn’t care about how many millions were on that table, probably the stolen profits he had taken.
“I’m not going to Costa Rica with you,” she whispered fiercely, not trying to upset her son, who sat next to her, curiously looking between them before he went back to his game.
“You have no choice,” he said plainly before he grabbed her wrist tight enough that she winced. “You will be leaving with me, and you will learn to love me. The days of giving you an option are over.”
“Never,” she said, trying to tug her wrist back, but Antonis held on tight as they glared at each other until they heard yelling. She froze, and Antonis let her wrist go. The moment he did, they heard a gunshot. Immediately, she grabbed her son, tugging him onto her lap.
“Are those fireworks, mommy?” Kai asked. It was nowhere near the Fourth of July, and Antonis’s place was secluded enough that they wouldn’t have heard his neighbor’s fireworks, especially at this hour.
“Go see what’s going on!” Antonis instructed some of his men, and they quickly left, reaching behind their backs and pulling out guns. Antonis pulled out his own.
“They’re playing a game, honey,” she said, not wanting Kai to know how much their lives were in danger right now. She only held Kai tighter, hoping and praying the shooting would stop, hoping and praying someone would save her and her son from this nightmare.
The shooting continued, back and forth, and it sounded like a war zone. Antonis and the rest of his men started picking up the briefcases of money off the table, and instead of carrying out the front like they had done before, they tried to head to the back.
“Let’s go,” Antonis said, trying to reach for her wrist, but Honey evaded him.
“No.” She was scared as hell right now, and she had no idea who was out there shooting, but it didn’t change the fact that going out those doors with Antonis meant a terrifying fate of living with him for the foreseeable future in Costa Rica. It was a chance she was not willing to take.
“Honey!” he barked, annoyed, even enough for Kai to jump, which pissed her off.
“We’re not going with you!” she yelled back. Everything had come to a standstill, with Antonis’s men awkwardly standing, looking at each other warily. But Honey did not care.
“Boss, we have to g—”
The man’s words were cut off as the front door burst open, and Honey watched with shock, feeling as if she had been transported into a movie, as that same man immediately dropped as a bullet flew into the room and straight into his chest. The briefcase in his hand clattered to the ground.
Antonis quickly came and grabbed her wrist again, but she was so lost in the moment that she didn’t even bother to fight him off.
Footsteps clamored down the hall, and Honey was starting to worry if she had made a mistake in not leaving with him until she saw the person who had stepped through the foyer.
“Nikos!” Kai yelled, excitedly, ready to leap off her lap, but she held him close as Nikos kept his gun pointed at Antonis, who also had his gun aimed at him. Aris was also there, gun out and pointed at one of Antonis’s men.
“Don’t you mean, Cap?” Nikos said, winking, and Honey felt the knot that had formed in her stomach the moment Antonis approached her in the parking lot slowly starting to dissolve. She knew he would come for them. She was glad that he had made it in time.
Honey went to stand, ready to run into Nikos’s arms so she could go home with her son and forget this nightmare ever happened, but when she did, she felt Antonis’s tight grip on her arm, who wouldn’t let her stand.
“Let go of me,” Honey barked.
“Never.”
Those words weren’t just for her, but clearly for Nikos too.
“Kai, close your eyes for me, and keep them closed until I tell you to open them. Okay?”
“Okay, Nik,” Kai said, pressing his eyes close and abandoning his game.
“When Giannis asked me to take care of you and show you the ropes, I didn’t expect this,” Antonis said, chuckling bitterly. “I didn’t think it would be my downfall. I didn’t think my dear friend was sending a wolf into my home.”
“I’m also sure my father didn’t think you would try to kill me either. I guess we’re both disappointed,” Nikos said, shrugging.
“When did you start planning this? Turning the brotherhood against me.”
“The first time I made love to Hope.”
Her heart stopped as her eyes watered. He called her Hope. He called her by her name, and she knew why he had.
“Hope?” Antonis repeated, disgust and anger clear in his tone as the gun trembled in his hand.
“You shouldn’t call her that. Only the people who love her can call her that.”
“Uncle, you should end this because it’s over now,” Aris said. “You’re lucky that our father allowed Nikos to handle this himself. Otherwise, it would have been a real bloodbath down here for trying to kill his son.”
“Aris,” Antonis said, his voice filled with affection, the complete opposite of which he had spoken to Nikos, and surprisingly, Honey could tell that it was genuine. He had never called Georgios’s name that way.
“I will always have respect for you, uncle, and be thankful for everything you have taught me, but you shouldn’t have tried to kill my brother and kidnap his woman.”
It was the wrong thing to say as Antonis’s face flamed red with uncontrollable rage.
“Honey’s mine!” he barked loud enough that spit flew from his mouth, and in his fit of rage, Nikos winked at her, and she quickly yanked her arm back and jumped to the end of the couch with Kai before Nikos shot Antonis three times.
Aris took that opportunity to shoot the other men in the room, and once all of Antonis’s men were down, Nikos quickly lowered his gun and came over to them.
“You can open your eyes now, Kai,” Nikos said as he pulled them both into a hug. She felt like she could barely breathe because of how tight his grip was, his fingers pressing bruises into her back, but it didn’t matter because she held him back just as tight, and so did Kai.
Honey sniffled, feeling overwhelmed with relief and emotion as she held onto Nikos while rubbing her son’s back.
“I was scared,” Kai admitted, his eyes wet with tears. “But I told myself to be brave until you came to save us, Nik.”
“Thank you for your bravery, Kai,” Nikos said, sincerely. “I can already tell, kid, that you’re going to have what it takes to be a pilot one day.”
Kai thrust himself into Nikos’s arms again, and Honey nursed her tears with the sleeve of her shirt until she heard a groan and noticed that just a few feet away from them, Antonis was still alive, groaning in pain.
She looked at his body, noting that Nikos had shot him in the shoulder and both of his legs.
She couldn’t muster up an ounce of sympathy seeing him this way.
It was what he had deserved after shooting Nikos the same number of times.
She was just surprised that Nikos hadn’t killed him.
A few weeks ago, she wouldn’t have cared to see a man dead.
But after everything that had transpired because of Antonis’s delusions, she could go the rest of her life without seeing him and feel at peace with him in the grave.
“Can you take care of this?” Nikos asked Aris as they all stood together. “I want to get Hope and Kai back home safely.”
Aris nodded, and Nikos said parting words to his brother in his native language before he took them to the car, where they all sat in the back together while Christos drove them.
Kai was asleep, his head lying on Nikos’s lap while he drooled, and she rested her head against Nikos’s chest with her hands laced with his as his head pressed against the top of her head.
“What is your brother going to do with Antonis?” she asked.
“My father is here now,” Nikos said. “He’ll handle it accordingly. But rest assured. You’ll never have to worry about Antonis Tsagkarakis again.”
She closed her eyes, realizing that the nightmare was finally over. She was finally free again.