Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 24493 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24493 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Sheena blinked.
Did Stelios just say...dimples?
The Devil had once told her that Stelios had the most twisted sense of humor among them, and Sheena did find it rather hard to tell if the other man was being serious or not. But when she glanced at Tahey and saw how the other girl was suddenly busy avoiding her husband's gaze—-
Oh!
Dmitry bit back an expletive when he saw Sheena looking at him in shock.
"You have dimples?"
The other guys started to snicker, Stelios included, and the sight had Dmitry looking at his Greek friend before saying quite pleasantly—-
"Fuck you."
But Stelios only shrugged. "I don't swing that way, unfortunately. And it might've been better if I did, since that would at least give me a valid excuse not to get married."
Sasha was incredulous. "You're actually serious? You stepped out to take a phone call, and you come back fucking engaged?"
Stelios' tone was bland as he told his friends the reason he had to excuse himself earlier from the meeting.
"Kayra Petinos?" Drake was ex-FBI, and he recalled coming across the girl's name several times in the past. "She's like you, isn't she?"
"Mafia?"
"Mental."
Stelios only grinned. "Touché."
Bastien shook his head. "How the fuck can you be joking about this? Are you really going to get married because of a blood debt?"
"Selling off my shares in the family business doesn't change who I am. Her parents died because of my parents. I owe them," Stelios said simply, "and now I have to pay them back."
Dmitry waited until Stelios had left before asking Drake what he knew of the family Stelios was about to marry into.
"They're one of the 'nicer' families. Wealth is mainly from illegal gambling, and they've never been involved in the drug trade or anything that could've gotten them in Strakh's radar."
"Wouldn't that make them seem weak?" Bastien questioned with a frown.
"Not when they have Kayra."
Dmitry was skeptical. "Didn't you just describe her as 'mental'?"
"Exactly my point. Remember last year's Sandy Point murders?"
"That's her?" Sasha was more than a little stunned. "She killed all four of them? Alone?"
"With her bare hands, too, according to the intel reports."
Dmitry's younger brother whistled under his breath. "Damn."
"And the niece?" Dmitry persisted in asking. It wouldn't be a good thing if the girl was to be anything like her aunt, would it?
"No one knows much about her. Normal, I suppose?"
Dmitry seemed satisfied with this, but Drake's answer had both Tahey and Sheena exchanging worried looks. It was just so typical of men not to realize when they were already damning someone with faint praise. The Greek billionaire was guaranteed to find a 'normal' girl boring, but normal girls were also just as guaranteed to lose their heart to someone as devastatingly attractive as Stelios.
What would someone like Kayra Petinos do...if she was to find out that her niece was in love with her husband, and the feelings weren't returned?
De rigueur
The ringing between my ears in deafening, and I find myself following blindly behind Theía as the elders opt to stay behind while the rest of us is redirected to the rooftop bar.
A waiter offers us a selection of drinks, and my eyebrows shoot up when Theía swipes one of the mojitos from the tray before downing the entire thing in one gulp.
"Are you okay?" I ask under my breath.
"I've been better."
"It's silly, right? What the Familia is asking of us?"
Theía doesn't answer me, and I look at her uneasily. "What's on your mind?"
"Something you probably wouldn't want to hear."
I look at her in horror. "You can't possibly be in agreement—-"
"I am."
Crap!
I should've known she won't be on my side about this. Theía has always been fiercely protective towards me, but it's gotten worse since my parents were killed, and downright crazy when she found out about her condition.
"C'mon, Theía. You really think marrying me off will keep me safe?"
"Safer, at least."
"Safer from what? It's not like someone out there hates me enough to kill me—-"
"Don't be an idiot." The older girl's tone is matter-of-fact. "You're a Petinos. That's enough reason for some people."
"I get that, I really do. But—-"
Theía gestures for me to keep quiet when her phone starts to ring. "I need to take this."
Oh boy.
People have been giving us a wide berth because of Theía's "condition", but it's the complete opposite as soon as my aunt walks away.
"You won't find fault with my boy, little Babita."
Mama sharks come at me one after another, and while some of them only have their own families' advantage in mind—-
"You haven't heard this from me, but I was told that Ricardo's boy called you 'plump'. I wouldn't choose him if I were you."
Others would prefer to see my family or someone else's at a disadvantage.
"Your family has money. Ours has firepower."
"Fight for yourself! You are not some mindless cattle for them to order as they please."