Page 5 of Promised Vows

We had an odd dynamic. As the eldest, Lucas was the boss. Dimitris, as the second oldest, should have been Lucas’s second, but he’d outright refused to take on that role. He was also more inclined to punch things first and then ask questions. The position required a little more finesse, so I’d taken the position as Lucas’s second. Our sister Thea, and our youngest sibling, Alexander, or Lex as he liked to be called, fit when and where they were needed with Lex often throwing himself in the fray with Dimitris.

“Something with Benny and Marco isn’t sitting right with me.”

I cursed under my breath at the mention of their names. Franklin Benoit was boss of the French family mafia, and Marco was the boss of the Moretti mafia family. If they were working together it could make everyone’s lives more difficult.

Women and girls were shipped in, held in horrid conditions, and then sold. The coffee in my mouth turned bitter. I knew our family had dealt in skin at one point. Not that particular stream, but skin, nonetheless. It’d never appealed to me. Lucas didn’t seem to have an issue with it until Gianna was killed. Once Mom began having heart trouble, it was an even bigger issue.

Gianna’s and my dad’s deaths hit her hard. My baby sister was innocent, and we’d all concluded that we were going to keep her out of our world. We’d even given her a narrow degree of separation by giving her the last name of Kalantz. We should have changed her name altogether, but Dad couldn’t do it. There were a couple of other families with that last name, and we thought it’d be enough.

Dad was the love of Mom’s life and losing him was the final straw. Her heart began to fail. Slowly, she’d declined. The last time I saw her, she’d been a ghost of my vibrant, full-of-life mom. She’d requested to visit with Lucas alone shortly before she passed. He stepped out of that room a completely different man. He had demons to slay, and he’d picked up the biggest sword he had and started swinging. In no time, our only remaining business was guns, and our stream of income was drastically cut.

The last three years were lean, but we’d managed to keep our distress to ourselves. To the outside world, the Kalantzises were fine, and to a degree, we’d maintained our lifestyle. That was the reason I continued to keep my taste in clothing unchanged. If any of the other families smelled weakness, we’d be chum in the water.

It was a large part of the reason I’d volunteered to marry Anna. Money was great, but strength was more important. Once Lucas married Claire, the money problem would be solved. If he actually managed to get half of her two-hundred-and-fifty-million-dollar trust. If, big if. I didn’t trust her or her father, Franklin.

Normally, I could get a good read on people pretty quickly, but Claire was throwing my radar off. She showed up at our restaurant, Lykos, followed by her father. It didn’t sit right with me. Against my advice, Lucas had pursued her. Hopefully, he wasn’t leading us into a trap.

“What do you mean by something with Benny and Marco isn’t sitting right with you?”

I heard the click of his lighter and the deep inhale. “I don’t know. It’s a feeling.”

“All right. You going to chase it?”

“You okay if I do? I don’t want to muck nothing up.”

Taking a sip of coffee, I replied, “Keep a low profile, and I think you’ll be fine.”

“Loud and clear.” He ended the call, and I tucked my phone back into my pocket.

An hour and a half later, Anna stepped out, and by the way she was pounding the pavement, something had her even more ticked than when she left her brother’s office the night before.

I quickly hurried out of the coffee shop to catch up with Anna. I’d kept my presence from her, but the closer I got, the more confident I was that something had angered her.

Head down, hands jammed in her coat, she stopped every so often to window shop. I caught her lips moving here and there, and I wished I was closer so I could hear what she was saying.

We’d gone maybe a half block before my sister, Thea, peeled off the wall of a building and matched my pace. Her arm slinked through mine. “Hello, Ari. Out for a stroll?” There was no masking the humor in her voice. She knew exactly what I was up to.

“Yeah, you could say that.” I glanced at her. “How did you know where I was?” I knew how dumb the question was the moment it was out of my mouth. My sister could pinpoint a cricket in Africa. I had no idea how she did it.

“Our new sister is having a bachelorette party tonight, and Anna will be attending. I’m making sure that she brings Claire a gift.”

“When did this happen?”

“The party or the insistence that Anna attend?”

I shrugged. “Uh, both, I guess.”

“Well, I informed Anna about an hour ago. When you have the looks of a model, such as moi, you can get into an audition fairly easily.”

With a sigh, I shook my head as I smiled. “Okay.”

“As for sis, the party is a surprise. I already have a restaurant picked when she ultimately tells me she hasn’t a clue where she wants to go. I’ve nixed all the clubs. Can you imagine a Benoit getting funky under some strobe lights?” She laughed. “The scandal.”

“I don’t understand why you’re going to the trouble. How can you trust Claire?”

Patting my arm, she replied, “I didn’t until I went with her to take care of the wedding plans. Something is off between her and Franklin. I know it.”

Shaking my head, I scoffed. “Yeah, and I’m saying they’re in it together. You even agreed with me. They’re playing us, and Lucas needs to be careful.”

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