Page 6 of The Greek's Destruction

“I won’t,” I tell her with a smile. Turning to walk away, I’m stopped when my hand is grabbed. I know his touch, never forgot it.

“We need to talk,” Zar says in my ear before letting my hand go.

I don’t even so much as give him a glance over my shoulder as I continue to leave the area.

“What the hell was that?” Janae questions, walking next to me.

“Trouble,” I hiss, heading straight to the bar.

Chapter 3

Balthazar Kourakos

I laugh to myself, watching Nina’s sexy backside as she zigzags through the crowd, straight to the bar. She greets her bartender, then asks for a drink. When she turns around, her eyes find mine. I smirk as I wink at her. Nina quickly turns to Janae and says something before walking away. I follow her every move until she disappears into a hallway. She could run, but she definitely couldn’t hide from me.

I’ve kept tabs on Nina off and on ever since the night she stopped working at my club. From the day she walked into The Elite, I knew one day she would be mine but at the time, I was still establishing my place within my family and dealing with rivals. I couldn’t bring Nina into my world just yet. Plus, back then she was young, fresh out of high school, and starting college, but that didn’t stop me from admiring her from afar.

My family is one of the largest Greek crime families in the States. We are at the top of the food chain when it comes to the Greek Mafia Families. My grandfather, Sebastian Kourakos, is the head of our family, based in Chicago. He rules over several of the Midwestern states such as Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, as well as some of the Southern states like Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. His reach is long and there is nothing that goes on in those states that he doesn’t know about. My father, Yiannis Kourakos, is his Second-in-Command. They run their regions with a tight fist and no one dares to challenge them, except for the prick who was over the region I now control here in Dallas.

Eight years ago, Grandfather found out, Christos Galanis, was secretly trying to convince some of the other Bosses to overthrow him, big mistake. Like I said, there’s nothing Grandfather didn’t know about. When word got back to Grandfather as to what Christos was up to, he sat back and waited. I was twenty-five at the time, a hothead who was ready to come down here and kill the mother fucker for even thinking he could take my Grandfather’s place. You had to have some big ass balls to even fathom the notion. As I ranted and raved about what Grandfather should do with Christos disloyal ass, he calmly sat at his desk, smoking a cigar. He finally raised his hand, ceasing my actions.

“Balthazar, calm your ass down. I swear your temper is just like your father’s when he was your age.” He chuckled. “You will learn in this business, sometimes it’s best to sit back and let people think you are blind to what they are doing. It will also let you see how many sheep will follow the wolf.” I stared at him, confused but little did I know at the time, Grandfather was already two steps ahead of Christos.

A week later we boarded his private jet late one evening at O’Hare airport, heading to Dallas. When we arrived, Grandfather, Father, and I got into the limo that was waiting for us, while six of our men got in the one ahead of ours. An hour later, we were pulling up to the Greek restaurant, Odyssy, that Christos owned. On the ride over, Grandfather informed me, Christos had closed it early because he was meeting with five of the other Bosses. I was ready to take out all of their asses for going along with Christos, but Father told me to be patient and watch how things unfold.

Once out of the car, the men flanked us on all sides as we walked to the entrance. I was surprised when one of the two guards standing at the door, opened it while the other moved to the side to let us in. They lowered their heads in respect as we passed. The dimly lit restaurant was vacant as Grandfather led the way to the back of it. The sound of raised voices caught our attention as we moved along down the corridor.

“It is time for fresh blood to sit at the head of the table. Sebastian is old and needs to be replaced. The only thing is, when he does step down, he will pass it on to Yiannis, never giving any one of us a chance to rule and if something happens to Yiannis, it will go to his son. That is why I have called his meeting, we need to eliminate all three of them so that a new family can take over,” Christos treacherous voice stated.

“And I suppose this new family should be yours, Christos,” Mikos, the Boss from New Orleans questioned.

“I think that’s an excellent question,” Grandfather said, catching them off guard as we stepped in the room. The look of total terror covers Christos face as he sits at the head of a long dining table. I wish I had pulled out my phone to preserve that moment.

Our men spread out around the room, making it so no one could try to leave. Mikos shook his head as he sat back in his chair. The other four Bosses, Lasar, from Miami, Benito, from Detroit, and Frederick, from Columbia, sat with stoic expressions.

Grandfather went to the opposite end of the table, where one of our men pulled out the chair, then sat. Father and I stood on the sides him.

“I’m waiting for your answer, Christos,” Grandfather prodded as he placed his hands on the table, then interlaced his fingers.

Christos recovered from his stupor, putting on a face of bravado. “As my comrades and I were saying, we feel it is time for someone else to lead the families.”

Grandfather regarded him before gazing at every man sitting at the table, then bringing his focus back on Christos. “But from what I heard, it sounded like those are your feelings and not those of your comrades, no?”

Christos smiled as he picked up his cigarette case from the table. He took a long brown cigarette out, put it in his mouth, then lit it, blowing out a puff of smoke. “People are not as loyal as you think, Sebastian. These men are here because they feel the same way I do,” he gloated as if he had one up on Grandfather.

Several seconds passed before Grandfather hummed, then responded, “You might be right, Christos. Loyalty is hard to come by and in this business it’s even harder, but let’s just say they are here because they feel the same way as you, that would be such a disappointment.”

Christos smirked, but Grandfather held up his pointer finger and continued. “But...what if they are here because I told them to be?” The smirk quickly fell from Christos face then.

“Let me tell you something about loyalty, Christos. While you thought you could stage a coup on me and my family due to lack of loyalty, these men here,” Grandfather points at the Bosses. “These men didn’t hesitate to call and inform me of your bull shit. That is loyalty, something that you don’t have!”

Christos stared at the others with disbelief. He knew then he had been setup and the only thing left for him to do was to plead his case.

“Sebastian listen, they may deny it but everyone here wants your seat. It is what we all aspire for, surely you can’t fault me for wanting to move ahead in the business? I understand I went about it the wrong way, and I apologize. I promise nothing like this will happen again.”

“I know it won’t,” Grandfather confirmed before saying my name. “Balthazar”

Without any hesitation, I pulled out my 9mm Beretta and shot Christos right between the eyes, causing his body to slump over onto the table.

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