Page 6 of Under The Greek's Protection

“Hailey,” he groggily greets, in a deep timbre.

“No, it’s me Devyn, Alistair,” she informs.

“Devyn, hey little sister. What are you doing up so late? Is something wrong? Where’s Hailey?” he questions, now sounding more alert.

“She’s right here and so are Althaia and GeeGee.” Devyn's eyes moved to each of us, as she said our names.

Alistair’s quiet, so I can only guess he’s putting two and two together. He finally speaks, “I see, and what are the four of you up to?”

I shake my head at her, trying to stop her from telling him we were about to leave, but Devyn opens her mouth, spilling everything.

“We were about to leave, but Althaia and GeeGee stopped us. I didn’t want to go, Alistair. I wanted to stay here with everyone else. If we would’ve left, I wouldn’t have been able to say goodbye to you. When are you coming back?”

Alistair mumbles something inaudible into the phone before assuring her, “Devyn, listen to me, you and Hailey are going to stay there. You won’t be going anywhere. I’ll be back in the morning, okay?”

“Okay,” Devyn echoes with a toothy grin, then turns to me. “My brother’s coming tomorrow.” The little traitor had the nerve to stick her tongue out.

Alistair chuckles then says, “Give Hailey the phone.”

I take the phone. “What?”

“Take me off speaker,” Alistair commands, in an angry tone.

Looking at the others in the room, their attention is directly on me. There’s no telling what is about to come out of this crazy man’s mouth. I turn off the speaker and place the phone to my ear.

“Now what,” I sass.

“Hailey, I’m going to try to say this as nicely as I possibly can. You and Devyn aren’t going any fucking where, and if you try to run again, you’ll have one pissed off Greek after you. I will find you. Sit your ass still, and we’ll finish this conversation in the morning.” The line goes dead.

I frown, staring at the phone as I pull it from my ear. Did he really just try to check me? Okay, Mr. Kourakos, I can’t wait for our conversation tomorrow.

“Well, I guess from the look on your face, Alistair gave you some choice words,” GeeGee observes.

I quickly straighten my face and clear my throat. “He just reiterated that he will be here in the morning.”

“Mmmhmm,” GeeGee hums with a smirk.

Althaia taps her arms, then asks, “GeeGee, will you take Devyn downstairs for some warm milk, while I have a chat with Hailey?”

“Of course, come on sweetie. Let’s see if we can find some cookies to go with that milk,” GeeGee sings. Devyn gives Althaia one last hug before releasing her and taking GeeGee’s hand. She smiles at me as they leave the room. Traitor.

“Come Hailey, have a seat,” Althaia directs, going over to the settee close by the window. She sits, patting the space next to her.

I hang my head as I make my way to her, plopping down.

Althaia takes my hand. “Let me tell you a story. There once was this beautiful young woman who lived in Greektown, a neighborhood in Chicago. She had many suitors calling upon her hand for marriage to her father. Yet, the young woman was secretly in love with another, and she knew her father would never approve. You see, her father was the owner of a successful bistro and wanted her to be wed to a fine upstanding businessman, and when he made his selection, it was to a young banker. What her father didn’t know was that there was another suitor who had not yet made his presence known; the one who really held the young woman’s heart.

The night of the young couple’s engagement party at her father’s bistro, the other suitor strolled in with men at his sides. He calmly said the young woman would not be marrying the banker, but him. Of course, this caused an uproar. The fiancé stood, demanding the suitor and his men leave at once. His words were cut short when he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. The suitor didn’t utter another word as he held out his hand to the young girl. Against her father’s protests, she took his hand and stood. Her father shouted if she went with the suitor, he would disown her.” Althaia pauses.

“What did she do?” I ask, waiting to hear more.

Althaia squeezes my hand as she shakes it, simply answering, “She followed her heart.”

Curious, I question, “Is this you and Yiannis’ story?”

She blushes. “Yes, it is.”

“And your father disowned you because you chose Yiannis?”

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