Page 11 of The Greek's Retribution

Sighing, I turn overin the bed. Xander was not lying with me when I woke up earlier. I guess he might’ve left to check on the condo. Last night after Xander’s mother and sister left, he climbed into the bed behind me, then pulled me into his arms. I hadn’t forgotten about what he said about my brothers earlier. I understand how he feels about them, but it was always instilled in me to take care of my brothers. Before falling to sleep, I needed to know what were his plans towards them.

“Xander,”

“Hmmm,” he hums behind me.

“What are you going to do with Joshua and Greg?” I whisper.

He sighs. “Sabre baby, we’ve had a long day. Let’s get some rest and we’ll talk about this in the morning.”

Not allowing him to brush the subject off, I sit up, leaving his embrace as I turn to look him in his face. Xander keeps his eyes closed as I stared down at him.

“No, we need to talk about this now. Look, I don’t know what their involvement in all of this is, especially Joshua because he wasn’t at the condo, but at the end of the day, they are my blood. So, I think I have the right to know what’s going to happen to them.”

His eyes remain shut as he says, “And at the end of the day, their fucking decisions landed you here. Yourbrothersbrought Santiago and his man to your house, Sabre. What do you think would’ve happened if you were there? You witnessed that man kill an ADA. They weren’t there to see if you were okay, they were coming to make sure you permanently kept your mouth closed for good. So, until I get to the bottom of this, they will be handled accordingly. Now, lay back down so you can get some rest.”

The finality in his tone let me know he was done with the conversation. I let out an exasperated breath as I laid back down beside him. Xander repositioned his arms around me and soon after, I heard his light snores behind me. Sleep didn’t come so easily for me as I laid there wondering what the hell my brothers have gotten us into.

I am the youngest of the three of us but I guess my parents, George and Sybrina Tompkins, knew early on that Joshua and Greg would always be in some type of mess, so they would constantly drill in my head at a young age, right or wrong, family always stood by one another. You are never to leave your family in their time of need, but it always seemed like my family was always in need.

When I was younger, I had a fascination with those Barbie dream houses. I never wanted the dolls, only the houses. I would fix them up with different types of play furniture and admire them. I knew back then I wanted to be a real estate agent, selling dream homes to clients. So, after I graduated high school, I enrolled in the community college to become a licensed Real Estate Agent while working at the campus bookstore. It took me a little longer to obtain my license due to Josh being arrested on drug charges, resulting in me taking on a second parttime job to help Momma and Daddy come up with his legal fees because I refused to let them put their house up for collateral. Then there was Greg getting shot by a rival gang and having to deal with his medical bills, but I didn’t let that stop me from pursuing my dream.

After I obtained my license, I spent the next couple years after building my resume and portfolio which ended up landing me with one of the most prestigious companies in the city of Chicago. Being a part of The Imperial Real Estate Firm is what everyone who wants to become an agent in the city hopes to be hired on by and I got my chance.

Over the next four years, I was excelling in my career, but still at home helping my parents. Josh and Greg began to resent my success by calling me bougie and stuck up because I was trying to better my life to move out of the Roseland area. I didn’t just dream about selling beautiful houses and condos, shit I wanted one too and if that made me bougie or stuck up, then so be it.

I remember one day a co-worker of mine called, stating she had come down with the flu and wouldn’t be able to show some properties to a potential client. She asked if I would like to take the sale. I didn’t have any showings that day, so I told her I would take it. She emailed over the prospective properties as well as the client’s information. With only one hour before I had to meet with the client downtown, I hurriedly got dressed, then zoomed down the expressway.

As I stepped into the condominium building, there was only the front desk clerk and a gentleman, standing towards the entry. My legs ceased all movement as I took the gentleman it. He had to be the finest man I had ever seen in my life. He was tall, I’d say around six foot or a little more compared to my five-foot-seven height. He had dark brown hair that was tapered on the sides leading into his sideburns and the top was longer and pulled back into a manbun, but what really intrigued me was the gray hair in his beard and sideburns, because he looked like he was around my age, maybe a year or two older. There were none in his connecting mustache. He was dressed in a tailored suit with a white dress shirt underneath and no tie. The first three buttons were undone, showing his sparsely haired chest.

Willing my legs to finally move, I made my way towards him. Intense green eyes watched me as I approached and as I reached him, I threw my insta-lust for him out the door and put on my professionalism.

I know when a man is trying to get at me, and after that first condo showing, that is what Xander Andino was up too. I played along with his little game and showed him the next properties, knowing we would end up back at the first one. He showed no interest in the others, so I knew it was only a ploy to fill up my time by asking me questions about myself, my career, and my family. To be honest, I didn’t mind because for some reason I liked the attention he was giving me. Most of the guys I dated in the past never really asked the right questions Xander had, but at the same time, I knew this was business and had to stay that way...or so I thought.

He ended up buying the first condo we started off with and after he talked me into accompanying him to look at furniture. I thought our business was done, that is until he showed up at my job after he had lunch delivered, poor Norman. After that first exchange between him and Xander, he wouldn’t even eat lunch with me afterwards.

I learned early on, Xander was not one to take no for an answer. Whether I told him not to send lunch or show up for lunch, he was there. His assertiveness and attention began to wear me down. Eventually he took me around his family, Balthazar, Alistair, Hendrix, and Frankie and I must say, seeing the five of them together raised all kinds of red flags to me. They reminded me of the old gangster movies I watched back in the day from the way they moved, the way they watched everyone around them, to the way they would talk in hushed tones. It was something I was used to with my brothers but their shit was on a whole level.

One night while chilling at the condo, Xander and I were lying on the couch watching a movie. I was sprawled across his chest and he had one arm behind his head and one hand on my back. I asked him, “Xander, are you guys affiliated?”

I felt him stiffen under me, but he replied, “What do you mean?”

Sitting up to face him, I said, “Affiliated, as in are you into some illegal shit?”

Xander removed his arm from behind his head, placing it on mine, then replied, “I will never lie to you, Sabre. I am a part of the Greek Mafia. We don’t deal with drugs but mostly arms trade and gaming houses. If we have a problem with rivals, it’s because they want to take over our territory, but I can show and prove to you I have legal businesses as well.”

I didn’t say anything else as I laid my head back on his chest. Who was I to judge him on his business dealings? Hell, my brothers were drug dealers, so as long as it didn’t affect me and my career, do you boo.

Our relationship took off after that. If Xander wasn’t spending the night at my house, I was staying at his condo. He used to push for me to move in with him, but I liked having my own space, which came in handy when we would argue about my family.

“Can’t you see that they are using you?” he ranted one night at his condo.

We were sitting at his dining room table having dinner, when I brought up an incident that happened earlier in the day which resulted in us arguing. I had told him about my mother getting one over on me when she called to say she and my father couldn’t pay their mortgage that month. Of course, I didn’t want them to get behind on their payments, because it had happened in the past and I ended up paying an enormous amount of money to keep their house from being foreclosed on. So, when she asked for the fifteen hundred dollars, I went to the bank and withdrew it, then took it to her, only to find out later, she had given the money to Greg to pay off a warrant so his ass wouldn’t go to jail.

“Xander, I get what you’re saying, but it’s done now. The money is gone, there is nothing I can do about it,” I said, dropping my fork on the table, then sitting back in my chair.

Xander twisted his face as he leaned forward. “Yes, there is something you can do about it. Go to Greg and get your fucking money back. I am so sick and tired of them doing this to you! When are you going to realize your family only sees you as a cash cow and as long as you keep giving them your hard earned money, eventually they are going to suck you dry?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Watch what you say about my family, Xander.”

---