Page 157 of Safe and Sound

As my mind whirled with out-of-control thoughts, I couldn’t help focusing on one of them. “My mother fell in love with someone in the Tzavaras mafia, didn’t she?”

While Mom’s attention went to the portrait over the mantle, Dad nodded. “Aristotle had two sons–Dimitrios and Christos. The oldest, Dimitrios, was always too kind for his family and their business. He truly had a heart of gold, which in the mafia is a weakness. Christos coveted his role. When Aristotle was taken out by the Malgieri’s from Sicily, Dimitrios automatically assumed the position as the head of the family. Even though he was the rightful heir, his ascension angered Christos. So much so he started a war against his own family.”

“That’s awful,” I remarked.

“It truly was,” Dad replied. “We lost so many of our own family as well as those in the Trakos family.

“Did my father die in the war and leave my mother pregnant?”

Mom and Dad exchanged glances. Several long moments passed. Dare shifted closer to me on the sofa before taking my hand in his.

As a revelation hit me, I sucked in a breath. I remembered the other night when Mom was talking to me about the necklace. A name ricocheted through my mind.

After taking off his glasses, Dad rubbed what must’ve been tears from his eyes. Then he pinned me with an agonized gaze. “Your father was Dimitrios Trakos.”

As I gasped, my hand jerked out of Dare’s to cover my mouth. Next to me, Dare muttered, “Fuck.”

“Was?” I questioned. “He’s dead?”

“Yes, he was murdered by Christos,” Dare answered. At what must’ve been my questioning look, he replied, “I know the history of all the mafia families.”

“He was just twenty-seven,” Dad lamented sadly.

I stared down at my hands. I would never know my biological father. He had been taken from me by his own brother. I couldn’t imagine what kind of man my uncle was to do such a thing.

“And my mother? Was she so grief-stricken that she killed herself?”

“Christos ambushed the car that Dimitrios and your mother were riding in. She was shot and died at the scene.”

Creasing my brows, I tried processing all the information that had just been thrown at me. “Did he fail in killing me as well because I’d already been born?”

Turmoil clenched my stomach when tears began overflowing Mom’s cheeks. Glancing over to Dad, I said, “What happened?”

Dad once again began to pace in front of the fireplace. “Despite Thea not coming from wealth or being part of the mafia world, Dimitrios married her in a secret ceremony shortly before they were killed. He wanted his child to be legitimized so he could have an heir. The day they were killed your mother hadgone into labor. They were on the way to the hospital when they were ambushed.”

As Mom silently sobbed, Dad wiped his own tears from his eyes. “Since we worked for the family, we heard of the assassination the moment it happened. Your brothers and I raced to the scene. When we got there, your father was gone, but Thea…”

He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing. “She was barely alive. The last thing she said to me was to save you.”

Jolting back, I gasped in horror. “You….” I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. It was too horrible to imagine.

Dad’s anguished expression broke my heart. “I didn’t want to. I knew it would kill her when I did. But it was her dying wish. How could I possibly tell her no?”

I couldn’t imagine what he went through at that moment. To have his only daughter dying in front of him and begging him to save her child. I tried to imagine if it had been Piper. I knew I would do anything in the world for her, even that.

“But you were a soldier and a bodyguard. How did you possibly know how to do that?”

“I was a medic in the Greek army. I knew enough to get by.”

“Jaysus,” Dare murmured at my side.

Tears welled in Dad’s eyes. “I never expected you to live. I’ll never forget when I cleared your mouth of fluid and you began to cry. Even though she was gone, I swear a smile came over your mother’s lips.”

“Oh Dad,” I murmured as tears streamed down my cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Ava.”

As I rose off the couch, I shook my head. Wrapping my arms around him, I said, “Don’t be sorry. You saved my life.”

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