Page 63 of Betraying Family Vows
I blink.
Eleni.
It hits me all at once. The small cross tattooed on his neck, it has her name.
"She was beautiful," I say. "You look like her. Around the eyes."
He doesn't speak for a moment. Just stares up at the portrait.
"The hardest day of my life was watching her leave this world," he says and turns to me. "Breast cancer. Took her fast. She didn't want treatment. Said it was her body, her choice. We respected that at the time. Now..." he pauses and shakes his head, "Maybe we should have pushed her more. I don't know. None of us were ever the same after she died."
Something cracks inside me at the rawness of his words.
I think of my own mother, tragic in her own way. How different would my life have been if she'd stayed? If she'd been stronger than her grief?
"I'm sorry," I say, because there's nothing else to say.
Dimitri shrugs, the moment of openness passing. "This way," he says, starting up the stairs. "You need to get cleaned up."
I follow him up and down a hallway and into a bedroom that feels both luxurious and unused, a guest room, clearly, with its pristine bedding and lack of any personal touches.
"Shower's through there," he says, nodding toward a door. "I'll find you something to wear from Calli's closet. She won't miss it."
"You sure your sister won't mind? I mean, I don't want to give any of your siblings any more ammo to hate me."
He smiles. "No, it's fine. I'll be just down the hall. I need to shower too. And call my brothers."
I wonder what he'll tell them. That he's bringing home a woman who tried to kill him? That he's protecting the daughter of the man who helped murder their father?
Maybe I can do something, prove my worth before they meet me.
"Dimitri," I call before he can leave. He pauses in the doorway, his broad shoulders filling the frame. "Was there anything you took from my father's house after you... after what happened?"
His eyes narrow slightly. "Yes. A phone, some papers. A computer."
I swallow hard. "Could I see them? Maybe I can help. I spent a few summers working as a paid intern for his Spartan Holding company. It was his way of giving me money I guess. He hardly spoke to me in person while there, but I know a little about things."
He studies me for a long moment, assessing. I hold my breath.
"Okay," he says finally. "I stashed them here. There's nothing on there we've already looked but I'll get them while you're showering."
I nod and smile, and he shuts the door behind him, leaving me alone in the silent room.
The bathroom is all marble and spotless glass. I turn on the shower, letting steam fill the space while I peel off my filthy clothes.
My reflection in the mirror is a stranger's; wild-eyed, bruised, with tangled hair and blood that isn't mine dried on my skin.
I step under the hot water and watch as dirt and blood swirl down the drain. I grab the soap and scrub until my skin feels raw, as if I could wash away the last few days, the revelations, the betrayal, the violence.
My mind goes over everything, what I thought, what Dimitri told me about Cosmo, and then suddenly, I start crying.
Not for my father, the man who never claimed me, who left my mother to waste away in luxurious isolation. And not for myself and all I've lost.
I cry for her.
For Isadora, my mother, who died believing in a lie.
Who spent her life loving a man who kept her hidden away like a shameful secret, when he was the one carrying terrible secrets. Who taught me that beauty was power because she didn't know any other kind.
