Page 54 of Betraying Family Vows
Tears blur my vision.
"I wanted to believe that maybe..." I choke. "That maybe it wasn't all true. That you weren't…."
I stop and turn away, pressing my fists to my temples. Even I am surprised by my own level of delusion. That I fucked him really thinking there was a chance he had nothing to do with it. That John G. lied. But no, not about that anyhow.
"Athena," he says, but I don't look at him.
"Athena, look at me. Now."
I stop and turn back to him. "What?"
"He killed my father, or had him killed anyhow."
I swallow hard and fully turn to him.
"What are you talking about?"
"Did your friends not tell you that?"
I shake my head and wipe my tears away. "No, I didn't?—"
"My father was killed. Murdered. Here in Greece. My brothers and I, we started looking into it, trying to figure out who did it," he says and gets up. He comes over to me and sits. "And it led us to your father."
"Are you sure it was him? That he was even involved?"
Dimitri nods. "Yes. He admitted to it. But," Dimitri sighs, his hand moving to brush hair from my face with surprising gentleness. "Cosmo Kouris was a puppet, Athena. There was someone above him, someone who pressured him, used him, to have my father killed." His eyes are intense in the firelight. "Someone called 'S.' He's the one who ordered the hit and made Cosmo have my father murdered. And I'm sure the same people who recruited you, who tried to kill us at the gas station, they work for this 'S' person too."
"How do you know this?"
"Your father had an encrypted phone on him, with recent calls to and from an "S" contact, but we don't know who that is yet."
I stare at him, trying to process this. "Are you lying? Trying to confuse me?"
"Why would I lie now? After everything?" His hand drops from my face. "Think about it. Those men at the gas station, I know you recognized them. They weren't trying to rescue you. They were shooting at you too."
His eyes narrow.
"You still think I'm the monster here?"
I stare at him.
Part of me wants to say yes, but something inside me is breaking. All the lies I'd believed are cracking.
My mind races, remembering the bullets that shattered the windshield around me. The man who aimed directly at me before Dimitri shot him.
"I'm being 100 percent honest with you, and since we're being honest now," he pauses and leans forward slightly, "who was John G.?"
The name twists in my gut.
"He's the one who gave me everything about you. The photos. The report. Promising everything he gave me was the truth."
I shake my head in disappointment with myself.
"And he's one of the men you killed at the gas station."
He nods. "I kind of had a feeling that may be the case."
"Why me?" My voice cracks. "I never did anything to anyone. I mean, I don't even know how they knew I was his daughter orhow they figured they could use my mom's death to trick me, knowing I would want to do it for her. Not him alone."
