Truths and Lies Duet

Me: I miss you even when you piss me the fuck off.

I smirk, imagining the way her nostrils will flare and her blue eyes will darken with anger.

“The wind is fucking horrible,” Aris calls out as he strides into the dining room looking disheveled. “Tropical storm coming through?”

He and Father discuss the weather while I stare at my phone. The servant brings out a plate of lunch for Aris. After ten or fifteen minutes of them gossiping about the weather like two old fucking men, I let out a huff and set my phone down. My gaze finds Aris and I notice his bitch literally got her claws into him. His neck is red where she scratched him. Selene is a skank, but Aris seems quite taken by her. When he catches me staring, he flashes me a lazy grin.

“Where’s Niles?” Father demands, dragging my attention his way.

I grit my teeth. For someone who has to have a nurse twenty-four-seven, he sure is a demanding motherfucker. “He’s hiding like the rat he is.”

Aris snorts. “His son sure as hell isn’t.”

Father lifts a brow at me in question. “Phoenix sniffing around?”

“I married his sister. It’s not unheard of for annoying brothers to stick their noses where they don’t belong.” I level Aris with a glare that makes him bark out a laugh.

“Can we shake out information from him?” Father asks, his shrewd eyes narrowing at me.

“He doesn’t know anything,” I grit out.

Father blinks at me before shaking his head. “He does. And you could get it out of him. But you won’t. Why is that, my son?”

“Father, you’re out of line.”

“Me?” He scoffs. “You’re the one acting like a piece of ass is more important than this family.”

“Enough!” I roar, slamming my fist down on the table. “She is my wife. And just like you respected my mother, I will respect her. He’s her brother. I’m not going to torture answers out of him. We’ll find Niles another fucking way.”

Aris smirks as he watches our exchange.

“Talia is a distraction. She makes you soft,” Father growls. “You’re not fit to lead.”

I rise from my seat and sneer at him, motioning at his wheelchair and the fucking salmon-colored afghan blanket in his lap. “Too bad you don’t make those decisions anymore.”

“Kostas Angelo Demetriou!” Father bellows, but I’m already storming away from him.

Father can meddle all he wants, but I know what the hell I’m doing. I have men all over sniffing out Phoenix’s moves, hunting for Niles, and following every Galani roach left all over Crete. Just because I don’t blab to my brother or my father every damn time I do something doesn’t mean I don’t spend all goddamn day piecing together the puzzle that is my life.

I climb into my Maserati and zip down the streets, anger buzzing through my veins. By the time I reach the hotel, it’s ten minutes after when Talia gets out of class. Her not texting me back means she’s super pissed. I shut off the car and dial a local flower delivery company. Women like flowers and Talia is no exception. Once the flowers are ordered, I text her again.

Me: I’m sorry, zoí mou.

I’m still staring at my phone when Tadd calls.

“Boss,” he grunts out, his breathing heavy. “We’ve got a problem.”

A chill races down my spine.

“What kind of problem?” I growl.

He curses. “A big one.”

“Where. Is. My. Wife?”

A long pause.

“We don’t know. She left the auditorium to go to the bathroom and never came back.”

I pull up the tracker I have on her phone. “It shows she’s on campus. She’s pissed, Tadd. We fought. Find her ass wherever she is hiding and call me. Check the campus coffee shop or the library. I’m on my way.”

Without wasting a second, I haul ass to her school and dial Aris.

“Hey,” he grunts in greeting.

“You heard from Talia?” I demand, pressing my foot down on the accelerator.

“Not since dinner the other night with Selene. Why? She pissed at you again?”

I don’t have time for his taunting shit.

“Can you call her and see if she answers?”

He sobers up. “Is she missing?”

“Went to the bathroom and never came back.”

“Fuck,” he hisses. “She wouldn’t just leave. Phoenix?”

I knew adding him as an approved person was a bad idea. “I don’t know. Call him. Find him.”

We hang up, and I try dialing her number. It rings and rings. Next, I call Adrian and send him to the airport since that’s where she first ran off to.

Fuck.

As soon as I pull into the parking lot, I throw my car into park and take off running toward the building. Tadd greets me with a worried expression. Michael is nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Michael?” I demand.

“Checking the school again.”

“And you’re sitting out here with your thumb up your ass?”

He frowns. “I was waiting for you.”