Page 13 of Secrets, Lies and Love

I’m only partially lying. That was the original promise, before the tragedy happened. Now, I’ll remain here because I need to keep my word.

“Is it working? From what I saw, you were carrying a suitcase with you.”

I think about the hellish days I’ve been through since I arrived and sigh, discouraged. “It isn’t, but I don’t intend to give up.” It’s a lie, because in fact I was close to giving up. “I’m looking for a job.”

This time when my eyes fill with tears, it’s not an act, it’s anguish that nothing has worked since I set foot in New York, starting with my stupid aivety in believing that I could just approach the Greek and tell my story and everything would be fine.

“What kind of job?”

I take a deep breath. It’s now or never. I will need to be the best actress in the world. “Nanny. I read in a report that New York is one of the states that pays the best per hour. I lovechildren, and I have taken care of many in my city. That would be the perfect job for me.”

For a moment, he looks at me with such a stern expression that I almost shift in the bed, in agony at the thought that I might have ruined everything.

Gosh, did I get ahead of myself?

“Children of what age?” he asks, and my heart starts beating again.

“Babies, basically, or up to three years old I can handle,” I say, forcing a smile.

Dionysus

CHAPTER SEVEN

“That’s it?”

I’m speaking to my cousin Odin on the phone. He’s just told me everything he discovered about Harper Cecily.

“Yup. I didn’t believe it when I saw it either, but as I’m obsessed, I started researching all over again. The story of the girl’s life is practically a Cinderella retelling: dead father, raised by a stepmother who hates her and a half-sister who is worthless.”

“How do you even know about the dynamics within her family?”

He doesn’t respond, and I shake my head. Sometimes I forget who I’m talking to. Odin doesn’t follow laws or social conventions when someone important to him is at risk.

“As I was saying, her relatives, the ones that remain, are worthless. Your Harper is a princess in need of saving, but without the bonus of having found Prince Charming. As he doesn’t exist, just a little more suffering and she’ll become a saint, because the kid doesn’t even have a traffic ticket on herrecord. Actually, she’s not a kid—she is twenty-three years old. Young but technically an adult.”

“She’s not ‘mine’ at all. We were placed in each other’s lives by chance. And since when do you know anything about fairy tales?”

“I know them all, without exception. If I had to choose a husband for my daughter, a prince wouldn’t be a bad deal, although I would have a little chat with him first.”

Against all odds after the shitty day I had yesterday, I smile. I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the poor candidate for Odin’s son-in-law.

“Elina will balance you out. Your wife sees the best in everyone, which is incredible given the toxic family she comes from.”

“Elina is my angel,” he says, and not for the first time, I wonder how someone can be so enchanted by a partner. I have never experienced anything even close to this.

Then I remember my brother Zeus, once steadfast in his self-sufficiency and now completely under Madison’s spell.

“Speaking of fairy tales, wait for your first girl to be born,” he continues. “Then we’ll see how fast you know them all by heart.”

“I’m not having any more children. Joseph will be my only heir.”

“You never know. Zeus also seemed poised to enter into a marriage of convenience without any chance of children in the future, yet there he is with a pregnant girlfriend.”

“That’s different. My brother and Madison were brought together by the hand of fate. I have no intention of finding anyone to have a serious relationship with.”

“You are all stubborn.”

“And you’re becoming a matchmaker.”

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