Page 94 of Beyond Enemy Vows
I sit up sharply, alarm shooting through me. "About what he did?"
"No." His voice is hard. "Never reveal your hand. Not unless you're ready to act or lose everything."
"So what will you tell him?"
"About the baby. About you. About us."
The thought sends ice through my veins. Stavros Petrou, the man who murdered my father, learning about his grandchild. The idea is both terrifying and surreal.
"And what will he do?" I ask.
He sighs and sits up. "I don't know. My father doesn't react, he calculates. He's probably known we've been seeing each other longer than I know about. I'm sure he's already working out how to use it. Or how to erase it."
"He knows about us?"
"Yes, but I didn't think it mattered. Him just being upset to be upset. I didn't care, but with everything, now I do and now I know why he had an interest in it."
"No matter what, my brothers will still want him…" I trail off, unable to finish the sentence.
"I know. That's the part I haven't figured out yet. But I will. I meant what I said. I hate him. But he's dangerous, Calli. He'll have planned whatever this is for years. And if your brothers go in blind," he pauses, "like I told Theo, he won't go down without taking as many people with him as he can."
My eyes tear up. "My brothers will never stop coming for him. Especially Ares."
Niko immediately pulls me into his arms. "Hey, hey. Come here."
I bury my face against his neck as the first tears fall. "I'm scared, Niko. I'm so scared."
His arms tighten around me. "I know, orea mou. I know."
"What if it all goes wrong?" My voice breaks. "What if someone gets hurt? What if?—"
"Shhh." His lips press against my head. "Don't think about the what-ifs. We'll deal with each problem as it comes."
I pull back just enough to look at him, wiping my tears with the back of my hand. "How can you be so calm?"
He shrugs. "Look, it won't be you," he says, rubbing my cheek. "Or me. Or your brothers. We're going to figure this out, even if I have to be the one who ends him myself."
I want to believe him. That this will just all be okay.
I really do.
But as I lay back down on him, wrapped in his arms, something dark twists inside me. A seed of certainty. An echo of the vow I made to Niko.
I'll do whatever it takes.
Even things I've never done before.
Even things I swore I couldn't do.
And maybe, in order to keep everyone safe, my role in this isn't what I thought it was.
Maybe it's bigger.
Darker.
Maybe I'm not just the girl in love with the enemy.
Maybe I'm the one who has to end this.
