Page 9 (2/2)

Aris is so different fro eyes, and permanent scowls

Ezio Demetriou and I could pass for brothers rather than father and son It’s Aris who stands out with his golden skin, light brown hair, and playful brown eyes He is soft to our hard War Aris is my mother made over, much to my father’s disappointment

“Sir,” Niles starts unwisely

I sear hilare “You are here to listen, fíle” Friend

Aris snorts, earning a sharp look from our father We all know Niles is no friend

Motioning with a quick flick of ers, two of my most trusted men approach from the shadows of the rooh weapons to take out a sest , cruel All it takes is one nod ofNiles, the skoulíki from Thessaloniki, to the kelári for a proper punishment A punishment extracted with his blood Hein my eyes because he does what they all do

Spews more bullshit

“I canAdrian and Basil warily “I was in a bad place Everything is better now Think of it as a loan”

Ignoring him, I walk over to the table where the expensive bottle of ouzo sits and refill ers’ worth of the clear liquor into the glass of ice and then splash in so to mix ater, the ouzo becoive the tu it back down

“Enaout my hand

Basil pulls a sharp Benchmade Nimravus knife from inside his jacket At just four and a half inches, it’s se Niles knows this because he starts shaking his head

“No, Kostas, listen,” he pleads “It was all part of races with the Demetriou name”

I take the knife from Basil and study the pointy tip of the blade “Explain how you taking our taxes and keeping thee into the ports, gets you into good graces with us” I dart aze to my brother “Aris may be the nu isn’t adding up”