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I walk around the island with the certainty that it all belongs to me now.

Every bit of this land, wherever my eyes reach and far beyond—it's all mine.

It was painstaking work.

It took me years to assemble everything, but the final part of the promise I made to my rescuer is fulfilled: Leandros Argyros has little left besides the clothes on his body.

Every time I broke some of his pride, it was like balm to the open wounds inside me, but unfortunately, that relief won't last.

I can't even take pleasure in his downfall.

Not that I intend to stop.

There's still a long way to go, but tomorrow night, at last, I'll be able to see his agony up close.

Once, I watched a documentary about a father who hunted down and exterminated his daughter's murderer. I'm not used to watching television, but this particular story fascinated me because he was tireless. He defied the laws of two countries, fought the system for years, and when the law wasn't enough, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

He went on trial for his vengeance, and when the reporter interviewed him the day before the jury's decision, he asked him if he felt at peace with the death of his enemy.

He looked at the cameras with the emptiest eyes I had ever seen and said that nothing would ever bring her back.

And this is a truth that only those who have been robbed of what is most precious to them could understand.

Nothing will bring my family back to life.

My sister will never have the opportunity to grow up like Leandros’s children did. My father will never be able to walk the streets of our old island again with me on the back of his bicycle, smiling and greeting his friends.

I sit on the Blue Rock and look out to sea. A lot has happened in the last eighteen years, and one of the worst events has been the disappearance of my cousin Orien, Aristeu’s eldest son. It was on the beach below that he was last seen alongside Theodoro, the only male descendant of the Argyroses.

I always knew that their friendship wouldn't work out and that his closeness to Theodoro would bring problems.

Over the year I lived here, I saw it all happen. They loved each other, and that only increased as they grew older. There was no way Leandros would dismiss it and set it aside.

And now, seven years after he disappeared without a trace, I'm still looking for answers.

At first, Aristeu was na?ve enough to believe that Orien had left because he wanted to start life elsewhere. Even letters and phone messages arrived as if they’d been sent by Orien.

Since there isn't a credulous bone in my body, unlike Aristeu, it didn't take me more than half an hour to discover that the messages were fake—or rather, that nothing could prove they came from the boy.

Unfortunately, I think I know what happened.

I don't feel guilty. There was nothing I could have done .

Even after I managed to justify my wealth, after graduating from college and starting to earn money—they had no idea of the inheritance I had received from my rescuer—my relatives didn't want to leave the island.

I had a plan and couldn't afford to waver.

I offered protection, but they ignored my pleas to leave.

At least Milena was safe. As if the gods had decided to intercede on our behalf, she fell in love with a foreigner who was here on vacation and ended up moving to southern Italy.

So, having nothing else I could do about Aristeu and his son, I went ahead with my initial plan.

Even after Orien disappeared, I kept my cool and didn't confront Leandros. I investigated him and took silent action, as usual.

In order to destroy the old Argyros, I needed to increase my fortune first. Although the inheritance was very helpful, being a millionaire was not enough. Much more would be needed.

When I arrived in America, I put my revenge to sleep and worked hard, tirelessly, to increase my wealth. I had won a scholarship to play basketball at a university in the United States, and for all intents and purposes, I was just a geek. A foreign student who was good at sports. Between studying and practicing for competitions, I worked on my operating system.

Today I have the world at my feet. My company is the most powerful company in the United States when it comes to technology. In addition to my initial operating system, which was revolutionary in itself, we work mainly in the area of information security. Last year, I was listed by Forbes as one of the ten richest men under forty and the most important CEO in the telecommunications industry.

My analytical engineering mind helped me plan and conquer, but it was hate that never let me give up.

Now, finally, I'm about to begin my reckoning with Leandros.

I still don't know what I'll do about the children.

If I were to deal with it on an eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth basis, I'd destroy them along with Leandros, but I don't hurt women—although, at this moment, only Elina is still living on the island. All the others are already married and have spread to other European countries .

As for Theodoro, it all depends on what he tells me tomorrow.

He's fallen into my trap of coming to visit Aristeu in the hospital, and I hope he'll give me the answers I need about Orien.

I mean, my uncle is really sick, but he doesn't need any help from the Argyroses. He's been battling cancer for three years, and finally, when it was determined he needed chemotherapy, he agreed to leave the island.

I know it was Elina who alerted Theodoro to his illness. All the phones in the house are tapped. After she called her brother, I just had to sit and wait for him to look for me, since Theodoro, like myself, never came back here.

I could have checked on him before, of course. In fact, I could have confronted him, because checking on the man is something I already did.

I have all the information I need about the Argyros family. Father, mother, and children.

But my plan was carefully crafted.

One wrong move and I will risk revealing who I am, because my death wish has always been on the surface, an impulse controlled at great cost.

Of course, he was aware that my mother wasn’t Greek. She's always drawn attention because of her almost white hair, but I can't be sure that he knew she was Scandinavian.

Did he even realize that Odin is a Norse name?

The bastard's arrogance will be responsible for his end.

I would like to get inside his mind and find out what he felt when he learned that the island now belongs to me—his servant's nephew. And I did more than that: I pulled down the house where Aristeu lived with his family and built an actual mansion on that part of the land.

The entire island belonged to Leandros, but there was a private territory on it, like a small fortress, with private beaches and no access to tourists. Everything is mine now.

The house I've built is vastly bigger than the Argyroses' place, but this is the first time I've set foot back here in nearly two decades.

At first, he didn’t know who was hoarding his entire estate, but now he does.

He's been investigating me .

Or rather, he began to investigate the person who was destroying him.

Initially, that did not hinder my actions, since I made him lose money in several areas. After all, I bought his debts. I acted calmly and patiently until everything he owned was in my hands.

Now, all I need is confirmation concerning what happened to my cousin. Theodoro will have to give me answers. He was the last person to see Orien alive. After our conversation tomorrow, I'll bring the damn Argyros to his knees.

What I have planned for the party is just the beginning of the end.

He has nowhere else to run.

What does she think she's doing?

I should shut down the computer right away. That's not why I had the cameras installed.

But I happen to be mesmerized by that unique woman. So instead of pulling away, I zoom in on the image and lean back in my leather chair to get a better look at it.

The cameras are good, state-of-the-art, so I have access to every detail; even a sigh would be audible, since that's what they were designed for: to get more information against Leandros Argyros.

Elina wears a long, simple, silk nightgown that doesn't look like it was bought with any intent to seduce, but it still looks delicious.

Of course, I’ve followed her over the years, as well as all the Argyroses.

She’s always intrigued me. Ever since that meeting on the beach, when she was just a little girl but still confronted me, Elina has aroused my curiosity.

I'd be a liar if I said I didn’t pay more attention to her than to her siblings.

She walks slowly into the library, almost as if she’s doing something illicit. Why would anyone need to be cautious inside their own home ?

Only the lamp is on, giving her sneaky night stroll a dreamlike atmosphere.

I like to watch people. I study them, find their weaknesses.

So far I haven't had to do this with a woman—act like a stalker—especially in such an intimate situation.

Why are you up at this hour, blondie?

After seeming to check if she's really alone, she spins her body across the room, as if dancing a waltz in her head. Her steps are light, smooth, barely touching the ground.

After perusing the shelves full of books, she goes to one of them and lets her fingers run along the hardcovers. She touches them slowly, as if she is caressing them, and as crazy as it sounds, that turns me on. I imagine those fingers moving down my abdomen, gliding until they find the right path to my cock.

How many lovers must she have had?

Elina has many suitors willing to make her their wife. Her father has been trying to marry her to one of them for years, but apparently he’s waiting for the best offer.

As far as I know, she has no intention of choosing a husband. Maybe she just wants to have fun with the poor people who fall into her web of seduction. Because if there's one thing you can't deny about Elina, it's that she's of unparalleled beauty.

I date women who border on perfection. Models, actresses.

Elina Argyros, however, has something I haven't found anywhere else. Her air of superiority—so much like her father's—and her chin always up makes me want to see her pride up close.

I don't know if the desire to tame her is due to the hatred I feel for her father. It might be, but I don't think so.

I got information about her other sisters, but they never aroused my interest.

It's just her.

Only the blonde one, who doesn't even look Greek, makes me eager to seduce her.

She finally chooses a thick, blue-covered book. I'd like to know what it is, but I can’t see the name. She takes it and walks over to a chaise longue near the window. To my surprise, all air of sophistication is lost. She sits up, crossing her legs under her like a little girl. Before opening the book, she turns it from side to side, observing every detail. Her gaze is adoring, and even against my will, I feel connected to her.

I'm crazy about books. Books and horses are the only things capable of arousing any emotion in me.

The goddess opens it, rests it on her lap, but I think it's too far away for her to be able to read it. Even so, she seems to follow the lines of what is written with one finger, like children do in elementary school, which intrigues me.

It doesn’t last long. Suddenly, something changes.

Her shoulders slump and she closes it, then tosses it away.

What happened?

She went from happy to stressed in a few minutes.

With her eyes closed, she lies down, which makes the nightgown stretch, molding to her perfect body.

She has big breasts, despite being thin, and I can’t help but imagine what it would be like to hold her like that. Kneel in front of her, lower the straps of her nightgown and taste her. Suck her until I hear her moans.

My dick reacts to the idea.

I've been away a long time.

Photographs are impersonal and have never done her beauty justice, but seeing her breathing, moving, makes me horny.

I'm not used to repressing my carnal desires. I love sex, and it's the only time I’m able to free myself completely from hate, focusing only on giving and feeling pleasure. I also have a voracious appetite. The woman who goes out with me has to be ready for what awaits her.

I look again at her beautiful face, which is like a painting and has turned gloomy, her small hands closed on either side of her body. Her mouth is compressed into a thin line, and her chest rises and falls, as if she’s trying to calm down.

I’m trying to piece the puzzle together in my mind when she covers her face with both hands, and by the movement of her shoulders, I know she's crying.

Few things surprise me in this life—I always expect the worst from human beings—but she has managed to leave me speechless .

What the hell is happening?

What was in that book that caused such a drastic change?

However, just as swiftly as it started, the crying ceases.

She recovers quickly, showing that she is a real Greek, and is now back to looking like the same cool blonde I've watched from afar for years.

She stands, with her usual queen-like posture. Her face is devoid of emotion. She bends down and picks up the book, no longer as if it were a sacred object but almost in disgust.

After replacing it on the shelf from where she took it, she leaves the library.

Intrigued, I go back to the scene and watch it again three times. In the end, I still don't have any clue what caused the change in her behavior.

If there's anything that can warm my blood, it's an enigma.

Perhaps, by focusing so much on Leandros, I missed something important.

The apple of his eye, the one I believe is his favorite daughter, is not just the shallow woman I judged. Elina Argyros is more complex than I thought.

And now I won't settle down until I unravel this.