Page 29 of Before Broken Vows

We look at each other for a moment, and despite me wanting to ask where it came from or who gave it to her, my mind, or my pride, won't let me.

But I guess that's not what this moment is about.

This moment is about something else.

Loss.

Distance.

The gaping hole of everything I never knew because she left.

She was the first person I ever dated long-term. Before then I really felt just like a second-in-command after my brother. Someone meant for enforcing the rules of our mafia legacy. She helped me realize there was more.

I step back and pour myself a coffee.

"I've got a busy day today," I say, taking a sip. As I go to leave, I stop. "I know I didn't give you a chance to get anything from the hotel you were at. Let Elena know what you need. You don't have to keep wearing Calli's clothes."

She nods, lips tight. "Thank you. I didn't bring anything worth keeping anyhow."

I don't look at her again as I leave the kitchen.

But I feel her watching me.

And I know she remembers everything.

Just like I do.

11

THEO

Ileave the kitchen with my coffee and head straight to the office.

My pulse hasn't settled. Not since I touched her scar and she looked at me like that, with a half-guarded, half-exposed look. Like I might see everything she'd tried to bury.

When I get into the office, I vow to dive right into work. I've got a lot to do anyway, especially with the pickup. And thinking of creative ways to pull intel out of someone is better than whatever the fuck I felt in that kitchen, because I can control it. It's not unpredictable.

I settle into the leather chair behind my desk, the same one I've sat in a thousand times. The room feels colder today. Bigger. Or maybe I'm just too aware of how empty everything feels the second she's near and then gone again.

Work. You need fucking work, I think to myself.

The files on Xanos are spread across my desk. Last night I was sent his client list. It includes minor politicians, a few businessmen with questionable ties, some import-exportcompanies that could be fronts, but overall it's standard shit for a lawyer in Athens.

Nothing screams, he's the middleman between God knows who and the Athenian Warriors.

I pull out the photos my men took. Xanos in his BMW. Xanos at a café with a blonde woman. Xanos entering a high-rise apartment building where he keeps a mistress. Boring, predictable, pathetic.

Today that changes. Today he's going to tell me every fucking thing he knows.

I text Ares letting him know I'm moving forward and I'll be in touch. I make three more calls about shipments coming into the port this week.

Work. Just work.

But my mind keeps circling back to her. To the scar. How'd she get it? Did someone hurt her?

I shake my head and force myself to read reports about fuel prices and customs officials.

Two hours pass. Three. My phone buzzes.