Page 108 of Beneath Scarred Vows

George looks at the three Kastaris brothers, and I notice his shoulders drop. He seems relaxed. "Your father was a good man. But he had many enemies. I wasn't one of them," he says and steps closer to Ares, looking directly into his eyes. "So no, I didn't kill your father. I wouldn't do something like that."

I study George's face, searching for signs that he's lying. Sweat, nervous glances, ticks, something—anything—but there's nothing. He doesn't seem to be hiding anything.

Theo puts his hand on Ares's shoulder and steps forward. "George, why then has one of your own men claimed to have heard you order it?"

George doesn't turn away from looking at Ares. "I don't know. Tell me his name and I'll remove him off the face of this earth for lying tonight."

"I don't know if I believe you," Ares says as his hand moves to his gun. I can see the rage in his eyes, the blind revenge starting to creep in and overthrow his logic and push forward the desire to just make someone—anyone—pay.

"If he's lying, then why hasn't he tried to kill us yet?" I say out loud, forcing the words out of my chest. "I mean, shit, why even meet with us, huh?"

"Because of you," Dimitri says.

"Come on, he knew there was more. He knew this was going to happen. Ares, even you can admit that," I say.

"Katerina, you've become quite the diplomat," George says. "But it's true. What do you have, Ares? What proof? The port? Huh? Here," he says and reaches into his pocket.

Dimitri pulls out his gun, followed by Theo and everyone surrounding us.

"Calm the fuck down!" George yells to his men as he pulls out a piece of paper.

"Lower your guns," Ares commands.

"Here, look at this," George says and hands Ares the paper.

Ares finally breaks his gaze with George and looks down and unfolds it.

"What is it?" Theo asks.

Ares doesn't respond—he just reads it, then takes a step back.

"You think your father's murder ends with me? You're not ready for what's coming," he says and rubs his face. "And I don't think I am either."

Ares looks at him and then hands the note to Theo.

"When did he give this to you?"

"About three months before he died. He was in town with Calli and asked to meet with me. I was surprised. Me and your father, we weren't friends per se, but we handled business with respect and we respected one another."

"Is this real?" Theo asks Ares as Dimitri rips the paper out of Theo's hand.

"That's his handwriting and signature. I'm sure of it," Ares says.

"Yeah, this is Dad's for sure," Dimitri says. "Fuck. This is fucking crazy."

Now I desperately want to know what the letter says, but I can't just ask. I do kind of feel a bit of relief. It seems my gut was right—George couldn't have done this.

"Did he tell you why he wanted this?" Ares asks, his posture now relaxing too, thank God.

George shakes his head from side to side. "No. Just that he was working on something but wasn't ready to tell the full story. But with the honor of the old ways, if anything happens to him, I should just follow the directions in that letter to help his family."

"Help us?" I blurt out, unable to hold the words back.

George turns to me. "Yes. I don't know how or why, but that's what he said to me and giving him my word, that's what I did," he says and turns back to Ares. "Honestly, I didn't think anything of it at the time. I mean, your father was respected by all the families and was fair with things. I never could have imagined something would happen to him."

"And he didn't mention what he was working on? Nothing?" Theo asks.

"No. Honestly, I was hoping this meeting would fill me in, but I don't think you know either. Dammit," George says and paces. "I don't know who to trust anymore. Everything's gone to shit with Vasilis's murder. Greece is unstable. Factions rising up, families' loyalties are being tested. It's a fucking mess."