Page 17 of Marcellus: House of Drakos

When Kalayna made it downstairs, Savannah was still standing beside the reception desk watching the receptionist check in various appointments.

When Savannah saw the beautiful black woman coming her way, she recognized her, from a photo Niko had in his office, immediately.

She stood erect as Kalayna walked up to her. “Hi.”

“Hello.”

Kalayna extended her hand. “I’m Kalayna Drakos. I understand you’re my brother’s secretary?”

“Yes, I’m Savannah Richardson. It’s so nice to mee you, Kalayna. Niko speaks very highly of you. But in full disclosure, I’m no longer his secretary.”

Her honesty was another feather in her cap as far as Kalayna was concerned. She motioned for Savannah to move further over and out of the eager ears of the receptionist. Once they were over near the ATM machines, she spoked again. “How may I help you, Miss Richardson?”

“I haven’t heard from your brother in over two weeks. Which is not like him at all. He calls me about everything and he always takes my calls and text messages. I’m very concerned about him.”

“And we appreciate your concern, we truly do. But Niko’s fine. We’ve literally just spoken with him.”

She seemed eager. “You did? What did he say?”

“He said he’s fine. He said he’s confused by your concern. He said you knew he was out of town taking care of that Saudi merger.”

Now Savannah was confused. “What Saudi merger? I didn’t know anything about any Saudi merger.

I mean I knew he was excited about a merger with some major company, and I wasn’t privy to which company he was seeking to merge with, but I absolutely assumed that company was from Europe, not the Middle East.”

“But you didn’t know that for a fact?”

Savannah had to admit that she didn’t. “No. I didn’t.”

“Well we do. He confirmed it.”

“Yes, but . . .” Savannah scrunched up her face.

Kalayna could see that she still wasn’t convinced. “I don’t understand why you won’t take yes for an answer, Miss Richardson. Niko is fine. He’s made that clear every time my oldest brother spoke with him, and he made it clear to the family just now. There’s truly nothing for you to worry about.”

But it was as if Kalayna had not said a word. “When you spoke with him, was he on a videocall? Did you see his face?”

Now Kalayna was beginning to see why her father was annoyed with her. “Yes, Miss Richardson, we saw his face. He’s fine.”

“But could you please phone him again and put him on video? If I see his face, his eyes, then I’ll leave it alone.”

Kalayna could not believe this woman. She wanted to tell her ass enough was enough, but that look in her eyes stopped her from totally dismissing her. This woman was genuinely concerned for Niko!

Although Kalayna knew she was wanted upstairs to handle their true family crisis, and she was too busy in her own right to be appeasing some fired secretary, and Niko was going to cuss her out for bothering him again, she knew that a black woman like Savannah didn’t show up all concerned about some white boy like Niko just for the hell of it. Kalayna called Niko’s phone.

To Savannah’s delight, Niko answered the call right away. But to her surprise, he answered with an attitude. “Why do you guys keep bothering me? I told you I’m fine! Why are you bothering me again, Kalayna?”

“Because your secretary keeps bothering us,” said Kalayna. “Could you please do a videocall just to satisfy her?”

“Why would I care about satisfying her? I fired her ass!”

Kalayna glanced at Savannah. She could see a sense of sadness come over her face as if she had never known Niko’s true colors.

Here she was all concerned for his well-being, even to the point of badgering his family over it, and he was speaking of her as if she meant nothing to him.

But maybe that tough love was the very thing this woman needed to move on with her life.

But when Savannah said, “Put him on videocall,” as if she was still undaunted, Kalayna shook her head. The woman needed undeniable proof. That was the only way, she realized, that she was going to ever let it be. “Just do it, Niko,” she said to her brother. “Show your face.”

There was more objections from Niko and then a pause, but then he came up on video again. “Satisfied?” he said to his kid sister. “Damn.”

Kalayna allowed Savannah to get a good look at him too. “Are you truly okay, Niko?” Savannah asked him.

Although the pause was so slight that Kalayna didn’t catch it, Savannah caught it.

She knew the young man staring back at her better than his own sister knew him.

But then he spoke up. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m sick and tired of telling everybody I’m fine.

I fired your ass because you wouldn’t let well enough alone.

Stop bothering my family and leave me alone! And I mean it!” Then he ended the call.

Savannah felt like a fool and Kalayna could see her embarrassment. Her heart went out to her. “You wasn’t wrong to check on him,” she said. “But as you can see, he doesn’t deserve your concern. He’s fine.”

“Yes I can see that,” Savannah said. “Thanks for letting me see him for myself.”

“No problem,” Kalayna said and smiled. “Have a good day, Miss Richardson,” she added, and left the lobby.

“Oh Miss Drakos?”

Kalayna rolled her eyes, but she turned and looked at her. “Yes?”

Savannah had thought to ask if her father was okay, but she knew that would be too intrusive. Those people were tired of her. “His father saw him on that videocall too, right?”

Kalayna thought that was an odd question. “Yes. Why would you ask that?”

“I’m sure he was worried about his son.”

Not all that worried, Kalayna wanted to say. “Have a nice day,” she said instead.

“You too,” Savannah said and Kalayna turned back around and briskly walked away.

Although Savannah left the building, she still couldn’t shake that unshakable feeling that despite what she just saw, and the vile words he had just spoken to her, something was wrong with Niko.