Page 5

Dionysus

CHAPTER FIVE

Harper Cecily Bradley .

I read the paper again as soon as I leave the police station, where I accompanied my driver, together with our lawyers, so that he could give a statement.

With a few phone calls, I managed to prevent the incident from ending up in the newspapers. Apparently, the press thinks that my family’s daily life is a reality show , and no matter how secretive we are, they want to report anything and everything. It seems that the more discreet we are about our private lives, the more attention we attract, and that’s one of the reasons why I shield my son by any means I can.

After everything Sue told me about her ex-husband, the last thing I need is for one of that bastard’s relatives to come after my boy.

In fact, few people are aware that Joseph is not my biological son, and if it’s up to me, it will continue to be that way until he grows up and I can tell him about the adoption.

“Everything’s fine, right, sir?” Anderson asks before we get into the car together where Larry, Zeus’s driver, is waiting for us.

“Yes. Don’t worry.”

My older brother handed the footage over to our lawyers, and it was proven that the girl crossed right in front of the garage without paying attention to the exit of vehicles.

He gets in the front seat next to Larry, and I sit in the back. The car we were in today was taken for forensic examination, as the lawyer told me is the legal procedure. We don’t know when it will be released.

“Mr. Kostanidis . . .” Anderson begins.

“You don’t need to say anything. It wasn’t your fault. Your job is safe, and I will provide whatever care she needs.”

“Either way, the girl is so young . . . I’m feeling really bad.”

“Calm down. Tomorrow I’ll return to the hospital to find out more about her, and I will support her in whatever way is necessary.”

He finally seems to relax, and I do what I’ve been wanting to do since I found out what the girl’s name is: I call my cousin Odin.

“Dionysus, how is she?” he asks after the phone rings only twice.

My other older cousin, Christos, has also sent me a text, because for us, the problem of one is the problem of all. Boundaries of privacy are unknown among my relatives.

“I just left the police station. It looks like she was distracted. According to the lawyers, Anderson will be exempt from any responsibility, but I’ll make sure the girl is okay. However, I would like you to find out some basic information about her. I don’t know anything other than her name: Harper Cecily Bradley.”

“No problem. I’ll have your answers by tomorrow morning at the latest. Who did Joseph end up with? Elina was worried.”

“With Ares. I’m going home.”

“If you need anything, just call.”

“I know that, cousin.”

I leave the device on the vehicle’s center console and close my eyes, thinking about the chaos the day was. I need to go to the station tomorrow for a meeting with the board of directors, but it will be impossible. In addition to having to solve the issue of my son’s possible soon-to-be new night nanny, I need to stop by and see how Harper Cecily is doing.

Half an hour later, Larry drives past my guardhouse and parks in front of my home in Brooklyn. After quickly saying goodbye to the two employees and dismissing the bodyguards, I go to find my brother.

“How was it with the nanny? Were you able to reschedule for next week?” I ask as soon as I enter.

“No. I dismissed her.”

“You did what?”

“Shhhh . . . Keep your voice down. Joseph just went to sleep.”

He’s very lucky that my son is home, or I would kill him. It took me about two weeks to find a candidate who met almost all the requirements.

The “almost” is due to her name, which I think is fucking weird, and the fact that I didn’t get any vibe from the woman that could tell me she really likes kids, which makes me question why the hell anyone would look for a job like that if they don’t have a calling.

“I dismissed her,” he repeats, without flinching.

“Are you telling me that you dismissed her for today ?” I ask, hopefully.

“No. Forever. She doesn’t fit.”

“Why would you do shit like that?”

“Joseph is afraid of her.”

“Are you crazy? He’s just a little boy.”

“No. Children have better intuition than we do. The woman wouldn’t look in his direction,” he says, confirming what I had already noticed in the last interview, “so I picked him up and tried to get closer to her. He was terrified. You know that’s not normal behavior. He never reacts like that to people. Even though he’s not the friendliest child in the world, he doesn’t scream when he sees someone. He hated the pain in the ass miss, and I did too. Get another one.”

“What did she do when he started crying?”

“She seemed irritated. She got up and went to the window, as if she couldn’t bear his crying. She’s no good, Dionysus.”

I run both hands over my face, thinking about what I’m going to do now. “There are no more candidates. Each one has a characteristic that doesn’t fit.”

“We’ll find a way. Even if we need to take turns spending time with Joseph every day of the week.”

Even though I’m pissed that he got rid of a good candidate, I know he did it for my son’s wellbeing. “If I don’t find someone, you’ll have to stay with him so I can go on that business trip in two weeks,” I threaten, partly laughing but still irritated.

He shrugs. “I’m not bothered. I’d rather move in here than leave my nephew in the hands of that sociopath. I didn’t like the woman, and neither did Joseph. And I trust his opinion.”

“Prepare yourself. In a short time you’ll be the one taking care of a child,” I mock, referring to the agreement he and Zeus made, in which Ares will become the legal guardian of an heiress. We needed the shares from the fund the girl inherited, and that was the condition imposed by her former guardian to complete the sale.

His mood changes instantly. “I still have some time before my torture begins. Besides, I intend to keep her at a distance. I’m not a babysitter, and she’s not a little girl.”

“I don’t envy the role. I would prefer triplets to a teenager.”

“Enough about me. I want to know everything about this hit-and-run story. I don’t believe in coincidences. Unless the girl is suicidal, there’s no way she simply didn’t see the car.”

Oh, shit! Why, out of three brothers, didn’t God give me at least one who isn’t a suspicious bastard?

Because that’s a family trait , a voice in my head quips. They wouldn’t hold the name Kostanidis if they didn’t doubt their own shadows.