Divorcing Her Mafia Family
Chapter 34

Dimi went for a walk towards the marketplace Theresa had mentioned the evening before, hoping she would replace some more fish for her neighbor’s new pet seabirds. The vibrant noise of music playing in the streets, the chattering of people bartering and the honking of cars occasionally passing by a wonderful distraction to the issues she was hiding from.

She meandered through the streets, picking up a few pieces of fresh fruit, another packet of the prawns and then spent a good deal of time looking at the local artisanal crafts. The weaving of baskets and linens were bright and colorful, and she studied the intricacies of it with interest.

She wasn’t quite ready to head back to her lonely little spot and she was happy to replace a little restaurant with outdoor seating full of happy laughter and exuberant conversation. She asked for a table and the hostess quickly sat her outside, passed her a menu and left her to review it.

“Elektra!”

She looked up to see Theresa watching her with a wide smile just on the other side of the railing cordoning off the patio. “Hello Theresa.”

“I’m glad to see you out and about. How was your first night?”

“It was good. I’m settling in.” She wanted to complain about her neighbors snoring, but it seemed petty. She would deal with him in her own way. She let her foot touch the bag of shellfish under the table.

“You should try the tacos here. They are lovely and don’t forget the beer is perfection!”

“I will.” She sat her menu down and noted the woman waving frantically in the direction behind her.

“Draco! Good to see you. Have you met your neighbor yet?”

Dimi turned to look over her shoulder and felt her stomach drop to her feet. The urge to push the chair back and run in the opposite direction of her unit was overwhelming and she clutched the table tightly.

“Elektra Manos, let me introduce you to Draco Papatonis. Draco, this is Elektra.”

He held his hand out smirking, “nice to meet you, Elektra.”

He had thickened his natural accent and it floated over her like a warm smothering blanket. She gasped for air. She heaved for a breath and watched as he squinted at her reaction to him. His eyes mocked. She could feel him daring her to cause a scene.

She felt Theresa staring at her and then reached for his hand and shook it, “likewise.”

She yanked her hand away when he tried to hold it longer.

“It looks like there are no tables left,” brown eyes looked around expectantly as he spoke to Theresa. “Dinner was so delicious last night I had hoped to get lunch.”

“I’m sure Elektra wouldn’t mind sharing her table!” Theresa volunteered. “We are all family here.”

“You have no f*****g idea,” Dimi muttered as she gave a begrudging nod at the woman’s clear request. She couldn’t make a scene. Not here. Not now. She didn’t know how many he had brought with him. For all she knew there was a small army ready to bring her back to the US.

Theresa gave her a funny smile at her mumbling and then patted her on the shoulder. “It was good to see you. I’m sure I’ll see you again soon. Enjoy your lunch.” The woman sauntered away as if she hadn’t just caused chaos.

“What the hell Miklos?” she hissed at him as he climbed over the barrier and took the seat opposite her.

“Draco,” he corrected her. “My birth certificate, not though you’ve ever seen it, has my name as Draco Miklos Vasili Laskaris Papatonis. I use my father’s name for business, but my legal name is Draco Papatonis. Did you even listen to our wedding vows? They used my full name on our blessed day.”

“This is a load of horseshit. I would know if your name was Draco. I know the Papatonis thing but not Draco. I’d have mocked it a hundred different ways every single day of your life. It’s a dumb name.”

He laughed at her words, “I like my name. I was named after my great-grandfather. For all accounts he was a complete dickhead who hated my father.”

“Lies!” she sputtered at him furiously.

“Not lies, admittedly though, my father really didn’t agree with my mother naming me Draco and refused to call me anything other than Miklos after his father. I believe there was a huge fight on the day of my naming and my father only agreed to Draco so long as Vasili’s name got slid in.”

“How did I not know this?” she glared angrily. “You know my full name!”

“It sure as f**k isn’t Elektra Manos,” he was laughing mockingly at her rage.

“God, damn I hate you. Why are you here?”

“Hiding from the mob,” he grinned at her without any sense of hesitation. “It seems I f****d over a mob boss’ daughter and now he wants me dead.”

“Is this a game to you?”

“Yes. Do you want to play?” he leaned forward. “Tell me Elektra,” he purposefully used her alias, “what are you hiding from in a private little enclave instead of a big fancy resort in Puerto Vallarta.”

“My husband is a cruel son of a b***h who accused me of selling out my family, slept with anything he could and only wants me because he wants to run my father’s business. My choices were to either fake my death or go into hiding to escape him.”

He shook his head and clicked his tongue. “You poor thing. Do you think you’ve managed to escape him?”

“He’s a wily bastard. Probably not,” she was furious staring at him.

“For your sake, I hope while you are here in Puerto Vallarta you replace everything you have dreamed of.”

The server approached and she ordered a beer and the tacos and Miklos said he would have the same.

“You can’t stay here,” she growled at him

“But I’m hungry and there are not other tables,” he looked at her mockingly.

“I meant the enclave.”

“I paid for two months,” he frowned. “I fear if I show my face in a big city, I’ll be met with a mob enforcer and get shot. I’m terrified. I don’t want to die.” His eyes were dancing with glee completely contradicting his words.

He was really playing a stupid game! She wanted to kick him in the balls. “What do you want from me?”

“Two weeks,” he suddenly held her gaze seriously. “Two weeks. We are two people who just met right this minute. No past. No history. You give me two weeks to show you who I am, who I really am outside of working as an enforcer for your father. If after two weeks, I cannot convince you to come back with me to LA, I will sign your papers.” At her surprised glance he shrugged, “all you have to do is play along. No bringing up the past. No throwing my mistakes in my face. No running away and hiding. Two weeks of pretending we just met. Are you in or out?”

“I have a date,” she held his eyes unwavering. “I’m not cancelling it.”

“I’m not opposed to friendly competition.” He shrugged. “You and I just met, after all.”

“What if I sleep with him?” She watched him shift in his seat uncomfortably.

“Considering my past actions, I have no right to deny you. I ask only you use protection and not get pregnant during the next two weeks. After I convince you to come home with me though, we can practice all kinds of baby making.” He winked flirtatiously but then winced when she kicked his shin under the table.

The server set the drinks down between them unaware of the tension.

Miklos picked up his drink, “where did you meet this new beau?”

“Airplane.”

“Huh, the guy you were sitting with? He’s not your type.”

She stared at him incredulously. “You were on the flight!” she accused furiously.

“First class all the way baby. Watched you answer your phone when I called. It was kind of funny.” He chortled.

She had never heard him laugh like he was. It was disconcerting and horribly attractive. She fought the twist of her lips at his wide smirk. “You’re an a*****e.”

“Miklos is an a*****e. Draco is a man looking for love and redemption in Mexico while trying not to get shot by the father of his lover.”

She giggled at his words unable to stop herself. “What if I don’t agree to your little game, Draco?” she mocked his name.

He gave a sad smile, “I am under orders to bring you home by any means necessary, including shoved in the hold of a private cargo plane with whatever it is your father is flying up from Baja.”

“He knows I’m here?” she felt her stomach twist.

“He only learned you left the country about an hour ago and unfortunately it was my father who let it slip. He mentioned I had gone after you when Vasili asked him if he’d heard from me. He called me demanding an update and furious I kept him in the dark. He knows I suspect where you are. He does not know where it is, and he does not know I have laid eyes on you. He would expect me to bring you back if he knew I had your location. He believes I am in South America. He suspects Costa Rica. He has given me a week to bring you home otherwise a week from now Tariq takes over all things Lykiaos if I fail. I predict it will be two weeks after this before Tariq makes his first huge mistake and winds up getting himself or your father shot and thus, I will go back in two weeks, give, or take a day or two, with or without you. If I go without you, I possibly go to my death, but I will cross the bridge when I come to it.”

“You think you can change my mind, Miklos?” she scoffed at him.

“No. I have zero confidence. I specifically told your father the chances of me wooing you successfully are zero. All I can do is try. Play my game with me Dimitra. What do you have to lose?”

His honesty surprised her. “And if you can’t convince me after two weeks, I belong at the compound running Lykiaos with you, you will agree to sign the divorce papers? What happens then?”

“Then I sign the papers, you get set free and I will deal with the ramifications of our actions with your father. I will fully support your decision to replace love with another man and get married and have offspring.”

She lifted her beer, took a long drink, and wiped her lips with the back of her hand and exhaled slowly. Two weeks and he would sign the papers. All she had to do was get through two weeks. Her friends would tell her she’s insane. Yet she sat there contemplating his offer. Play his game for two weeks. Pretend they just met now. No different than meeting Trip on the plane. Could she, do it?

She let a shaky breath out as she set her beer back on the table and looked to him, “what do you do for a living, Draco?”

His smile was megawatt white as he grinned at her. “I work in the entertainment industry. I own clubs and restaurants all over the world.”

“Is this so?”

“It is. I’m very wealthy if you must know.”

“I don’t need to know.” She leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. “I’m very wealthy too. I’ve been thinking of becoming a sugar mama to a boy toy.”

He threw his head back and laughed, the deep bronze of his throat exposed at her words making her shift uncomfortably at his magnetism. “You’d have a kept man?”

“I would. Keep him at my beck and call to do all the things I want.”

“Such as?” he leaned toward her as if waiting for her to reveal something sordid.

“I hate doing dishes. I really want someone else to do my dishes.”

He laughed again and took a sip of his beer. “I also don’t like doing dishes. I have a housekeeper. She does my dishes. It never dawned on me to be a sugar daddy just to get my dishes done.”

“Other things could happen,” she gave him a grin.

“Really?” he kicked his long legs out and leaned back comfortably engaged in their little game. “What other things would you do as a sugar mama?”

“He would have to be very attractive. I would parade him around without a shirt just to make my parents annoyed.”

“Ah, trouble with your parents, Elektra?”

“Yes,” she sighed dramatically. “I found out interesting information today which affects my view of my parents, and it was most unsettling.”

“It cannot be so bad,” he clicked his tongue.

Wickedness filled her thoughts. She knew Miklos would be as unnerved as she was to know of the intimate details of her parents’ s*x life. They were a second set of parents to him just as Nerida and Giorgio were to her. As grossed out as she was by his parents being swingers, she knew he would be mortified to learn of her parents.

“My mother shared secrets and it was most disturbing.”

“How disturbing? I’m certain they love you dearly.”

“My mother confided in me today how the first time she and my father ever had s*x was six months before my conception. I was born in the fourteenth year of their relationship. Fourteen years and they didn’t consummate their marriage.” She watched Miklos’ mouth open and close in confusion.

“Why?” He held up his hand, “no don’t answer. I don’t want to know. Wait. Yes, tell me, why. I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

She giggled, “it seems my mother went to counselling and determined she is asexual. She simply does not have s****l attraction to anyone or anything. Doesn’t even masturbate.”

She watched him choke on his own spittle and she leaned back with a mocking grin.

“You didn’t have to add the last part,” he gasped reaching for his beer.

“It seems my father wanted my mother but since she refused his advances, he took lovers.”

“I may be sick,” he commented suddenly looking as unsettled as she had felt when she’d heard it.

“It could be worse. My father’s best friend and his wife frequently have a lover they share. I think I’d rather think of my parents not doing it than his best friend and his wife f*****g a third party.”

“You are the devil,” Miklos downed his beer and held up the empty glass in the direction of the server.

“It seems though my narcissistic father thinks mother’s asexuality is all about him. My mother cannot be bothered to try to explain the difference anymore. She lets him do his thing and she stays and prays in church all day.”

“Can we change the topic?” he rubbed his forehead.

“I had to swim for an hour to get the thoughts out of my head.”

“I would imagine. Is this why I saw you swimming for your life this morning?”

“Yes. I saw you with your ball cap, sunglasses and blue Hawaiian shirt on your balcony. The shirt was very pretty. Where did it go?”

He looked to her with a lopsided grin. “It is in my room. It seems one of my sandals went missing this morning. There was only one other person on the beach. I wonder what happened to it.”

“Draco!” she mocked his name loudly, “are you accusing me of stealing your belongings?”

“No, only making an observation.” He gave a twist of his lips, “I wonder what happened to it?”

“Probably the seabird I saw on your balcony from the water,” she kept a straight face.

He gave a shake of his head, “I don’t know what is up with the bird. I woke up this morning and there were two of them there and s**t everywhere.”

“Yuck. My patio didn’t have anything,” she shook her head. “I’m glad I had the end unit.”

“I am jealous. I am in the middle of two rooms and the neighbors on the other side are very,” he paused for the right word, “enamored with each other.”

She giggled, “excuse me?”

“Their living area and my living area share a wall. It was most disturbing.”

“The sound of people having s*x bothers you, Draco?” she sat back as the server put the tacos and two more beer in front of them and blinked rapidly at her clearly walking into the conversation at the most inopportune time. She grinned at the server, “he has noisy neighbors.”

The server made wide eyes and walked away mumbling under her breath.

Miklos and Dimitra looked at each other and busted out laughing. Dimitra laughed long and hard as she considered the expression on the server’s face. She wiped tears from the corner of her eyes. “Oh, the poor woman.”

“You are terrible,” he held his ribs as he tried to control his laughter.

“Hey, you were the one complaining about your neighbors having sexy time.”

“For the record, I don’t mind the sound of people doing what they were doing. I have problems when she is complaining the entire time and it is clear he was doing the best he could.”

“Oh dear,” she took a bite of her taco and tried not choke on it at his words.

“She said and I quote, ‘if you slip out one more time, I’m going to punch you’ and I couldn’t help but wonder where she would punch him.”

“The d**k,” Dimitra said with an affirmative nod. “Definitely punch him in the d**k. Why was it slipping out I wonder?”

“Maybe he’s little,” he held up a piece of the beef from his taco and let it fall over limply.

“Or inexperienced. Perhaps they just met and were trying to replace their rhythm?”

“There was no rhythm,” Miklos gave a shake of his head over a mouthful of his taco, sighing contentedly at the flavor. He was eating them in two bites each. “The way the sofa was banging against the wall told me one was doing the salsa and the other the Viennese waltz.”

She threw her head back and laughed, “how very unfortunate.”

“I felt bad for him. She was very vocal about her disappointment.”

“It takes two to tango. Why should she not tell him what she likes?” She waved her taco in the air, “I mean if he’s not packing a punch,” she giggled at the way Miklos held his forefinger and thumb an inch apart, “then he should at least learn other ways to make sure she isn’t so disappointed.”

Miklos shrugged, “there is a way to communicate. For example, screaming ‘f**k me right or I’ll just do it myself with the spatula handle’ seems slightly off-putting. Had she said, ‘my darling, would you mind trying a different position as this one isn’t doing it for me’ I’m sure he would have been less inclined to grow limp.”

“Spatula handle?”

“I believe she might have been facing her kitchen from the sofa.”

“You might be in for a rough couple of weeks if they just arrived.”

“I don’t think either of them just came,” his grin was wicked at his words Dimitra couldn’t help her giggle.

“Eat your taco,” she chuckled replaceing she had relaxed quite a bit and very quickly with his playful mood.

“Can I eat yours?”

She dropped her taco on the plate and stared at him in disbelief.

He pointed to the third taco on her plate, “I ate all of mine. Are you going to eat your last one?” He motioned to his empty plate, but his eyes were dancing at her discomfort. “What was your dirty mind thinking Elektra?” He clicked his tongue at her, “your mind is as filthy as your tongue. You curse a lot.”

“Draco are you a prude?” she knew the answer already.

“No. I am not.”

“Then what is your problem with my filthy mind and tongue?”

He considered her question carefully as she shoved her last taco onto his plate. “I’ve never been involved with a woman who didn’t behave a certain way.”

“A certain way?” she tried not to replace offense at his words.

“As I said earlier, Elektra,” he reminded her of their game, “I am a very wealthy man. Most women I date are refined and wouldn’t utter a curse word if their lives depended on it, or at least anywhere another person would hear them. You aren’t like this. You just say what’s on your mind and do not care at all who hears you.”

“Are you calling me unrefined?”

“No.” he shook his head with a slight smile, “the word I would use is candid.”

“Does it bother you?” Why she held her breath waiting for his answer was beyond her.

“Not in the least,” he nudged her foot under the table and gave her a grin. “I like you, Elektra, dirty mouth and all.”

She sipped her beer and felt a flush on her cheeks at his words. He liked her. Why did her silly, foolish heart skip at his admission.