Divorcing Her Mafia Family
Chapter 38

She let the tears rack her body. He had almost died right in front of her. She had seen plenty of people die before but not one she had been on a date with, and it was unnerving.

In her head she heard Mrs. K’s words from earlier in the week, “You can choose your own path but if it one the fates do not agree upon, you must be ready to accept the ramifications.”

Had she done this? Had her deep-seeded desire to leave the Lykiaos curse and Miklos cause Trip to almost die? Had fate intervened and prohibited her from replaceing happiness? She sobbed harder as the flurry of activity of Miklos on the other side of the wall caught her ear.

She heard the ping of a text message, but she ignored it as she wailed through her grief. The last two days had been hell and was culminating in the near death of a man she’d dated just to try to feel better about her shitty situation. The guy named Trev had been right. It was all her fault.

Miklos knocking on her unit door made her wail harder and she made no effort to get out of the bed. After several minutes he was back on the other side of the wall, this time knocking on the wall

“Dimitra, are you okay? Come open the door for me.” His voice was close as if he had his face pressed right against the wall. His muffled curse at her blatant ignoring of his voice echoed. She could hear him moving away again.

She pulled the pillow tighter and bawled her heart out. Several minutes later she looked up in surprise when he crawled into her bed with her. “How did you get in here?”

“Crawled around the balcony and jimmied the sliding doors,” he looked over as she folded into his arms blubbering. “What did he do? Did he hurt you?”

“He almost died!” she gave a loud whine.

Miklos hands which had been rubbing her shoulders comfortingly stopped, “he what now?”

“Almost died. Had an anaphylactic reaction to cumin and collapsed. His friend accused me of poisoning him.”

“Is he okay now?” Miklos slipped his arm under her shoulders and rolled her onto his chest to hold her while she snivelled.

“I don’t know. They carried him away and told me to leave.”

“His friends sound like assholes.”

“It was all so romantic. He had a little cabana set up for me and dinner and dancing and then he just dropped like a lead balloon from a churro,” she wailed loudly again.

“A churro?” disbelief coated is words. “Are you telling me your date was almost done in by a churro?”

She heard the laugh in his voice and punched his chest, “not funny Miklos. They had to do chest compressions and everything.”

“And someone blamed you.”

“Said he ate the churros there all the time and never ever had a problem before so maybe I poisoned him.”

“Motherfucker,” Miklos growled angrily as he hugged her tight. “Did you deal with him?”

“Deal with him? How the f**k was I supposed to deal with him? He was doing f*****g chest compressions on my date who was dying,” she lifted her head to glare at him. “Then there were five of them all giving me dirty looks.”

“He disrespected you,” Miklos asserted. “You could have used a butter knife or a fork and ended him.”

“Miklos,” she saw the twist of his lips and realized he was teasing her. “Jerk.” She dropped her head back to his shoulder. “it’s not funny.”

“Sweetheart, I heard you sobbing in here and my first thought was he tried to rape you or smacked you around. I didn’t have eyes on you at his fancy resort, so I was a tad concerned.”

“No, he was a perfect gentleman.” She sniffed and snuggled into his warm embrace. She suddenly felt sixteen again when she’d had a fight with her father and Miklos has come to comfort her.

“Tell me all about it. What was it like?”

“He arranged a private little cabana with a private meal on the beach. Candles and music.” She yawned against his chest.

“What did he feed you?”

“Enchiladas.”

Miklos’ hands which had been rubbing slow circles on her back paused, “are you saying he gave you a candlelit dinner on the beach with enchiladas and churros? Is he a local?”

“No,” she giggled at his question. “He’s from Silicon Valley.” She sighed, “I hope he’s not dead.”

“What’s his name and I’ll call the hospital and replace out. There’s only one local hospital right near the resort so it’s likely they went there.”

“How do you know?”

“I have dropped people off there a time or two,” he grinned at her rolled eyes. “My love, I work everywhere, even when I’m on vacation.”

“You’re terrible.” When he waved his phone in her face, she g*****d, “Trip Littlemouth.”

He threw his head back and roared with laughter, “you’re joking right?”

“No.”

“Who the f**k names their kid Trip Littlemouth?”

“People who didn’t want kids?” Dimitra couldn’t help responding to Miklos contagious laughter.

“He is definitely old-world money,” he shook his head and looked up the number for the local hospital. “There’s probably a ‘the fifth’ after his name.” He tickled her ribs playfully when she smacked him. He motioned to the bathroom. “Go wash your face and get your s**t together and I’ll call the hospital and get an update for you. Go on,” he waved her away.

She slipped off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom but kept the door open. She grabbed a washcloth and wiped the make-up streamed down her cheeks away and listened to him speaking lowly on his phone. She noted he had completely dropped his Greek accent and had donned an American accent which could have put him straight in the valley. It was disconcerting how easily he could change up his persona. He could blend in anywhere if he wanted, she supposed.

As he hung up the phone, he shook his head sadly. “What?”

“He died. Choked on his cumin.” He pronounced the word incorrectly.

She went stiff and covered her mouth in horror, “no. He didn’t.”

“No, he didn’t. He’s fine. They have him chalk full of steroids and he’s higher than a kite. They offered to get one of his friends to come talk to me.”

“Jerk!” she punched his shoulder. “Not funny.”

“Can you imagine how awful it would look on his tombstone.” He held his hands out, “here lies the body of Trip Littlemouth who choked to death on his own cum.”

“Cumin. Not c*m. They don’t even sound the same.”

“Tombstones aren’t very big anymore. They might have to abbreviate and since Littlemouth is a long name, cumin might need to be abbreviated.” He was full on teasing now.

She bit the inside of her cheek trying not to laugh. “You’re going straight to hell.”

“Nope. I’ll be in purgatory. There’s no way the devil is letting me in. Just like you, he’s worried I’ll take over.”

“A*****e,” she shook her head at his playful manner.

“Come here, brat,” he held his arms out. “You look like you need a hug.”

She stepped into his open arms and closed her eyes against his chest. “I am never going on another date again. Mrs. K was right.”

“What do you mean?”

“She said if I kept trying to choose my own path instead of the one fate set for me, I’d have to live with the repercussions. What are the chances the very next day after running from my family I go on a date and almost kill the guy?”

“Well, my ego is greatly obliterated you dated so soon after everything we did this week, but as much as I would love to jump on Mrs. K’s bandwagon to use fate as an excuse to force you to stay with me forever, she’s full of s**t. Dimitra, you are not the reason the man damn near died of anaphylaxis. It’s a weird set of circumstances.”

“I just wanted to forget for a bit,” she whispered as he rubbed her back.

“I know. It was a hellish week and we both tortured each other, and you deserved to have a few hours of happiness. A bit of laughter and fun would have done you well. Instead, you were victimized by the kitchen help.” He looked down at her and pressed a k**s to her forehead, “even with bloodshot eyes you are still beautiful.” He glanced at his watch, “I have an idea. Play along?”

She nodded and he released her and left her standing in the middle of her bedroom and she heard her front entrance open and close as he left her rooms. She walked out to the room and c****d her head to one side. Had he just walked off on her again? Surely to god, when she was feeling this miserable, he hadn’t abandoned her yet again. She plunked down on the sofa and scowled. She was going to dump the entire bag of prawns in his bed and open the windows for the birds to get in.

She noted he had left her patio doors open and she rose to close them and then looked out. The balconies were quite a distance from the ground and the notion he had managed to scale around the dividing wall to break into her room was something else. Granted he had thought she’d been hurt but it was still a fairly brave thing to do. She looked down to the ground and around the wall of the balcony. He was not on his balcony. He wasn’t anywhere.

She was annoyed now. She needed him and he bailed. She raced to the kitchen and pulled the stinky prawns out and moved back through her sliding doors. She leaned again around the wall as far as she could and saw nothing of him. There was no sign of him in his living area at all. She opened the bag and threw a couple to the ground for the birds and with glee tossed the rest of them onto his balcony.

A knock on her unit door made her freeze and she trembled when she heard him call out.

“Elektra, are you in there?”

She raced back inside, closed the patio doors, and shoved the empty package into the bottom of her garbage bin. “Be right there, Draco,” she played his game as she washed her hands thoroughly with soap and water and dried them on a tea towel. The cawing of seabirds outside the balcony caught her ear and she prayed he didn’t hear it.

She pulled the door open and was surprised to replace him changed out of his shorts and t-shirt into a pair of faded jeans, a black button up shirt opened three buttons down and his hair wet and slick. “Hi.” He looked good. Too good. She looked away.

“Hey Elektra,” he motioned behind him, “last night I found this fun little bar up the road. I heard you had a shitty evening so far. It’s only nine and the night is young. Do you want to come with?” He looked her up and down, “your dress is made for dancing. You need to come dancing. The music last night was superb. Well maybe not superb but it’s good.”

She looked down at the floral dress with the different tones of reds and a few flecks of white and black with the off-shoulder cap sleeves and long slit up the leg and then back to him. “Sure, Draco, I’ll come along. I just need my shoes and my bag.”

She slipped back into her sandals and grabbed her purse and made sure her cell phone was in it. She saw him looking into her unit and out the patio and seeing the flock of seabirds going by.

“What are they doing?”

“I don’t know. They did it last night too,” she lied through her teeth. “Shall we?”

They were walking down the stairs towards the pool area when the couple who were staying in the room next to Miklos were leaving the area and were glaring at each other at the bottom of the stairs.

“All I’m saying is, you could read a book or watch an educational video and I wouldn’t be so sexually frustrated,” the woman hissed at him unaware of how close she and Miklos were to them.

“And I’m saying a little vaginal reconstructive surgery might make the grand canyon a little less intimidating.” He shot back furiously.

“I had seven of your big-headed babies you jerk. It can only bounce back so many times!”

Miklos cleared his throat and the couple looked up from where they were standing, and they both had the grace to blush and stand back so he and Dimitra could descend the stairs and get past them.

As they exited the gates and were on the main street, they looked to each other and burst into laughter. Dimitra gripped his arm to hold herself up as the laughs rocked her hard.

“Oh my god,” Miklos gasped for breath as walked with her. “I don’t know who I feel worse for.”

“I feel worse for us having to hear it,” Dimitra giggled as she stepped in time with him. “The grand canyon?”

“Seven kids,” Miklos added. “She can’t be a size zero. I’d have never guessed she had seven kids.”

“You like thin women like that,” she commented as she considered women like Eve and Wren.

“It’s what I attract, not necessarily what I like.” He shrugged uncomfortably. “Women with curves tend to replace me intimidating and if I approach, they get shy and quiet. I like a woman with a mouth and personality so if a girl can’t look me in the eye, I’m out. My preference is having thick h**s to hold onto.”

“H**s?”

“I’m an a*s-guy, Elektra. The juicier the a*s the happier I am.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “Really?”

“God yes. Nothing like a round fat a*s to slap and pound into.”

She blinked at his words.

“Did I overshare again?” he was chuckling under his breath.

“Maybe?” she had a strange desire to check the size of her backside but forced herself to keep walking.

“My girl back home,” he spoke quietly, “her body is banging. I could spend forever, and a day touching her and never get tired. She thinks I’d be looking for someone else but to be honest, I had one taste of her, just one, and it’s ruined me for anyone else.”

His words stunned her, and she was unsure of how to respond.

He continued speaking, “if I have a thousand nights left on this earth and I were allowed to spend every one of them with just her or a thousand different women, I’d always choose just her, every single time. I wish I could make her understand how I feel.”

“Maybe you should tell her.” Dimitra felt her throat tighten.

“I tried but communication isn’t really our thing,” he gave a sad sigh. “We yell more than talk. I have a terrible tendency to talk down to her or treat her as if she were a burden to me. She hates me for all the hell I’ve put her through so everything coming out of my mouth she distrusts. It’s a bad situation all the way around.”

“You make it seem like a lost cause,” she commented quietly, hating how her heart hurt. She wanted out and she was just playing his game to get through the two weeks and his signature. Why did it hurt?

“Maybe it is,” he shrugged with a melancholy twist of his lips. “I don’t deserve her forgiveness but,” he met her eyes fleetingly, “I would spend the rest of my life doing everything I could to make my sins up to her. I just need to convince her I’m not public enemy number one.”

“I’m sure there’s more to it than this,” she flicked her own glance at him.

He nodded, “my,” he paused, “work is a family business. She knows the ins and outs of it far better than anyone. I fear she is terrified if we have a family I can’t protect them, or worse, I’ll allow our children to be put through what she went through.”

“If it’s a family business it might be hard to make promises you can’t keep,” Dimitra said bitterly.

“I agree. Her father though is a different sort. His father was murdered right in front of him when he was nineteen. He had only been aware of his family’s businesses, so to speak, about two years before it happened. He grew up hard and fast as a result. He thinks the only way to keep his family safe is to make sure they know from day one who we are, what we do and how to defend yourself in case anyone gets in your face or tries to take your life.”

“What are your thoughts, Draco?” she asked him for the first time what his opinion on children in their family being exposed so young to their life.

“I can see both sides,” he said with reluctance. “Ours is a hard world. I think though there is a fine line in education and overexposure. If I survive the next couple of weeks,” he gave a heartless chuckle, “I might have a better perspective. All I know is I’m willing to listen to her and to talk with her on how she wants to do things, but I haven’t been able to have a reasonable rationale discussion unless we’re both in bed and overtired or drunk.” He looked at her expectantly, “what do you think Elektra?”

“I think, from what I surmise your family is like,” she tried to play dumb and also to remove the anger she’d let build for the last eight years from her voice, “a child deserves to have a life where they can feel safe and secure but also to be a child. Playing with toys and not guns and knives. Being allowed to run and play. Scrubbing b***d out from under your nails isn’t a thing a kid should do on their sixth birthday you know? A little normalcy and innocence aren’t bad things.”

He gave a nod of appreciation at her comment, “you think our world should be hidden from them until they are adults?”

“Fifteen or sixteen and maybe a gradual introduction if it has to happen at all.” She paused, “my husband told me recently I forgot all the good our family does, and he was right, I did forget but I don’t forget all the bad we do. I wouldn’t want my kid running guns at twelve or drugs at fifteen. I wish those aspects of his life didn’t exist. Our family has enough legitimate businesses why can’t we do the good we do, protect our families the way we do without the guns and drugs?” She forgot the game momentarily.

“You would want the family to cut ties with the business associates they’ve done business with for nearly a century?” he asked quietly.

“I would,” she swallowed the bitterness in her throat at the accusatory tone in his voice. “If I had my way, my family would not be involved in those two things ever again. The rest I don’t care but when I think of bringing a child into the world, a world where my father is working with people providing drugs to the streets where my kid might go to school, it makes me want to puke. I want a different world than the one I grew up in for the kids I have.”

She looked up and noticed they had stopped outside a little tavern type bar with a wide-open patio and loud lively music playing. It was quite dark outside now and the laughter and cheerfulness inside was a direct contradiction to the frustration she was feeling.

She looked up at him and they stared off for a few minutes and then he brushed a piece of her hair behind her ear and smiled softly.

“Elektra, you have given me a lot to think of. Your perspective has been eye opening, and I am grateful for this chat. Thank you.” He looked to the doors of bar, “now though, there is cold beer and music to dance to in there. Care to put the heavy conversations aside for some lighthearted fun?”

She slipped her hand into his extended one and exhaled long and slow, “yes. Please.”