Divorcing Her Mafia Family
Chapter 59

“You had until today to return her, or I was turning the business to Tariq. I wanted to see she was indeed present and not a ruse. The pair of you are quite cunning. I wasn’t sure Dimitra hadn’t created some kind of video to screw with us. If she wasn’t here, I was calling Tariq.”

“Vasili,” Miklos held his eyes coldly, “you could have turned it over to Tariq and it would not have forced me to make her come home. She is here of her own volition.”

“It was a dangerous game to let her go!” he slapped his hand against his knee.

“I did not let her go. She left. She’s a grown woman with a mind of her own. Had she decided she was not coming home with me after our conversations, I would have supported her decision.”

“You would disobey a direct order from the head of this family?” Vasili asked coldly.

“I will not ever force her to do anything she does not want to do, as if I could.” When the other man opened his mouth, he held up a finger warningly, “and before you spout the nonsense of being the man in my family, reigning my wife in and my favorite quote from the last couple of weeks, to tame the wild mare my wife has turned into,” he saw the sneer on his wife’s face at the comment and the irritated growls of the other two women in the room knowing he’d gotten the older man in trouble with his comments, “I will remind you of her words from earlier. Our marriage is ours. Your input,” he waved his hand around the room, “any of your input, is unwelcome.”

“Do you forget your place?” Vasili glared at him.

“No. I do not. If you want to give the business to Tariq because I refuse to treat my wife as a lesser person than I am, then do it. I am content to live off her earnings and be a kept man.” He was taut, straightforward, and unafraid. “Go ahead, Vasili, give it all to the bumbling twit. I don’t give a f**k.”

Dimitra was in awe of the power and confidence her husband was exuding and set her cup down to watch him square off with her father. Perhaps he meant it when he said he did not fear her father. His next words solidified her thought.

He continued, “and if you ever,” he held the man’s gaze without backing down, “threaten a bullet in my head again, you can rest assured, I will not be as complacent or forgiving as I have been this last week. The only reason I accepted the threat was because I firmly believe the reason Dimitra left was because I hurt her and worse, I put her in harms way, and she deserved her freedom. I do not deserve to have her sitting with me right now and I will spend forever making it up to her but heed my warning well, Vasili. Do not mistake my tolerance for your threats this week as weakness. Make such a threat again and there will be hell to pay. I won’t only walk away from this business; I will employ every tactic I have to destroy what is left of it after your nephew screws it over.”

Dimitra looked to the floor at the cold brutal deliverance of Miklos’ words to her father. He had just threatened the head of their family with such vehemence she wasn’t sure fists weren’t going to fly. She held her breath as she waited for the fallout.

“Son,” Giorgio spoke quietly as if trying to quell the impending eruption from his best friend. “You should consider your words more carefully. You forget your place, I think. I understand your emotions are running high but think of who and what you are threatening.”

Miklos looked to his father, “I have considered my words very carefully. I have been considering them since the night my wife first told me of how I hurt her. I have not stopped thinking of it since the night she told me of how I left her to the wolves. None of you have held her while she sobbed her heart out over the pain and misery, I and this family have caused her. We all expected her to accept a life of servitude and obedience without considering her own heart and her needs and wants.”

“It is for her own good and the good of this family.”

“It was the foolish wants of four old people to join a family without regard for what we wanted. I am convinced after my time with Dimitra, had you left well enough alone, we would have found our way to each other. You said it yourself Vasili how you saw the way I cared for her. You should have left us to replace our way. You robbed us of the ability to slowly fall in love and grow together by making me feel like nothing more than a pervert and her less than human. You were wrong. The four of you were wrong. Your manipulation of our relationship ends today. Am I clear?”

“You have no right –” Vasili sputtered.

“Do not tell me what rights I have about my own life, Vasili. I am done being ordered to disrespect my wife. If the pair of you do not consider me fit to run this family in the way you have trained me to do,” he flicked his finger between the two older men, “then we can end our association right now. You can both take it over again or you pass it to Tariq to destroy. Otherwise, do not disrespect me or my wife again. Am I clear?” He repeated his question to the older man who was turning red with rage.

Usually, the women were not present for this kind of conversation and Dimitra knew Leonora nor Nerida had ever seen Miklos as he was. She had. He was more impressive with experience. His voice had not once raised an octave. He made no outward show of emotion. His words were all delivered clearly, concisely and with the precision of a bullet to the brain. He was intimidating as hell and even she swallowed against the way his eyes had grown cold and hard at his father and father-in-law. Dimi noted her mother-in-law had moved from the armchair to the loveseat with Leonora as if seeking refuge and considered joining them but her husband’s casually placed arm over her shoulder had her sitting perfectly still.

“Miklos,” his mother let out a low whisper of warning very uncomfortable as she gripped Leonora’s hand when Vasili made a strangled breathing noise and marched away from the group. “Perhaps we could table this conversation for another time.”

“No.” He refused her as well, “I have given this considerable thought. Our business has put this family in danger far too long. I have as you know already began severing the ties to the more dangerous aspects of our enterprise and I will continue over the next several months and years to work tirelessly to legitimize the Lykiaos business. If you are not content with this, then fire me now and put the fool in charge. When he gets the lot of you shot before, he’s two weeks into the job, you have yourselves to blame. Do not come asking me to repair his damages because I will leave you to rot.”

“How dare you?” Vasili thundered his fists clenched. “After all we’ve done!”

“I dare because either this is my family, or it is not. You do not get to play with my emotions or those of my wife again. You will make a choice today. You accept our terms, or we sever our business relationships before you leave this ship.”

“You would destroy a hundred years of our family business?” Vasili glared at him furiously from where he had stalked to stare to the water.

“The business your great-grandfather started was improved by your grandfather and then your father. What you and my father have done improved the business and took it in a new direction. Dimitra and I will do the same, together but with respect and dignity and ensuring our children have no reason to fear for their lives as they grow.”

“Dimitra,” Vasili looked to his daughter, “is this what you want? To lose the Lykiaos businesses and all we have worked so hard to achieve?”

“I was twenty-two and thrown into FBI holding on treason and espionage charges on the supposition I stole a list and gave it to Miklos who murdered a man and all,” she held up her finger to his protests, “all because my last name was Lykiaos. I do not want for my children to grow up and have to go through such things because of their name.”

Vasili looked away and sighed, “we will lose a billion-dollar industry.”

“We will make up for it in other ways,” Dimitra shrugged as she supported her husband praying, she sounded as confident as he was. They had not discussed any of this ahead of this meeting and he had taken her by surprise. “Smuggling and being directly in the crosshairs of the dirty cops who want our name eliminated is not the future I want our children to inherit”

“What other ways?” Giorgio interrupted Vasili’s attempt to talk, latching on to a change in topic.

She shrugged, “I have skills which this family have not yet explored or appreciated.”

“Such as?” Vasili moved back and stood near the sofa with his blue eyes staring curiously.

Miklos gave a cocky smirk, “such as hacking the FBI on Monday and making sure five of their agents can’t get a job a convenience store.”

“Dimitra?” Her mother’s eyes were wide. “You hacked the FBI?”

“I hack them all the time. I think it is a service we can provide to our friends and acquaintances for a fee,” she shrugged. “I know of a man who works as an ethical hacker for major corporations. I can do such things far better than he can and corporations pay him a pretty penny. The girls and I are actually working on a program right now wherein we are creating software which would allow a person to tell immediately whether or not someone is tracking their online activity but for a phone.” She held up her phone, “if for example the feds were tracking the calls, texts, and messages I sent with my phone, then with the new program, I would be able to confirm the illegal hack simply by running the app on my phone. It is different from an antiviral or spyware system. This would be geared more for our more,” Dimitra searched the word, “illustrious counterparts and applied directly to the programming of the FBI, CIA, MI6 and Interpol.”

“How would you know the programming of those agencies,” Vasili scoffed at her.

Miklos gave a low chuckle, “do not underestimate your daughter. According to Ajax it took her less than twenty minutes to get into the FBI, send them on a wild goose chase with a program and then snuck around their personnel files. While they thought she was in one place, she was all over everywhere else.”

“But how?” Leonora was confused. “You can’t just get into the FBI.”

Dimitra chuckled, “no, you,” she pointed at everyone in the room, “cannot get into the FBI. I personally can do whatever I like. My own cellular device and electronics such as my laptop are well protected against their attentions because I’m clever and created my own software to protect them. I could take my computer right now and hack every single one of you in this room and have all your recent messages displayed on my screen in under ten minutes. My computer is my weapon far better than any you own. I would kill before giving it up.” She looked at her father, “do you need a demonstration?”

“No.” he cut her off with a raised hand. He looked back to Miklos, “you think this hacking thing will be more lucrative than guns and drugs?”

“I think I can name thirty men off the top of my head who would love to know what intel the FBI has on them.” Miklos commented seriously. “I know word of mouth for these men will have them lining up at our doorstep.”

“It’s boring,” Vasili said with a grunt and flopped back into his seat. “Where is the interaction and the conflict resolution?”

Miklos gave a low chuckle, “there will always be a need for such services, Vasili. Last night you called while we were having dinner. You said there was a friend of a friend who had gone missing, and you wanted us to replace him.”

“Yes.”

“Dimitra found him in under fifteen minutes using her laptop. Ajax had his crew pick him up as he tried to leave a coffee shop. He is in a holding cell waiting to discuss why he failed to make his last three payments.” He revealed why Ajax had been at their door. “Ajax is hoping Dimitra comes to interrogate him. He approves of her techniques.”

“Fifteen minutes?” Vasili looked to her incredulously. “How?”

“I am good at what I do.”

“You came to LA to divorce your family,” Vasili gave a shake of his head. “Instead, you are taking us in a whole new direction.”

“You have always pushed for growth, and it is why we’ve done well during periods of economic downturn. It’s time we take the growth to our enterprises.”

“How would Ajax know of her techniques? What techniques?”

“We had trouble with American government officials during our time away. They approached me with a photo of a gun behind held to Dimitra’s head while she slept and took me by gunpoint to an abandoned building.” He squeezed her shoulder, “my wife rescued me like the badass she is.”

“Who had a gun to her head?” Vasili’s tone belied he did not like only learning of this now.

“As he said, I was sleeping and the woman, it turns out, really only did it to get back at Miklos. She truly believed I was being forced against my will to be married. She really wanted me to be free of my overbearing family. She was hoping by cooperating with Agent Frye, they would kill Miklos for murdering her lover.”

“You killed her lover?”

“Donovan,” Miklos grinned at her father. “Remember when Dimitra said she stole a list from the FBI? It was the same weekend he staged his death. His name was on the list. They presumed inaccurately she stole the list, gave it to me and I killed him. The woman running the enclave Dimitra had unwittingly booked into thought she was helping Dimitra escape me. She gave a huge confession in a plea bargain. She was very upset to replace out Dimitra came to help me.”

“She was more upset Donovan was alive, married and has a kid,” Dimi giggled.

“This life is too dangerous for our little girl,” Leonora spoke suddenly glaring at Vasili.

“Had she stayed home, we could have protected her.” Vasili argued and gave a pointed glance at his daughter.

“Need I remind you all, I rescued Miklos, not the other way around.” She looked around the room, “however Miklos and I agree I will stick as much as possible to the office.”

“Where is this Agent Frye now?” Giorgio asked with a frown.

“Mexican prison,” Miklos shrugged as if unbothered. “Someone messed up the paperwork and the four of them were accidentally sent to the wrong prison and were put into general population. I cannot imagine they last long there. The US government disavowed their actions and have left them to rot. Again, this was Dimitra’s doing as she made sure the entire FBI knew they had premediated taking me down without approval. They knew I had gone and followed me. One agent wanted me. Another wanted Dimitra. They teamed up. They knew I was chasing after her, so they simply followed me. Stupidly they thought I was at my usual resort and not holed up in a shitty two-star enclave with noisy neighbors. In a strange twist of fate, Dimitra actually booked at the resort where the woman was working undercover as a resort owner.”

“The woman?” the question from Vasili made Dimitra chuckle. She knew he was pissed she’d put a gun to his daughter.

“She has been extradited back to the US. Her involvement blew a three-year drug combined FBI and DEA undercover project. The feds want a word with her.”

“She is under suicide watch,” Dimitra added. She noted Nerida gave a curt nod as if she were glad, but her mother had immediately started praying. The two women were polar opposites.

“Then it’s done,” Vasili looked to Giorgio. “We can retire.”

“I thought nothing was getting handed off until I turned thirty,” Dimitra narrowed her eyes on the pair of smirking men.

“As if he could have let you alone until you were thirty,” Vasili laughed as he nodded at Miklos’ frown. “We knew it was a matter of time before he realized his feelings and you caved to yours. I’m retiring. The business is officially yours. Do with it as you must. I will patiently wait for my grandchildren to arrive.”

“What will you do with your time?” Dimitra asked him curiously wondering if he was bluffing.

“Get old. Fish with Giorgio,” he spoke as if he’d been thinking of this for years. “Play chess with the old men in the park. Laugh at the FBI who follow me around. Take your mother on the trip the holy city she has been wanting to do for so long. Love my daughter and spend time with her. You have been gone too long, kopelia mou. I only know I look forward to not sitting behind a desk or breathing in warehouse dust.”

“You really are going to just hand everything off today?” Dimi was incredulous

“I believe your husband has given me no alternative now, has he?” Vasili gave a glance to Miklos which told the room he wasn’t yet forgiven for the way he had spoken. “It’s him or Tariq and I’d sooner shoot myself than put the numbskull in charge. I asked him to collect a debt on Monday for me and he ended up sleeping with the man and his wife. Both of them.”

“Did he get the money?” Dimitra asked with a wide smile.

“He did and probably a disease while he was at it.” Vasili gave a grimace, “I asked him why and he said doing the wife was the only way he could get to do the husband. I don’t even want to know what this means.”

Miklos gave a laugh, “it means your nephew is bisexual and –”

“Enough,” Vasili held his hand up. “It only proves I am done with the new age of this business. If you want to use Tariq to seduce payment out of couples, have at it. I want no part of it.”

Miklos looked to Dimitra, “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” She smiled at him. “Are you?” As he kissed her knuckles, she realized she hadn’t only mended fences with her husband but her entire family and as they sat and chatted amicably for a while longer, she knew she was home