23

'The saddest truth about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies.'

_ _ _

-Kara-

I woke up when a bucket of cold water was thrown over me. I opened my eyes slowly, my brain was still foggy and my senses dull. I shook my head to concentrate. Soon, I came to my senses.

I realized I was sitting on a chair. My hands and legs were tied. I was sure they took my weapons. At least the ones they could find on me. I looked to my sides. Caden was on my left and Emily and Killian were on my right. Caden's eyes met mine and I started sinking in them.

"Hello, Kat.", an all too familiar voice said and I snapped my head to look at the blue-eyed devil in front of me.

"Devon?", I heard Caden ask shocked.

"Hey, Cade. Never expected to see you here. Kara didn't tell you about me? How disappointing.", he said.

"Kara how do you know him? ", Caden asked.

"That's Devon Carson, Caden. He's the son of Mafia Boss, Isiah Carson.", I told him. Then in turned to Devon.

"I knew you were involved in this Devon. But what are your connections with Ries Sideris? ", I spat out at him.

He came close to me and caressed my face. I didn't blink. I stared straight into his eyes. How I wished I could pull those perverse eyes out of their sockets.

"Kara dearest you are up for a shock. But, I don't want to be a spoiler. Ries will be here soon. ", he said.

He took his goons and got out of the room. I saw Killian and Emily were still unconscious. They must be drugged. I thought.

I put two fingers into the right sleeve of my jacket and started feeling around. Yes! I thought triumphantly as I found my lighter. If my lighter was still on my sleeve then my dagger should be up my other.

"Officer Morgan. ", I whispered into the tracker in my tooth. "Start closing in. "

I turned sideways and gave Caden a wink. I held the lighter under the ropes binding my hands and soon the smell of burning rope drifted up. I freed my hands as soon as the rope loosened and gave Caden the lighter. He copied me and burned through the rope. We heard footsteps and put our hands behind the chair as if we were still tied up. I took out the dagger from my left sleeve and held it tightly in my right hand.

The doors opened and my body stiffened in shock.

"Pappoús?", I whispered.

"Hello, my gatáki. ", pappoús said calmly.

"Pappoús what is this? You're involved with the mafia? ", I asked shocked.

"You see Kara dearest, your Pappoús here has been the mafia's business partner for years now. ", Devon said slowly, his voice dripping with sweetness.

"What but... You've always... ", I was speechless.

"You see...I'm not your pappoús, gatáki. ", Pappoús said as he raised his hand and removed contact lenses from his eyes. His eyes weren't pappoús grey. No, they were black.

"Who are you? ", I asked the imposter posing as my grandfather."And where is my Pappoús?"

"I am your grandfather's twin brother. My name is James Ries Sideris.", he said. " And your dear pappoús is dead."

"R-Ries Sideris? You k-killed my mom and sister! ", I stuttered.

"We are going to kill your brother and sister too, babe. ", Devon said as he smirked.

The blood in my veins boiled hotter than magma.

"Don't you dare! ", I said.

I turned to James.

"Why did you do it? ", I asked him. I had to stall as long as I could.

"You see, gatáki. Your pappoús had always been the golden boy of the family. Following in father's footsteps he became the ideal leader for Polemistés. I, however, was the runt. In the shadow of my brother, no one knew about the younger twin. I always had dealings with the mafia and when your grandfather found out, he kicked me out of Polemistés. When your mother was born she didn't even know she had an uncle.", he said with pain clear in his voice. Then his face hardened and he spoke angrily.

"Then your grandfather did the most despicable act of all. He allowed your mother to marry that American. Our pure Greek blood became impure. So I killed him. You were 13 then, as I remember. I used to watch you from far away. You, Kara, were the only ones who intrigued me. You were the only one who had the brave and courageous Greek personality. So I decided to keep you and get rid of the others.", he said and gave me a smile as he finished and turned away.

Devon neared me again. I scanned the room. 6 lapdogs. When Devon reached to touch my face, I moved fast and held in a chokehold. Then for his crimes, I slashed his throat with my dagger. I took out his two guns and tossed one to Caden as Devon's body slid to the floor.

The 6 lapdogs attacked at once. I took out three and turned to see Ries holding Caden at gunpoint. Caden threw his gun to the floor. Seeing this, I pointed my gun towards Roger.

"I wouldn't do that, gatáki. ", Roger warned.

"Don't call me that ", I said." You're not my grandfather. "

"Even so, your little toy here is at the wrong end of my gun.", he sneered.

Sudden gunshots outside startled us. Roger was distracted for a moment. I took the opportunity to shoot him. The bullet hit him in the chest. My fake bubble of happiness shattered. I walked stiffly towards Caden.

"No!", Caden shouted and rushed to me. Then I heard the gunshot.

"Fuck!", Caden swore as he fell on his butt clutching his left arm.

"Caden! ", I shouted and then saw Roger's arm falling to the ground as he breathed his last breath. He was holding a gun. He had been aiming at me.

My cheeks felt wet as I knelt on the ground beside Caden.

"Hey, don't cry, love.", Caden said.

"Are you okay? ", I asked him.

"It's just a flesh wound. Don't worry. ", he said.

Just then, the police rushed in. Seeing that there were no other survivors, they took Emily, Killian, Caden, and me to the ambulance. We reached the hospital and they took Emily and Killian to get the drugs out of their system. I sent Caden into a room for treatment. As soon as he went in, I slid to the floor.

A painful cry was heard. Then I realized it was me. I cried then like I hadn't cried ever before. I had to release the pain.

The pain of losing my mother and sister. The pain of losing a loving grandfather and not knowing it. The pain of losing a fake grandfather who I knew had loved me. The pain of knowing that my fake grandfather tried to kill me after the love he had shown me. The pain of having my one happiness shattered. And finally, the pain of the possibility of losing the boy I loved.

It all came pouring out. And then I slept, completely drained. Relieved it was finally over.

Yes, we still had enemies, but for now, we were safe.

And for the first time in a long time, I didn't have a nightmare.