Doukas by Demetra Georgiou
Chapter 26
“I thought I’d have to use extra restraints, but as it turns out, all you needed was to be put into your place.” Makis makes yet another joke about my current state.
The chain around my neck has long gone. But my hands are bound so tightly that the zip ties cut into my wrists. The night was tough, but fortunately, I didn’t have another beating session. That strange dream gave me hope, but it’s waning fast.
I’ve just signed my taverna over to Fanaris. I thought I would be distraught, but I have other things to worry about. I was here when Makis made the call to the Lords.
“Cheer up, boys!” he yells at Thrasos and two others smoking opposite me. “Your boss just became a millionaire.”
“Wh-what?” I ask in a small voice. There’s no way my taverna worths that much.
“Fuck yeah!” Thrasos says and toasts his cup of coffee in celebration.
Toasting with coffee is bad luck, asshole!
Makis giggles like a demented clown. “Oh, right. You’re too stupid to know what I’m talking about.” Nausea consumes me as he leans closer and licks the tears off my cheek.
“Leave me alone!” I screech and pull my head away, unable to stand the stench of his aftershave.
Sniggering, he rears back and stands before me. “Let me dummy it up to you then. A zoning law was passed in June concerning the historical area of Acropolis and the establishments around it. Among everything else, the good people in the parliament decided that every building in the area couldn’t be more than ten meters high.” He pauses, and I barely keep myself from screaming at him to get it over with. “Unfortunately for you, my stupid Ria, this law excludes buildings that were built more than fifty years ago. Some shit about preserving the originality of the area back then.”
So what? Still, there’s no chance the tavern worths millions.
“I know that,” I say, testing my restraints.
“Yes, but what you don’t know is that I quietly acquired the two other taverns next to you, and now I’m the sole owner of three such buildings. I already have a buyer lined up. Your ridiculous eatery will be the heart of the thirty-story mall.”
A mall? This is so wrong.
“I’ll never allow this to happen. I won’t let you,” I seethe.
“But you aren’t going to be here, darling. So save your threats for the reaper,” he says with a toothy grin and looks at his watch.
It’s way past noon, and we wait for Alcaeus, Doukas, and one of the twins to arrive. I don’t know why Makis requested it that way, but in his deranged mind, it must make some sense. The closer we get to what I assume to be the meeting time, the tenser the atmosphere becomes.
Once again, I look around me, but the place still looks gloomy. The image of decay is more prominent in daylight. Judging by the countless hours it took for the sun to rise, I don’t think we’ve left Attica or changed districts.
Finally, after what feels like forever, some of Fanaris’s men enter the yard, followed by Alcaeus, Icarus, and Doukas. The vast difference between the Lords and the Ballers doesn’t go unnoticed, but I doubt it’ll count for something. Even distressed, Doukas and his brothers exude power and wealth. A different class of people challenged by street thugs.
The Lords seem unarmed, but the Ballers aren’t. That’s bound to tip the scales.
Doukas keeps looking at me in a way I haven’t witnessed before. He looks furious, worried, and afraid all in one.
“I swear…I’ll kill you with my bare hands,” Doukas says in an eerily low voice.
Makis laughs and points his gun straight at him, but Doukas’s eyes stare at the end of the barrel with contempt. I wish I shared some of his confidence. Fanaris pretends to shoot Doukas and cackles when his gun doesn’t go off.
“Not yet, my Lord. We have two more guests arriving.” A brief look passes between the brothers. “That’s right. We captured both Victoras and Giorgos a while ago. They should be arriving any moment now. I’m sorry to say, but the men you sent are all dead. A terrible accident, I heard they were burnt alive. All five of them.”
Doukas lunges at Fanaris, but one of his men points a rifle at him.
“I want you to listen to me carefully, Makis,” Alcaeus begins and crosses his arms. “We’re willing to forget everything and give you two million euros to rebuild your strip club. That should be more than enough, and that’s our only offer.”
I wonder how Alcaeus manages to negotiate with such calmness. No matter the reason, if we manage to get out of this alive, I’m going to cook for him for the rest of my life. Whatever he wants.
“Generous offer,” Makis mocks. “Generous offer indeed, but I have to decline. You see, I have infinitely more to gain once you’re all out of the picture. And your sister is quite the beauty, so that’s an added bonus. I intend to celebrate my victory with her once my men bring her to me,” he says with a leering smile before the butt of his gun smashes against my face.
Crying out, I fall to the ground. I don’t know if I blacked out or not, but when I open my eyes again, Doukas is closer, and blood trickles down his lips. My eyes fall on his bloody knuckles and wince. The only guard in front of me is cupping his bleeding nose, and it isn’t long before he’s walking away.
“I don’t often make promises, Makis,” Doukas says as he straightens to his full height. “But I vow that you will beg me to kill you weeks before I eventually do.”
Makis sways slightly. Judging from his hunched shoulders, I’d say Doukas’s words hit their mark. “You’re in no position to threaten me, Doukas Tremes.” He turns to me, but then something to our left draws his attention away. “Welcome, please join us.”
Giorgos and Victoras Tremes come forward. Their hands are bound behind their backs, and they’re followed by three masked men.
Fanaris chuckles. “You’re new, aren’t you? Lose the masks, boys. It’s not like we’d ever involve the cops.”
The two men directly behind Giorgos and Victoras look at each other briefly and obey, but the shortest of the three closest to me doesn’t make a move. He doesn’t pay Makis any attention, and he keeps fumbling with his phone.
“Come on, asshole, I don’t have all day,” Makis starts for the man, but before he reaches him, loud rumbling echoes somewhere behind the warehouse.
For a moment, nothing happens, but a few seconds later, a thick cloud of smoke rises from the other side of the warehouse.
“You two,” Makis bellows at his recently unmasked men. “Don’t just stand there. Go check.”
Thrasos and the two men inch closer to the sound, maintaining a safe distance before disappearing behind the building, and everyone’s eyes turn in that direction.
Everyone’s except Doukas. His red-rimmed eyes can’t hide the despair that matches my utter desolation. I want to look into those eyes forever, but the guard behind Giorgos and Victoras nears them dangerously close. His mouth moves as he says something to the two Lords before removing a hunting knife from behind him. His hands move swiftly as he cuts the ties and frees Giorgos and Victoras’s hands.
With a quick and well-practiced movement, the guard unzips his jacket, unholsters two handguns, and places them into the Lords’ hands.
Wait a minute! Since when do Fanaris’s goons have breasts?
“Hey, Zorro,” Fanaris says all of a sudden. “Don’t stand too close to the scums.”
“I’m not, Makis,” a sugary reply comes from behind the mask. She doesn’t even try to alter her voice to appear manly.
Fanaris’s face is priceless as his cocky smile freezes in place. “What did you say?”
Harmonia’s sneering face reveals itself. “I said that now that your men went exploring, I’m not standing close to scums.”
Without wasting a second, she runs towards her other brothers. The guard behind Icarus doesn’t have much time to react as she twirls her body and kicks him in the face, sending him tumbling back. I sit up as best as I can, just as Pumbaa—who happens to be Doukas’s guard—cuts her way and promptly punches her in the face.
Harmonia falls to her knees, clutching her head, but that beast of a man grabs her by the hair and lifts her. Tears fall down my face at the sight of her distress, and I want to look elsewhere, but I can’t.
“Bring her here,” Fanaris instructs, and soon a struggling Harmonia is standing in front of Fanaris. With an insidious grin, he cups her waist and removes the hunting knife from behind her back. “I’ll search you more thoroughly later,” he promises.
Harmonia snorts. “That would be highly ambitious of you.”
Fanaris’s nostrils flare, and he grabs her by the hair, promptly tossing her to the ground close to me. Without thinking, I inch closer, trying to offer her some comfort. Her beautiful face is red as it rests on my lap.
“I’m sorry, Harmonia,” I tell her as silent tears fall down her cheeks.
“Did you actually send a woman to defend you, Tremes?” Fanaris asks Alcaeus.
The Lord cocks his head to the side, eyeing Fanaris with a smug look. “But she’s not just a woman, is she? She’s one of the Lords.”
Mewling, Harmonia turns around and hugs me tightly. I wish I could hug her back. “Don’t move your hands,” she instructs in a hushed tone just as something cool brushes against my wrists.
The men are now yelling, but their words are just noise in my ears as Harmonia’s knife frees me from my binds.
“Can you stand?” she asks when I’m free.
Putting my hands on the ground, I try to get up, but I feel too weak. I shake my head. “N-no. I don’t feel very well. I’m sorry.” I try to muffle the sobs, but I’m not doing a good job.
“Shh, it’s all right,” Harmonia tries to soothe me, but she doesn’t succeed. “Listen to me, Ria,” she demands, and I reluctantly oblige. “Nothing will happen to you. I have five more weapons on me, and two of my brothers are armed, waiting for you to be out of firing range.”
Little by little, we shuffle behind a rain barrel close by.
“But there are more of them. They carry guns… and rifles,” I protest.
Surely even in her optimism, she can’t believe that the odds are in our favor.
Harmonia looks at the heated conversation a few meters away and smiles. “What they carry, Ria, is just useless metal.”
This girl doesn’t make any sense. “If that’s the case, why don’t your brothers react?”
“Because they don’t know,” she says on a sigh as she unties her hair from the low bun, removing a familiar metal object. “Here, take this. It’s loaded.”
Once again, the small handgun she so often hands me is in my hands. I have never fired a shot in my life, but I feel safer holding it. Harmonia squeezes my hand reassuringly and stands.
Horrified, I watch her running towards Fanaris, who still screams at my scowling Doukas. What is it with this family and their provoking attitude?
Pumbaa clocks her and rushes to her, but she evades him. “The sound was an EMP jammer bomb. Four men behind Alcaeus,” she screams the position of Fanaris’s men and tosses her handgun to Doukas.
In quick succession, Doukas fires at Pumbaa twice before tossing his gun to Alcaeus. Both his bullets find their target, and Pumbaa’s face is hardly there when his lifeless body lands on the floor.
“Kill them,” Fanaris screeches. “Kill them all.”
Doukas runs towards him and punches him clean across the face. Makis stumbles back as a sick crack echoes in the air. My Lord’s face is furious as he twists his body and kicks him in the solar plexus.
“You’re fucking dead,” Doukas booms.
Images of how Fanaris treated me last night come to my mind, and I can’t control my nausea. When all I’m left is ugly, retching sounds, I clutch my head and roll to the ground. Everything is a blur of Doukas assaulting Makis. My former captor no longer strikes back, only tries to protect himself from the next blow, but Doukas isn’t ready to let up.
I don’t know what happens next, but a moment—or maybe hours—later, Doukas kneels by my side, just like in my dream. Only this time, he doesn’t disappear. His knuckles find the uninjured side of my face.
I smile at him. “A boy to play with the girl.”
“Yes,” he agrees in a raspy voice, but even I know that I don’t make sense.
“You fucking bitch!” Veta’s cry echoes from the side. “You ruined everything with your stupid taverna. Thrasos just lost so much money because of you.”
The sun glimmers on the metal of the gun she’s pointing straight at Doukas’s head. No! It can’t end like this.
“Lower your gun, please,” I beg and try to stand, clutching my Lord’s shirt as tightly as I can, but Doukas doesn’t let me move from behind him, even now protecting me with his own body.
Judging by the look on Veta’s face, she won’t listen to my pleas.
“Say goodbye to your happy ending.”
All of a sudden, Harmonia is in front of us, kicking Veta’s gun away. My breath hitches as Veta lunges at Harmonia, trying to take hold of her hair. It’s easy to underestimate Doukas’s sister because her petite physique conceals her training. Planting her hands on the ground, Harmonia wraps her legs around Veta’s waist and slams her hard on the concrete.
My former friend wails hysterically on the dirt as Harmonia stands and faces us. It all happens too fast, but a few moments later, Veta raises her gun once again and fires the dreaded shot.
“Harmonia,” I scream and raise the gun in my hand to protect her.
I’m startled by a second gunshot that’s too loud, and I watch Veta’s body joining Harmonia’s on the floor.
“No, no, no!” Doukas cries, trying to reach his sister, but his brothers beat him to it.
I crawl closer and see her beautiful eyes blinking rapidly, unable to comprehend what’s going on. Victoras turns her on her side and rips her right sleeve, revealing a gush of blood.
“She shot me,” she says between ragged breaths, blinking rapidly. “She shot me, and I feel nothing.”
Icarus smiles fondly at his sister. “It’s the adrenalin, kid. You’ll feel it later.”
I try to see for myself, but I cannot move. My hands are frozen around the metal gun I’m holding.
“Veta,” I say, looking at the body of my former friend. Her face is still sneering as her vacant eyes are trained on me.
“Give me the gun, Ria,” Doukas says, prying my fingers away from the trigger. “Everything is going to be all right.”