ADIRA

During the ride to my apartment, sans the usual bickering between me and Iason, I couldn’t help but admit that things, had, in fact, changed between me and Andronikos. The thought that he’d definitely go back to his aloof self around me scared me a little, but I decided not to dwell on it too much.

As I walked into my apartment, I heard music coming from my room—a sure sign that Pen had already made herself at home. Iason, under orders from Andronikos, trailed behind me like a pesky fly. I told him he didn’t need to come, but getting rid of him was like trying to take a bone from a dog’s mouth. Impossible.

“Pen, I’m here,” I called out.

I heard commotion from my room before she emerged in her favorite comfort outfit—cut-off jeans and a tank top—squealing loudly.

“Addy!” she screamed, jumping on me in excitement. I laughed, realizing how much I missed her boisterous nature. My life had felt moody without her.

“I missed you, Pen,” I said, hugging her for a little longer than usual. Sensing that I needed comfort, she held me tightly, until I finally let go.

“Are you okay?” she asked, concern etched on her face as she grabbed my shoulders and studied me.

The question gave me déjà vu. But this time, I was going to tell her everything. Well, not everything, because of omerta, but as much as I could without the risk of her being roped into my fucked-up situation.

“Let’s go back to the room,” I replied, grabbing her hand and heading toward my room.

A throat-clearing sound reminded me I didn’t come alone.

“Oh, right. Pen, this is Iason,” I said, gesturing toward him while still holding Pen’s hand. “He’s my… bodyguard?”

Both them gave me questioning looks: Pen, confused, and Iason, giving me a deadpan really? Expression.

I shrugged. What did he expect me to say? That we’re married?

“And Iason, this is—”

“Penelope. A pleasure to meet you, koukla,” he interrupted, stepping forward to take Pen’s free hand and pressing a kiss to it like he hadn’t been ready to blow her head off a while back. And did he just call her a doll?

The sly bastard.

Pen’s eyes widened at the full use of her name. Nobody called her that except her deadbeat father, but that’s a story for another day. She quickly recovered though, smiling slowly, a seductive curve of her lips that told me she was definitely planning to fuck him at some point.

“Hi, Iason. Nice to meet you, too,” she said, practically eye-fucking him.

Yeah, not happening.

“Okayyy… I’m just going to pretend I didn’t see that,” I cringed at the thought of them hooking up. “Come on Pen, let’s go,”

Dragging her away from Iason before she jumped him, I slammed the door to my bedroom and turned to her.

“Nope. Not him. Find someone else.”

She pouted, her big brown eyes widening as she gave me her infamous puppy-dog look. “But he’s so pretty Addy. And did you see the way he was looking at me? He was absolutely feral.” She twirled her hair around her fingers, a dreamy look on her face—the one she always got when she found a new conquest.

I sighed. There was no convincing her out of this one. Hopefully, a one-night stand will be enough to get him out of her system.

“Do you want the details or not?” I said, hopping onto the bed and crossing my legs under me.

She snapped out of her reverie, and joined me, ready to listen as I told her everything—well, almost everything. I told her about the chaotic meeting at the club, being forced to live with him, and, of course, last night.

Her reactions matched every twist of the story, and by the end, she was holding me tightly, actual running down my face.

I sighed, exasperated. “Why are you crying now, Pen?”

She looked up at me, cleaning the corners of her eyes dramatically. “I mean, it’s not fair. You get to live the dark-and-handsome dream life before I do.”

I blinked. Once. Twice.

“I’m just kidding. Maybe.”

We both stared at each other for a moment before breaking into hysterical laughter.

When the laughter subsided, Pen took my hand and looked at me earnestly. “You have to move on, Adira. He’s a bastard anyways for treating you like that. Don’t let him dull your sparkle.”

“Thank you, Penny,” I said, giving her a heartfelt hug. “I really needed that.”

“Anytime Addy.”

We hugged for a while before Pen spoke up.

“So, what’s that hunk’s number?”

This girl, I thought with a laugh.

********************************************

Two days. Two days, and I haven't seen him.

No, I'm not going to say his name. I'll just ignore him.

And how has that been working out for you?

Shut up brain. Ugh. I can't today. Not with the overthinking, and definitely not with Andronikos.

Damn it, I said his name. You know what? Fuck it.

To stop thinking about him, I buried myself in work, focusing on the company's monthly operational expense reports.

It was supposed to be a routine review, just one of those mind-numbing tasks to pass the time, but something caught my eye. Expenses in the real estate division were... off. The numbers weren't just higher; they were frighteningly odd.

Initially, I'd thought it was due to expansion efforts. Real estate was an important division of the company, constantly growing, with properties being acquired here and there. But on digging deeper, a pattern cropped up: hugely inflated purchase prices and vendor names that were completely unfamiliar to me. It didn't sit right. The record didn’t sit right with me at all.

My suspicions increasing, I asked for itemized invoices from the finance team. Within the hour, a neat file landed on my desk courtesy of the CFO, who had also flagged similar concerns.

Fucking hell, I thought, fear bubbling to the surface.

I picked up the phone and called the company's CFO.

"Have you noticed anything amiss in the company's real estate accounts?" I asked, my temper rising at the thought that he hadn’t reported this to me sooner.

There was a pause before he answered me, and in my line of work, that was usually never a good sign.

"Actually yes. I've been meaning to bring it up. Some of the recent property acquisitions seem suspicious. A few vendor names aren't in our system, and some payments were flagged for irregularities. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, too soon."

I gripped my head in frustration. "You didn't..." Fuck. "Get me everything you have on these transactions—approval histories, vendor records, payment timelines—every single fucking thing. And do it quietly. If this is what I think it is, we might have a colossal problem on our hands. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am. I'll send the files to you as soon as possible." he said.

An hour later, I had everything laid out on my desk. As I started sifting through the files, the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place.

Someone was stealing from my family. Somehow, I'd missed it, but someone—presumably within the real estate division—was siphoning money from the company, threatening everything my dad and I had worked so hard to build.

My father can’t know about this— at least not yet. But I was going to find the person or people responsible for this no matter what it takes.