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“But I’ve already won.”
“No. You won’t win until we’re all dead.”
Retsos’ smile gets deeper. “Then, let’s begin.”
Pulling a knife out of his back pocket, Retsos leans over and places it on the ground between us.
“Is that what you’re going to use to cut off these restraints?” I gulp.
“If you win,” he nods. “Otherwise…”
“Just get on with it!” I shout. “Hit me with your worse.”
“Let’s start easy,” Retsos teases. “The bombs that have been going off in this city, killing innocent people. You understand that it’s your fault, right?”
“Fucking amateur,” I hiss. “I know that it wasn’t my men who were setting off those bombs.”
“I never said it was,” Retsos smiles. “It was me.”
His confession hits me in the chest like a bulldozer.
“No…” For a moment, I have trouble breathing. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I’m not as cowardly as you think, dear princess. I only wanted peace for the sake of gaining power. And my idea of power is money. The second that your brave Castor broke down and told me where my treasure was hidden…”
“… Treasure?” I rasp, trying to fight back the dread clawing at my chest.
Retsos sucks his lips and shakes his head. “Castor was always so secretive around you. How could you have ever trusted a man who lied so much? Well, I won’t lie to you any longer, Sophia. Here’s the truth: all of those innocent people that have been dying from my bombs? It’s all because of you and Castor. Their blood is on your hands.”
“Bullshit,” I choke, trying to fight out of my restraints.
“I’m done with hiding the truth. I set off those bombs to threaten Leonid and his allies. Killing civilians is the best way to get them in trouble with the government they’ve so cowardly started to hide behind. I’m not afraid of the government, Sophia. I’m ready for them. So, when they come after us, I’ll be prepared, but your precious Leonid will not. The truth will tear him down, and in the rubble I will rise like a phoenix.”
“You are far too ugly to be a phoenix,” I sneer. “And I don’t see how this has anything to do with Castor.”
Claws of dread still lash at my heart, hurting for all of the innocent lives lost, but deep down I know it’s not really my fault. It’s Retsos’ fault. He’s the terrorist. The murderer. The psychopath.
He’s the one who planted the bombs. He’s the one who killed those people. The fact that he did it because I didn’t marry Leo doesn’t make it our fault.
“It has everything to do with Castor,” Retsos smirks. “Before he broke down and told me everything I wanted to know, I had to keep the peace, because peace was the only way for me to gain more power, to gather more wealth. But then he revealed where the treasure was, and—”
“You still haven’t told me what the fuck you’re talking about,” I interrupt. “What fucking treasure?”
“The treasure that has protected your life for twenty years, the treasure he stole from me to save you, the treasure that gave me the money to buy the army I wiped him out with tonight…”
“No!” I hear myself shout. “He’s not dead!”
“They’re all dead,” Retsos snarls. “The second I heard you were out of there, I sent in the nuclear option. The men I had waiting at the docks were but a fraction of the army I’ve bought. They were easily sacrificed.”
I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes, but I force them away. Retsos won’t win. He can’t.
“You’re lying.”
“I told you, bitch. I’m done with lying,” Retsos sneers. “So listen closely, because hopefully, this will be the last thing you ever learn. Are you ready, princess?”
“Fuck off!”
Ignoring me, Retsos begins. “Just before you were born, Sophia, your protector stole a vast amount of wealth from me and hid it away. The act was meant as a way to protect his own life—if I killed him, I’d never know where it was hidden—but really, he only wanted to stay alive so that he could save you from me. But Castor isn’t as tough as he once was. The old man broke down under my torture, and he told me where the money was. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to kill him before he escaped. But his weakness gave me the fortune I needed to go nuclear. Peace was no longer the only option for me. And that meant there was nothing to stop me from setting off those bombs, from buying my own army, from taking power…”
