He grabbed their father by the back of the neck, forcing him to stand on the very edge of the platform. Raindrops streaked Nikos’s face, looking like tears, but his expression was flat.
Thea closed the distance, her pulse thundering in her throat. Together they stood on the precipice, the three surviving members of the Paris family, a blood war boiling over after twenty long years.
Nikos looked down at Max’s corpse. “He let emotion get the better of him.”
“Don’t make the same mistake.” Papa tried to writhe away from Nikos. “This is between you and me. Leave your sister out of it.”
Younger, stronger, her brother overpowered Papa. “Thea has a decision to make. She finally knows the truth, how your greed led to my kidnapping.”
Hope warred with terror in Thea’s gut. “I want to hear your story, do anything I can to help. I love you, Nikos.” Maybe she could find a way to stop him.
“More than you love him?” Her brother’s eyes brimmed with pain.
“I’m the one who let you down.” Her words were honest, raw. “If I’d been able to scream for help that night, you’d never have been taken. I’m so sorry.”
“That’s not the point. If you had been the one kidnapped, your life would’ve been destroyed, and all because of our father’s greed.”
“That night will haunt me forever. I know I can never make it up to you, but I’ve tried every day since.”
“I never wanted your pity, Thea. I wanted love and acceptance from my sister and father. You gave me that. He didn’t.”
Papa’s voice held remorse. “I did everything I could for you, son, but—”
“You considered me damaged goods from the moment you read my story. And we wouldn’t want to sully the great Paris name, would we?”
“You’re wrong, Nikos. I did what I could to protect you.”
“And that’s why you sent me to the loony bin. Then away to that school for troubled kids. Because you loved me so much.”
Papa looked as if he was at war with himself. “You needed help.”
“Help from strangers wasn’t what I needed. I wanted my family to stand by me.”
Papa’s eyes bulged. “It wasn’t safe to have you with us. For Christ’s sake, Nikos, I covered up a murder for you.”
Thea felt sucker-punched. “Murder? What murder?”
Nikos glanced at her. “Our nanny. She was a bully.”
All the air left her lungs. Allison had been a stern, unforgiving taskmaster, not popular with her or her brother, but she’d never hurt them. The woman’s sudden disappearance made a sick sense now.
“When I left Oba’s camp, I had a mission in life: to restore balance in the world by destroying bullies.”
“There are many ways to make the world a better place, but killing people is never the answer.” Papa spoke slowly, as if to a child.
“Justice is a hard game. Playing by the rules doesn’t work. Ares made a difference.”
Ares? So he justified being an arms dealer as a way to fight bullying? It was as if he was still twelve and just back from his abduction. He was the hero in his own story, but his quest was twisted.
Christos’s face reddened. “You’re no Robin Hood, just a common criminal.”
Nikos laughed, a short bark devoid of humor. “You’re the epitome of greed and a bully. That’s why I won’t let you have Kanzi.”
Christos snaked his hand into a coiled pile of cords and harnesses. “Too late. Kanzi is already in my pocket. Prime Minister Kimweri and I made a deal weeks ago. The negotiations were only for show.”
Papa had faked his own kidnapping, but not because he was afraid of Nikos. He’d wanted to beat Nikos at his own demented game.
With all her insight and ability to read others, Thea had been blinded to the true character of the two people closest to her. She understood Nikos’s damage. He’d been through hell and couldn’t find his way back. Her father didn’t have that excuse.
She needed to force her roiling emotions aside and de-escalate the situation. “We’re family. We have to find a way to work this out.”
Nikos’s voice trembled with emotion. “Time to choose, Thea. Him or me.”
The frustrated boy who’d felt abandoned by his father, the child soldier who’d had to murder innocents, the arms dealer who sold weapons to foment rebellion—could she appeal to the brother she loved, the one who’d always protected her?
“Who’s the bully now, Nikos?”
But her brother was beyond that kind of self-reflection.
“Good-bye, Papa,” he said. He shoved their father closer to the edge, but Christos dropped to his knees, spreading himself on the platform so it would be difficult to push him off. One hand grabbed the side railing; the other clutched one of the bungee cords.
Nikos kicked him hard in the side, then forced his legs off the edge. Christos lost his grip on the railing and grappled for the platform but couldn’t quite reach it. He pulled the cord he’d grabbed with him as his body weight worked against him, dragging him over the side.