Alex’s mother sat her napkin on her lap and exhaled.  “We always have to wait for him.  It is as if he runs things.  I don’t know why Elasaid is so solicitous.”

“Be kind, Leda,” said Jabari Drakos.  He was one of the two new faces that sat at the dinner table.  Both were Elasaid’s brothers.  “We need him.”

“After what he did to Odysseus?” Leda responded.  “I do not see why!”

Odysseus was at the table too, wearing dark shades now, and did not comment.  His father, however, was smiling.  “Alexio put Oz in his place.  Something I have been trying to do for some time now.  There is nothing wrong in that.”

“I am in agreement with Leda,” said Maximus Drakos, Elasaid’s younger brother.  “We can handle this, with the right strategy.  To dredge him up from America seems excessive to me.  Where is he now, anyway?”

“He’s so busy fucking that black girl, he doesn’t have time for his own family,” Leda said.  “And that’s the only reason he wants her: to fuck her.”

Jabari smiled.  “That can’t be the only reason, Leda,” he said, “or he would not have brought her here.”

“The only reason!” Leda said forcefully.  “What else does Alexio want with any woman?  And to bring that one to my home!  At least Linda came from a good family, and he would never bring her here.  But from what I’ve discovered about the black girl, she is pure porni!  She was underprivileged.  She came from a horrid family.  She had a child when she was but fifteen years old!”

“So did Zylena,” Oz said quietly.  “But, of course, we do not talk about that.  Appearances, appearances.  Right, Mother?  As the first family of Fiskardo, and all of the Greek underworld, we must keep up appearances.”  He looked at his mother.  “At least the American kept hers.”

The room went still when Oz tossed that grenade, and when they heard footsteps on the stairs it became more of a chance to move on, than a chance to admonish Alex for his tardiness.

And when Alex arrived in the dining hall, with Kari at his side, the entire family, including Oz, and even Leda, rose to their feet.  Kari was surprised by such a gesture.

She was still feeling the effects of Alex’s enormous sexual appetite, not to mention his enormous penis, and was pleasantly drained, but drained nonetheless, from the hard, sexual beating he had just put on her.

That was why she was glad to lean against him, not only for clarity as they made their way toward the table, but for strength.  “Why are they standing?” she asked him.

“I was my father’s number two in command,” Alex responded.  “You stand for father, and his number two.  It is meant to show respect.”

“They respect you that much, even though you’re no longer the number two?” Kari asked.

“They need me that much,” replied Alex.  “They want me to return to being his number two.”

Kari didn’t like the sound of that, but after what she witnessed him doing to his brother earlier, she understood why they would want to pull out the stops to get a man like Alex back.  Alex said it wasn’t going to work; that there was no way he was going back in, and she prayed he was able to keep his word.

“Welcome home, Nephew,” said Jabari happily.  “So great to see you again!  And I see you have a guest with you.  A beautiful, American guest.”

“Let’s not overstate the matter, Jabari,” Alex’s mother chimed in.  “American, yes.  Beautiful?”  She rocked her hand from side to side.  “Eh.”

Kari heard the slight, but ignored it.  That woman just wanted to get a rise out of them.  She was pleased that Alex understood what she was doing and ignored it, too.

Although Elasaid sat at the head of the table furthest away from the entrance, Alex’s seat was reserved at the head of the table nearest the entrance.  He and Kari stood there.

“Please introduce us,” Jabari said.

“This is my girlfriend, Karena Grant,” Alex said to his uncle.  “Kari,” he said to his woman, “these are my uncles: Jabari and Maximus Drakos.”

Kari smiled and nodded in their direction.  “Nice to meet you.”

“Very nice to meet you,” said Jabari.

Maximus only nodded back at her.

And then Alex sat Kari down in the empty chair to the right of his chair, and then he sat down at the head of the table.  The rest of the family sat down, too.

“Elasaid is always telling us how well you are doing in America,” Jabari said.  “He says you made your fortune and never looked back.  I read about you in the magazines.”  He grinned.  “The billionaire playboy, eh?”

“Have you ever known me to play, Uncle Jabari?” Alex asked him.

Jabari laughed.  “No indeed!  Odysseus?  All the time.  You?  Never!”

Elasaid and Maximus joined in the laughter.  Alex smiled too.   He and his uncle used to be two of the biggest players in Greece, and they all knew Jabari was only kidding.  Although Kari didn’t know this history, she, for one, was happy to see Alex smile.  It was one of the few genuine smiles she had seen him express since their arrival in Fiskardo.

“Now,” said Elasaid, picking up a bell by his side and tinkling it, “let’s eat!”

 Immediately the servants arrived from the kitchen with bowls of food as if they had been standing on the other side of the door waiting for the bell.    And dinner was served.

 

But after dinner, Alex knew they would get down to business.  His uncles Jabari and Maximus never broke bread with the family unless there was family business to discuss.  Both worked for Elasaid, but neither were particularly in love with their oldest brother’s management style.  Getting down to the brass tacks time, Alex thought, was going to be difficult.  But it occurred as soon as the meal had been eaten.

Alex was still dabbing his mouth with his napkin when Elasaid looked at him.  “Perhaps the women would prefer to go into the drawing room?” he asked.

Kari found such a request objectionable in and of itself, but she didn’t have to speak it.  Alex did for her.  “Whatever you have to say, you may say it in front of Karena.  She is well aware of what our family is about.”

“But it is one thing to know about our family,” Elasaid responded.  “It is another thing to know about our family’s activities.  Unless,” he added, “you are telling us here and now that she is going to be a permanent part of our family.”

Kari’s heart began to pound.  She didn’t even look Alex’s way.  How in the world, she wondered, would he respond to that?

“Whatever you have to say,” was all Alex would respond, “you may say it in front of Karena.”

For a small part of Kari, it was a bit of a letdown to be sure.  But for the bigger part of her, she was glad Alex wasn’t ready to go that far.  Because, in truth, she wasn’t ready either.  Besides, this family, in her opinion, didn’t deserve to be the first to know their future plans anyway. 

But that very family saw it differently.  The fact that Alexio told them to carry on, meant an elevation for Kari in their eyes.  It meant, as they saw it, that she was no ordinary piece of ass to Alexio.  She had already survived an ambush with him.  They also knew about the fact that she once dated a mobster herself.  And they all knew Alexio, for all of his disagreements with them, would never place the family in any jeopardy by bringing just anybody around them.  She was somebody, they all understood, that Alexio trusted.

Besides, it wasn’t as if they could object.  Alexio said she could hear it all, then she was going to hear it all.  End of discussion.  That was the way it was with Alexio: if he wanted it to be a certain way, it was that way.  Even back in the day, when Alexio was in the syndicate, Elasaid always, but always, deferred to him.

This time was no different.

“We’re at war,” Elasaid said to his eldest offspring.

Alex had already figured that much out.  War, like pollution, was in the air all around the place.  “With whom?” he asked, not even bothering to look his father’s way.

To Alex’s surprise, his father didn’t respond.  Alex looked at him.  “With whom?” he asked again.

“With everybody,” Oz responded.

Even Kari was shocked to hear that response.  She looked at Oz.

Alex, however, looked at his uncles first, who both ranked higher than Oz, and then at his father.  “What is that supposed to mean?” Alex asked him.

“It means what he said,” responded Elasaid.  “We are at war.”

“With everybody?”

Elasaid nodded.  “Yes.”

Alex couldn’t believe it.  He was surprised, but not shocked.  “What did you do?” he asked his father.

But Elasaid was suddenly defensive.  “Why would you ask me that, Alexio?  Why are you always so judgmental?  I did nothing wrong!  I have a family to protect.  While you are off in America sowing your wild oats, I’m here protecting the family!  I did nothing wrong!”

“What did you do, Father?” Alex asked again.

Elasaid still wouldn’t respond.

But Jabari would.  “He called for the elimination of the heads of the families,” he said.

It was Alex’s time to be shocked.  He looked at his uncle.  “He what?”

“He called for the elimination of the heads of the families,” Maximus said.  “And took them all out.”

In the Greek Mafia, there were six prominent families.  The head of the food chain was the Drakos crime family, a family known for its unusual viciousness in an already vicious game.  But it wasn’t a blowout.  All the other families ranked just beneath them.

Alex first looked at Oz.  “You went along with this?” he asked him.

But Oz said nothing.  He just stared at his father.

Alex looked at his father, too.  He knew he could be ruthless, but this was taking it to an entirely different level.  “You ordered the elimination of all five leaders of the families?” he asked his father.

“I had no choice, did I?” his father responded with an edge in his voice.  “What else was I supposed to do?  Let them muscle me out?  Let them make me irrelevant in an underworld I created?!  What the fuck was I supposed to do?”

Elasaid had to calm down.  His wife even placed her hand over his hand.  She was worried about him.

Then he continued on.  “After I took out the heads, I assumed they would come to me.  That’s the way it’s done in our country.  How was I to know that they would combine forces as one against me?  How was I to know that instead of coming to me, they were coming for me?”

  Alex just sat there.  Kari could see his jaw tightened, and his entire body go into that tense place where rage bubbled just beneath the surface.

Then finally, Alex spoke.  But his look was just as perplexed as it was angry.  “Why would you do such a thing, Papa?” he asked him, calling him the name his siblings still called their father.  “Why would you put your family in this kind of harm’s way?”

“I had no choice!” Elasaid said again.  “They were attempting to muscle me out.  Me!”

“Muscle you out of what?”  Alex asked.  A fixed frown was on his troubled face.  “Territory?”

“If only it was that simple,” said his father.

“Then what is it?” Alex asked.

Oz spoke up.  “They made an attempt to bribe officials and muscle Papa out of the profits from the upcoming International Games.  They will be held in Greece for the first time in decades.  Every family was clamoring to get their piece of the pie.  The other five families tried to take our piece, too.”

“You see?” Elasaid asked.  “What choice did they give to me?  If they would have removed my shot at all contracts, where would we be as a family?  If I allowed them to take me out of contention, then what relevancy would I have?  It would be a feeding frenzy on us!  Everybody would challenge me.  We wouldn’t stand a chance of survival!  I had to do what I did.”

“But all five heads?” Alex asked.  “If there is a challenge to your authority, you take out one.  One should be enough.  If not, then another one.  That would send the message loud and clear.  But you took out all of them?  The only message that could send is war.  Total war!”

Then a voice came over the home’s emergency intercom system.  All calls were screened at the front gate before they could be dispatched to the family home.  It was the security chief.  “Sir,” he said in a hurried voice, “a call just came in that you must hear.”

The family all looked at Elasaid.  He must hear it?  It had to be serious.  “Dispatch it through,” Elasaid ordered.

As soon as the call was dispatched through, all that could be heard was screaming.  The blood curling screams of Zylena Drakos!

“Papa, voithiste me!” she cried over the phone.  (Papa, help me! she cried over the phone).  Every man at the table jumped to their feet.  It was only then did Kari actually realize that Zylena wasn’t at the dinner table.

 “Oi oikogeneies me piran!” Zylena was screaming.  (The families took me, Zylena was screaming). “Voithiste me!  Voithiste me!  Voithiste me, Papa!”  (Help me!  Help me!  Help me, Papa!)

“Where is she?” Oz urgently asked his mother.

“She said she was staying in for tonight,” said her mother.  “At her villa.  But you know how Zee sneaks out to be with those boys.”

All of the men, including Alex, ran out of the dining hall.

Kari was about to rise to go with them, but Leda sat her back down.  “You must wait here,” she said to Kari, her face now showing her distress.

“Where are they going?” Kari asked.  She was distressed too.

“To track her,” said Leda.  “And no woman is allowed in the tracking room.”

Kari found it strange that a man like Alex would be a party to a no-women-allowed room, but what did she expect?  Alex had already warned her, before they even arrived in Greece, that his family was not as good as the Brady Bunch family.  But after what she heard at that dinner table, and what the father admitted to doing right in front of her, the Brady Bunch her foot.  These people weren’t even as good as the Manson family!

She sat back down.