Alex walked Kari to their villa and closed the door behind them.  She could see the strain on his face, and it was a different kind of stress than she’d ever seen on him before.  It looked as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and the weight of being responsible for her as well.  And she knew, in that moment, that Alex was back in the game.

“This was not the way I envisioned this trip would be,” he said to her.

“What are you planning to do?”

“After they release Zee, then Oz and I, along with our two uncles, are going to meet with the families,” he said.

Terror gripped Kari and she was about to speak her concerns, but Alex placed his finger to her lips. “It is non-negotiable, honey,” he said.  “I have no choice in this matter.”

“The same way your father had no choice in what he did?” Kari asked.

“In this world, as you know how it was in Vito Visconni’s world, yes.  The same way my father believed he had no choice.”

Kari gripped his shirt.  “But it’s dangerous, Alex.” She said this with pain in her big, brown eyes.

Alex smiled a smile that produced wrinkles on the side of his tired blue eyes.  “Nothing will happen to me,” he said.  “These men I know.  What my father did was unconscionable, but what they tried to do was unconscionable too.”

Kari frowned.  “What did they try to do?  Squeeze him out of profiting from those upcoming International Games?”

“They are almost as big as the Olympics,” Alex said.  “The money they generate will be enormous.  If the Drakos family does not participate, my father is right: they will be challenged and ultimately eliminated.  He had to set them straight.”

“I understand something had to be done.  But all of them, Alex?”

Alex frowned and shook his head.  “It was a terrible decision.  An awful decision.”  Then he exhaled.  “But it’s done now.  And all I can do is get my sister back and try as hard as I can to agree to terms that will diminish my family’s standing in the underworld, but will not put them at any more risk than they already are.”

Kari studied his face.  “You feel you owe them that much?”

Alex shook his head.  “I don’t owe them shit.  But Odysseus did not launch such an elaborate scheme to get me here for no reason.  He knew, as I know, that I am their only hope of survival.  I have to negotiate a truce.  That is the least I can do.”

“And if your father won’t accept it?” Kari asked.

“He’ll accept it.”

“But if he won’t, Alex?”

“Then he will die.  He’ll accept it.”

Kari nodded.  But still she hated that Alex had to do their bidding!

Alex placed his hands on her arms.  “I brought you here so that you could get an unvarnished view of who you are interested in being with,” he said.  “I needed you to know every side of me.  The good side, which you and Jordan helped to bring to the forefront, but also the bad and the ugly sides, too.  Greece contains the bad and the ugly sides.  You had to see this to decide if you can live with a man with this side, too.”

“How long before you have to leave?” Kari asked.

It was an odd question to ask after Alex had exposed his inner thoughts to her, at least from his perspective.   “The meeting won’t be for another couple hours.  But I’ll need to prepare.”

“Then I need to ask you something,” Kari said.

“Ask away,” Alex said.  “You have my undivided attention.”

“It may be a crazy time to bring it up.”

“Welcome to my world,” Alex said with a smile.  “Crazy is normal in my world.  So whatever your question is, it will fit right in.”

Kari smiled too.  “I was brought up in a rough part of Miami,” she said.  “My father was a drug dealer.  I hooked up with a made man in the mob.  I know what this life can be like.  Maybe not on this scale, but I know the life.  But I don’t know what this is.”

Alex was confused.  “What what is?” he asked.

“Us, Alex.  You and me.  I’ve never been in a relationship like this.  You brought me into this world to see if I’m hard enough to take it, but we haven’t even discussed where we stand.  I don’t know where this is headed.  I don’t even know if we have an exclusive relationship right now.”

Alex nodded and squeezed her arms.  “I thought, after that referendum passed in Florida and I was granted the right to build my casino and hotel, there would be a settling down period for us to talk about our relationship and how we wanted to proceed.  But then those assassination attempts changed the equation again, and caused me more distraction.  But we’ll talk, Karena.  I promise you that.”

“If we were to become exclusive,” Kari said, “and I’m not saying we are now, but if we were to become exclusive, are there many?”

“Many what?”

“Are there many women you’ll need to have a conversation with.”

Alex hesitated before responding.  Then he responded.  “Not as many as the tabloids would have you believe,” he said.  “But yes.”

Kari felt a jolt of reality slink through her body.  Alex was all but saying, in so many words, that they were moving toward that totally exclusive relationship, but he also seemed to suggest that they weren’t there yet.  But why was he bringing her here, and exposing his entire other side to her?  Was he trying to make sure she was tough enough first?

But then he reached into his pocket, pulled out a loaded revolver, and handed it to Kari.  He knew she was tough. But could she survive his family?  “While I’m gone,” he said, “I want you to keep it with you at all times.  Trust no one.  Open this door for no one but me.  I don’t care if my father bangs this door down, you aim it as if you plan to use it, you hear me?  While I’m gone, it’s your job to keep yourself alive.”

Kari thought about Jordan.  “Don’t worry,” she said.

Alex nodded too.  “I know I can depend on you, Kari.  No harm will come to you, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

Kari grabbed his shirt lapel.  “You listen to me, Alexio Drakos.  You don’t be in that meeting worrying about me.  I can take care of myself.  I survived Vito’s bullshit, remember?”

Alex smiled.

“I know I can survive your family’s.”  Then she frowned.  “I need you to survive them,” she said.  “I need you to survive that meeting.”

A surge of emotion overtook Alex, and he pulled Kari into his arms.  He had so much baggage to clean up to be with this woman that it seemed daunting no matter how he looked at it.  She didn’t know the half of that part of his life!  He still was certain she didn’t know what she was getting into, and if he was half the man he ought to be he would have not allowed her to get involved with him at all.  But he already felt as if he was too far gone.  This early, and he already felt that way.  But one thing he knew for certain: Kari Grant was tough enough.  He was certain she was up for the challenge.

He continued to hold her, even after he knew it was time to get ready.