Chapter 253: We’re Going To Greece

"Give us five minutes," Dimitri said.

He found Eve in the living room, standing near the window, looking out at the city one last time. She was dressed now, casual linen pants and a silk blouse that clung to her in a way that made his hand want to reach for her.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Almost." She turned to him. "We should say goodbye to Nonna."

They found Nonna in her small office on the third floor, Dimitri had created the space for her months ago, it serves as the command center of the entire penthouse where she handles the household expenses and the staffs. There were ledgers on the desk, her phone pressed to her ear, and she was giving instructions to someone on the other end about the dinner menu for the week.

When she saw them, she wrapped up the call quickly.

"I’ll call you back," she said into the phone.

She hung up and stood, moving around the desk with energy that made it clear her age was just a number. At seventy, Nonna had no intention of slowing down.

"You’re leaving," she said, looking at them both. Not a question. She always knew what was happening before anyone told her.

"Two weeks," Dimitri confirmed. "We’re going to Greece."

Nonna’s eyes lit up. She moved toward Eve first, pulling her into a hug that was warm and genuine. She smelled like the lavender she always wore, and her arms were strong when they wrapped around Eve’s shoulders.

"About time he took you somewhere nice," Nonna said in perfect English, pulling back to look at Eve’s face. "This man works too much. He needs to remember that life is for living, not just for fighting."

"I’m trying to remind him," Eve said, smiling.

"Keep trying, cara." Nonna patted her cheek. "He’s stubborn like his father, but underneath all that darkness, he has a good heart. Don’t let him forget that."

Then she turned to Dimitri, and her expression softened. She reached up and pulled his head down to her level, looking him in the eyes.

"You take care of her," Nonna said firmly. "I don’t care what wars you’re fighting or what enemies you have. She is not a weapon. She is a woman who loves you, and that is more valuable than anything you own. You protect that. You understand me?"

"I understand," Dimitri said.

"And you enjoy yourself for once in your life." She kissed his forehead. "No phones. No business calls. Just you and her and the ocean. Promise me."

"I promise."

She released him and stepped back, looking between them both. Then she smiled....the kind of smile that showed exactly what she must have looked like when she was young and beautiful.

"Go on," she said, waving her hand. "Before your crew starts wondering if you changed your mind. And take that woman shopping when you get there. She needs a break from all your darkness."

"She’ll have more than a break," Dimitri said.

"I’m sure she will." Nonna’s eyes sparkled with knowing amusement. "Now go. I have a kitchen staff meeting in ten minutes and I need to make sure Marco isn’t ordering too much wine again."

They left her there, already back to work, already giving orders to whoever picked up when she called downstairs.

The car ride to the private airfield was quiet. Eve’s hand rested on his thigh, and Dimitri kept one hand on her leg the entire drive, his thumb stroking the inside of her knee in lazy circles.

The tarmac was clear when they arrived, security having ensured that no photographers, no surveillance, nothing but the necessary personnel had access to this corner of the airfield. Marco coordinated the boarding process with the kind of efficiency that came from years of managing Dimitri’s movements.

The jet itself was a Bombardier Global 8000, a flying palace that had cost more than most small countries’ annual budgets. The interior was all cream leather and polished wood, with a master cabin that featured a bed instead of seats, a full kitchen, and a spa-like bathroom with a rainfall shower.

Dimitri guided Eve up the stairs and inside. She stopped just past the entryway, taking it all in.

"This is..." She turned to look at him. "This is insane."

"Only the best for you," he said simply.

The flight crew greeted them....professional, discreet, trained to be invisible. Captain Morrison confirmed their route and flight time. The main cabin attendant asked if they needed anything before takeoff.

Dimitri ordered champagne and instructed the crew to prepare the master cabin for sleeping, then waved everyone away.

The cabin sealed behind them...soundproof, private, a cocoon of luxury suspended between earth and sky.

"Come," he said, and pulled Eve toward the main seating area, four oversized leather chairs arranged around a table overlooking the tarmac through the cabin windows.

She settled beside him, her head tilting up as he pulled her close. His arm came around her, and she tucked herself against his side like that was exactly where she belonged.

"Thank you for bringing me," she said softly.

"I should have done it months ago." His hand found her chin, tilting her face up to his. "Should have taken you somewhere peaceful before the war started."

"The war’s always going to start," she said. "That’s who you are."

"Not in Greece," he said. "For two weeks, I’m just a man in love with a woman. That’s all I am."

The engines began to spool up. The sound of power building, the vibration of it traveling through the fuselage and into their bones. The jet began to taxi, rolling toward the runway.

Dimitri kept her pressed against him, watching out the window as the city began to fall away. The buildings getting smaller. The streets becoming lines. The life they were leaving behind receding into distance.

"Look," Eve whispered, pointing.

The skyline of New York stretched across the horizon, all those towers reaching toward the sky, all that power and money and ambition compressed into steel and glass. It was beautiful and brutal and exactly what they were escaping from.

The jet accelerated down the runway, faster and faster, until the wheels left the tarmac and they were airborne. The city tilted beneath them as Captain Morrison banked the plane toward the Atlantic.

Dimitri pulled Eve closer as they climbed, her head tucked under his chin, his hand stroking her hair with a gentleness that contradicted everything else about him.

"I love you," he said.

"I know," she replied. "And I love you too. Even the dark parts."

"Especially the dark parts," he corrected.

She tilted her head back to look at him, and he captured her mouth with his. The kiss was slow, thorough, a promise of everything that was coming. Not in the next hours on the jet. But in the days ahead. The nights beneath Greek stars. The way they would consume each other when there was nothing and no one else to think about.

When they broke apart, the coastline was already disappearing beneath the clouds.