“True. I taunted my captors with the knowledge all the time. That the wrath of the Antoniou family was going to rain down on them.” A vengeful smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “And it did.”
“And now you protect them with the same drive.” Her eyes shone with admiration. “You take care of every relative no matter how faint the blood connection.”
“Not Pagonis. He may have been my biological father but he had me kidnapped. All to get my mother’s fortune.” Stergios felt the bile rise as he thought of the man. Pagonis hadn’t considered how it would traumatize his son. “He deserved to die in prison.”
She rested her head against the back of the sofa and watched the flames dance in the fireplace. “I suspect you never told anyone what happened during your ordeal. You needed to spare them the details.”
He gave her a startled look. Jodie understood him too well. His silence had been his way of protecting his family from the unpalatable truth. “The less they know, the better.”
She stroked his clenched hand. “What happened that made you hate the dark?”
“I know the dangers that the night holds.” He had overcome every one of them. “But it’s nothing to what the darkness had revealed inside me.”
“I don’t understand.”
The truth pressed against him, ready to break free, but he had learned to keep it to himself. “Everything I knew and believed in changed in one night.” He spoke slowly as the words did not come easily. “We often camped in the wilderness. I had been left outdoors, chained and caged.”
He remembered the metal rattle of his prison. His kidnappers liked to drag their weapons against the bars. The overwhelming clatter reverberated in his ears and he was stuck in that time and place until Jodie squeezed his hand.
“One of my captors...” Stergios paused as he tried to purge the face from his memory. “He thought I was easy prey. I was young and trapped. But I fought back.”
“You had no choice,” Jodie said.
The memories started to collide. It had happened quickly and he had no time to think or strategize. It had all been instinctual. “I almost killed him. I probably would have if his coconspirators hadn’t stepped in.”
“It was self-defense.” Jodie didn’t look horrified or shocked. She didn’t draw back in fear. Instead she leaned closer. “You were just a child and he wanted to hurt you.”
“I saw how much damage I could cause at a young age.” Stergios could still feel the warm blood and hear the echoing screams. “I didn’t know there was so much violence and rage inside me. That night I discovered what I could do when I am cornered.”
“Why do you let people think you’re afraid of the dark? It’s not true.”
“There’s some truth in it. I avoid being in a position where I can’t see potential threats. But it’s easier for them to accept that I hate the dark. They don’t want to dig deeper and I don’t want them to know that the darkness is a trigger. It reminds me what I had to do to survive.”
Their gaze connected and she didn’t look away. He was caught in the depths of her blue eyes. He didn’t move, didn’t speak. For one infinitesimal moment, he found the peace he had been searching for.
“What happened after you fought back and wounded that man?” Jodie asked. “Your captors must have punished you.”
“Ne, it’s how I got this scar.” He gestured at his mouth.
Jodie moved closer and brushed her thumb against his lip. “It didn’t stop you from fighting back again, did it?” she whispered.
Her touch broke the spell. “Careful, pethi mou.” He wrapped his fingers around her wrist but he didn’t pull her hand away. “I am no gentleman. I am an animal. I am red in tooth and claw.”
There was no fear in her eyes. Jodie didn’t listen to his warning. Didn’t care. The tenderness in her gaze left him unsettled. He slowly set her hand away from him.
“Don’t worry, Stergios. Your secret is safe with me,” she promised.
He leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Why not?” she asked as she drew back. “You had to tell someone. It’s not something you want to share with your family. They already feel so guilty they couldn’t protect you during that time.”
“I don’t know why I told you.” He knew it was a moment of weakness that he was going to regret.
“Because you don’t see me as family,” Jodie said as she rose from the sofa. “You don’t need to protect me.”