The engine of my car hummed beneath me, a steady rhythm that contrasted with the chaos in my mind. The streets of Athens were nearly empty at this hour, the neon signs casting pools of colored light on the asphalt. I drove without thinking, my body on autopilot while my mind raced through what I'd discovered.
Five years of lies. Five years of humiliation.
And now, a plot to kill me.
I spotted the diner up ahead—a small, unremarkable place with a neon sign that read "Alex's 24 Hour Eatery." Perfect. No one from the Stephanopoulos circle would ever set foot in such an establishment. No one who knew me would think to look here.
I pulled into the small parking lot, cut the engine, and sat motionless for a moment. My hands were shaking—not from fear, but from a cold, controlled rage that had crystallized inside me since I'd overheard their conversation.
"They want me dead," I whispered to myself, testing the words. They felt strange on my tongue—surreal, yet terrifyingly real.
The diner was nearly empty when I walked in. A truck driver hunched over a plate of eggs at the counter. A young couple sharing fries in a corner booth. A waitress who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else than here at 2 AM.
I bypassed the main dining area and headed straight for the back, where I knew there would be a payphone. Old-fashioned, anonymous—exactly what I needed.
The phone was tucked into a small alcove near the restrooms, its metal surface scratched and dented from years of use. I fumbled in my purse for coins, my fingers closing around a handful of drachmas.
"Come on," I muttered, feeding the coins into the slot. "Come on."
I dialed Jeanne's number from memory—the one person in Athens I could trust completely. The one person who had never liked Demetris from the start.
The phone rang three times before she picked up.
"Who is this?" Her voice was thick with sleep but instantly alert.
"Jeanne," I said, my voice catching slightly. "It's Eva."
A pause. Then: "Eva? What the hell? Do you know what time it is?"
"I need you," I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. "I need you now. It's life or death."
The change in her voice was immediate. "Where are you?"
I gave her the address of the diner, and she didn't waste time with questions.
"Twenty minutes," she said. "Don't move."
The next nineteen minutes were the longest of my life. I sat in a corner booth, nursing a cup of terrible coffee that the waitress had reluctantly brought me. Every time the door opened, I flinched, half-expecting to see Eleni's cold face or Vassilis's smirk.
But it was Jeanne who walked through the door exactly nineteen minutes later.
She looked nothing like her usual self. Her dark hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and she wore sweatpants and an oversized hoodie—clearly thrown on in a hurry. But her eyes were sharp, taking in everything at once.
"Eva," she said, sliding into the booth across from me.
I hadn't realized how tightly I'd been holding myself until I sagged with relief at the sight of her.
"We can't talk here," I whispered, glancing around the diner. "Your car?"
She nodded once, her expression unreadable as she followed me outside.
Jeanne's car was a sleek black Audi—practical but expensive, like everything she owned. She unlocked it with a beep, and I slid into the passenger seat, the leather cool against my skin.
Only when the doors were closed and we were sealed in the private cocoon of her car did I finally let myself break.
"They want to kill me," I said, the words spilling out in a rush. "Demetris—he's sterile. He's known for years. And his mother—Eleni—she's been planning to murder me."
Jeanne didn't flinch. She didn't look shocked or disbelieving. She simply reached out and gripped my hand, her fingers warm and steady against my ice-cold ones.
"Tell me everything," she said. "From the beginning."
So I did.
I told her about finding the medical report hidden on the balcony. About the years of fertility treatments and monthly disappointments. About how I'd been blamed for something that was never my fault.
"They've been making me feel worthless," I said, my voice breaking. "Every Sunday dinner. Every family gathering. Eleni would look at me like I was dirt, and Demetris would just sit there and let her."
Jeanne's jaw tightened, but she remained silent, letting me get it all out.
"And now," I continued, "they're planning to drug me. To make it look like suicide. They want my inheritance."
I finally looked up at her, expecting to see shock or horror or maybe even pity.
Instead, Jeanne's eyes were burning with a cold, controlled fury that made me shiver.
"They think you're weak," she said, her voice low and dangerous. "They think you'll just roll over and die."
I shook my head, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "That's what they've been counting on. That's what they've been training me for—all these years of putting me down, making me doubt myself."
Jeanne's fingers tightened around mine. "Well, they're about to learn how wrong they are."
Something in her tone made me look up sharply. There was no pity in her eyes—only a fierce, protective anger that made me feel stronger just witnessing it.
"We're going to burn them to the ground," she said, each word precise and deadly.
For the first time since I'd discovered their plot, I felt something other than fear or shock. I felt a flicker of hope—and something darker, something that tasted like revenge.
"They think they're so clever," Jeanne continued, her mind already working. "But they've underestimated you. And they've definitely underestimated me."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, her thumbs flying across the screen.
"What are you doing?" I asked, watching as she typed furiously.
"Calling in reinforcements," she replied without looking up. "This isn't just about saving you, Eva. This is about making them pay."
I should have felt afraid of the cold determination in her voice. Instead, I felt something awakening inside me—something that had been dormant for too long.
"They're going to regret the day they decided to mess with Eva Papas," Jeanne said, her eyes meeting mine with deadly certainty.
And in that moment, sitting in the darkened car with my best friend by my side, I knew that everything was about to change.
