I smiled. “Fine. Ask Agathi, if you don’t believe me. She’ll tell you.” I glanced at her. “Go on. Tell them.”
Agathi met my gaze, unblinking. “Tell them what?”
I frowned. “Tell them the truth. Tell them Lana’s alive—”
Agathi spat in my face. “Murderer.”
I gasped, stunned. “Agathi—”
“You killed her.” Agathi crossed herself. “May God forgive you.”
I was incredulous—and furious. I wiped my face. “What the fuck are you playing at? Stop it, now. Tell them the truth!”
But Agathi just stared at me with an insolent look.
So I controlled my anger and turned to Jason. “Come on. Let’s go back to the house. You’ll find Lana, alive and well—knocking back vodka, smoking Kate’s fags, and—”
Jason punched me in the face. His fist connected with my jaw. The blow sent me staggering backward.
I took a moment to steady myself. My hand went to my throbbing, aching jaw. The pain was intense. It hurt to speak.
“I think you broke my jaw.… Fuck.”
“I’m just getting started, mate,” he said, grimly.
“For Christ’s sake.” I glared at Agathi. “Happy now? Satisfied? Now will you tell this fucking moron it’s just a joke—？”
Jason punched me again. This time, the blow caught the side of my head, knocking me off-balance. I stumbled, falling onto my hands and knees. Blood spurted from my nose onto the sandy stone floor.
I gasped, trying to catch my breath. I had been thrown off-balance psychologically, as well as physically. I needed to adjust to this situation’s rapidly getting out of control. I could hear them talking above my head—and what I heard was unsettling, to say the least. They sounded weirdly excited, almost high.
“Well,” said Jason. “Are we doing this? Yes or no?”
“We have no choice,” said Kate. “He killed her. It’s justice.”
“And what do we tell the police?”
“The truth—Elliot shot Lana … then he shot himself.”
They had temporarily lost their minds—and I didn’t believe for one second that they would actually go through with it. But despite reassuring myself, I was starting to feel scared. I had to get out of this.
I pulled myself to my feet. I forced a smile, despite my aching jaw.
“Bravo. Quite a performance, guys. You almost got me.… But this charade has gone on too long. Let me give you a tip. You mustn’t let the final act drag on forever—you lose your audience.”
With that, I turned to go—
And I heard a dull thud. Then felt a crippling, spreading pain in my lower back. Nikos had hit me from behind with the handle of the gun. I sank to my knees with a groan.
“Hold him,” said Jason. “Don’t let him go.”
Nikos grabbed my shoulders, holding me down, on my knees. I struggled to free myself.
“Get the fuck off me! This is insane! I’ve done nothing wrong—”
They surrounded me. I could hear them above my head, talking in whispers.
“Justice?” said Jason.
“Justice,” repeated Kate.
Starting to panic, I squirmed, fighting to turn my head to Agathi. I appealed to her. “Why are you doing this? You proved your point, okay? I’m sorry—now stop!”
But Agathi wouldn’t look at me. “Justice.” She translated the word into Greek for Nikos: “Dikaiosyni.”
“Dikaiosyni.” Nikos nodded. “Justice.”
Jason nodded at the gun in Kate’s hands. “He needs to be holding the gun. Give it to me.”
“Here.” Kate handed it to him. “Take it.”
“Let me go! Lana is alive—”
I fought to get away, but Nikos held me there like a vise. I felt panic rising up inside me.
Jason pressed the gun into my hand, keeping his hand over mine. He raised the gun to the side of my head. I could feel it digging deep into my temple.
“Pull the trigger, Elliot,” he said. “This is your punishment. Pull the trigger.”
I was fighting tears. “No, no—I didn’t do anything wrong. Please—”
“Shh.” Jason was being weirdly gentle now, even tender. “Stop pretending now,” he whispered in my ear. “Do it. Pull the trigger.”
“No—no—”
“Pull the trigger, Elliot.”
“No.” I was sobbing now. “Please … stop—”