The armored SUV screeches to a halt at the foot of the mansion steps, tires burning rubber on the gravel. We don't wait for the driver to open the doors. Stavros kicks his door open and drags me out into the cool night air.
My ears are still ringing, a high-pitched whine that masks the shouting of the guards swarming the perimeter. My feet are bleeding, sliced by the glass back at the Zappeion. My red dress is torn, covered in dust and soot.
"Inside," Stavros barks, his voice rough with smoke. "Now!"
He doesn't let go of my arm. He hauls me up the marble stairs, moving with a frantic, terrifying energy. The blood from the cut above his eye has dried into a dark, crusted streak down his face, making him look like a demon rising from hell.
We burst through the double doors and into the g
