Ghost of Europe

Everyone was silent. Athena turned to Jason. His face was firm; he didn't even turn to look at her. His eyes were fixed on Alpha. She could feel the tension rising. For some reason, she sensed that Jason was not happy.

"How can you not know who he is?" Alpha asked as he went to get a bottle of water from a dispenser in the far-off corner of the room. All eyes were on him. Athena was about to ask again when she felt Jason's hand on her lap underneath the table. He didn't shift his gaze from Alpha. She understood the message.

"Come on, of course, I know who he is. I was just trying to see if you guys could take a joke, and clearly, you are all as serious as a heart attack. Jeez, guys, lighten up," Athena said as she looked at the brothers. She felt Jason's grip on her lap ease.

"Good, now we can get back to business," Alpha finally said.

"Which is?" Jason asked, breaking his long silence.

"Handling the case at hand. Mikhail, please hand over some of the details of the case to Jason. He should give us a way forward by the end of the weekend, first thing Monday morning," Alpha said as he answered Jason's question and turned to the couple. "Mr. Magraff, I assure you this case is in the best hands."

Mikhail picked out some documents from his briefcase and handed them to Jason.

"What should I expect to see?" Jason asked as he lightly went through the papers.

"This guy barely knows what he is up against, and you expect us to trust him with this case?" Mrs. Magraff asked, half-shouting and half-saying.

"Mrs. Magraff..." Djokovic finally broke his silence.

"Stop with the formalities. You can call me Belinda," she cut him off.

"Okay, Belinda. Please calm down," Djokovic told her.

"Calm down! You want me to calm down! My husband is about to be charged with our own daughter's murder, and you expect me to calm down! Her killer is still walking scot-free while my daughter lies in the morgue, and you expect me to calm down! They have labeled my husband as the Serbian Slayer and..." She was now shouting, with tears in her eyes.

"Silence!" Her husband cut in. "Please stop shouting."

Everyone was silent again, but Athena couldn't help but notice that Jason's grip had tightened at the utterance of the Serbian Slayer.

"Honey, please, let these people do what they do best. Shouting at them will not help in solving anything. At least I know that someone is still willing to help us. We must have faith in them," Mr. Magraff said to his wife and then turned to Alpha. "I just hope I've come to the right place."

"We won't let you down," Alpha said, his voice now carrying some seriousness in it. "Jason, I hope you're ready for your first case."

"I'll need somewhere with some privacy to be able to go through the files. The front desk is not the ideal place to go through such sensitive details concerning this case," Jason said as he removed his hand from Athena's lap and placed it on the table.

"Athena's office is quite spacious. I hope she doesn't mind sharing it. We could have your things moved over by the end of the day," Alpha said, now looking at Athena, who was clearly not expecting that. She was about to protest when she realized that it would give her more time with Jason.

"No objection from me," she said as she turned to look at Jason.

"Well, with that settled, I guess we will now wait for Monday. But before I forget, Jason, we have a hearing tomorrow. Should we ask for more time, or should we go to it?" Mikhail asked.

"Let it play out the way it was supposed to play. Don't change anything," Jason answered.

"Are you sure about that?" Belinda interjected.

"Do as he says. I trust him," Athena answered before anyone else could, "so should you."

"As you wish," Djokovic said as he arranged his briefcase. "We should all get some rest. It has been a long day for some of us, but at least now, I know we have some hope." Alpha said as he got up to walk the Magraffs and the brothers to the door. Jason was still in his seat when Athena walked to the door. She saw this as the right moment to talk to him in private. She walked behind the exiting pairs and said to Alpha, "I would wish to have a moment with Jason, in private. Ask Kay that no one should disturb us."

Athena closed the doors and turned to face Jason. He still didn't turn to face her. She could see that he was deep in thought as his fingers played with the documents on the table.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked, but Jason didn't move. He didn't even show that he acknowledged her presence in the room. She started walking towards him and pulled back his chair so that he could face her. He raised his eyes to meet hers.

"You know exactly who I am, so why are you asking what you already know?" Jason asked after a few seconds of silence. She noticed that he still wasn't smiling. His demeanor had changed to a cold one.

"Bullshit! You know exactly what I'm asking about. Alpha isn't the kind of person to shower anyone with praise the way he just did today," she went on.

"Well, maybe he was in a particularly good mood today. Or maybe you are getting a bit jealous," Jason said as he settled back into his chair.

"Jealous, you say? I know exactly what you're trying to do, and this time you ain't going to succeed," she leaned over and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"What am I doing?" He asked with a smirk.

"You are answering my goddamn questions with a question every time," Athena said as she started to raise her voice.

"I don't get the logic of how you want to know who I am when, in the first place, you are the one who accepted to share an office with me. My belief is that you did it without anyone's influence on your decision. Or am I wrong?" Jason's face was now becoming friendlier.

"No, but you can't expect me not to wonder who you are. I mean, no one and nothing ever shocks the Krovaçic brothers, yet when they heard your name, I swear I saw fear and shock in their eyes. Plus, you also got uncomfortable when Alpha referred to you as The Ghost of Europe, and not overlooking the fact that you nearly dug your fingers into my leg when you heard the name Serbian Slayer," Athena leaned even closer to Jason, with her eyes fixed on his, and asked again in a low yet serious tone, "So, I ask again, who the hell are you?"

She instantly saw his eyes become cold once again, and as if he had sucked the life from the room, his look sent chills down her spine. She took her hand off his shoulder and stood straight. Jason rose to his feet in front of her. She had never seen him like this. All her courage melted in an instance just from his look. He raised his hand and placed it on her neck. He slowly pushed her back and backed her up to the door. Her heart was racing fast, and her breathing was irregular. She did not know what his intentions were, but from the ice-cold look, she knew that she was at his mercy and he could do anything he wanted.

He moved closer such that his body pressed onto hers, leaned into her right side, and spoke in a deep yet terrifying voice,

"Don't be scared by me. Instead, you should be more afraid of what you don't know but seek to find answers to."