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Hades
He keeps the knife pointed at me, the son of a bitch, even though we both know I'm not going to back down.
I lunge forward, not giving a fuck whether he hits me. He better be precise in his strike, otherwise I'll kill him.
Using the element of surprise, I run towards him, as I did when I played football and tackled an opponent, and he makes the mistake of looking back.
It's just a few seconds, but it's enough for me to push him over the railing.
"Hades!" I hear Zeus shout behind me.
Half my body is over the railing, and I could pull Elmer back. I have him by the hand.
“You're a Kostanidis,” Elmer says. "A banker, not a murderer."
"I am a Kostanidis, and I never forgive anyone who hurts my family. Die."
I let him go, and I can see his expression of disbelief as he falls. I turn my back without looking behind and go to my brother’s girlfriend to check that she is safe.
Ares has her in his arms, protected as she should always be, but I notice that she has fainted. He looks at me and nods in silent communication. I know that if he had been in my place, he would have done the same.
“You let go of him,” Zeus says. There is no accusation in his tone. It's an observation.
"I didn't kill him. I had a choice, and I chose to send him to hell."
Serenity
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Debra sitson the bed as soon as the doctor leaves. She kisses my forehead and cheek, pulling away to look at me, then pulling me back to her. It's like she needs to make sure I'm still alive.
Eleanor, Madison's stepmother, had a similar reaction. In fact, all the women in the family did.
It's been two days since everything happened. Within the first twenty-four hours, I was taken to the hospital and they drugged me. I was a little hysterical, not only because of the discovery that I wasn't the Blanchets' daughter, but also because I had finally come face-to-face with evil in its purest form.
The feeling of someone wanting to kill you is terrifying on a level that I can't even describe. I knew there was a threat hanging over me, but I never could have imagined it would be from someone as close as Elmer, Ares' assistant.
In his sick rage, he lost his life.
"I will never get tired of thanking God that you are okay," Debra repeats.
"As okay as someone without a name can be," I respond and see the sadness on each of the Kostanidou's faces.
Ares has stayed with me the whole time: in the hospital, where I spent the night in a tranquilizer-induced sleep, tormented and restless, and after we came home too.
"You have a name. I won't go into details now, as I think this is a conversation Ares wants to have with you, but I'll just tell you that it doesn't matter what those bastards did to you." She puts her hand over my heart. "You are Serenity, my pride, the best dancer today, and I have no doubt that within a few years, you will become the best of all time."
"She's right, my child," Eleanor says, sitting on the edge of the bed too. "There is no way to change the past, and the situation they involved you in is sordid, without a doubt, but it is not your responsibility."
I nod, but I'm not so sure.
"I think it's best to leave them alone now, girls. Ares and Serenity have a lot to talk about," Debra says.
Even though it's been forty-eight hours since I woke up in the hospital, Ares hasn’t brought up the subject of my identity. I tried to ask questions, but he told me we would have time to clarify everything later.
Now, I'm eager to hear the truth.
"Can you call him for me?" I know he must be in the apartment library with his brothers and cousins. I learned during this crisis that the Kostanidou and the Lykaioses are like a mini army, fighting on the same front. They come together and face whatever they have to, but always together.