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Ares

CHAPTER THREE

Months later

NEW YORK

"Any news about the damn one percent?" Zeus asks me on the phone. Odin and Christos have not been successful in acquiring what is missing yet.

"No, but I have a plan. The girl's guardian is almost a hundred years old, and I think he fears for his ward's fate," I say.

"And what do you plan to do?"

"Besides offering five times the market value, I'll secure a professional guardian for the little girl."

"Do you think he's worried about dying and leaving her helpless?"

"Yes. By offering to buy the shares for much more than they're worth and also solving the guardianship issue, she'll be protected."

"How old is the child?" he asks.

"She's not a child; she's a teenager. Seventeen, but according to what I found out, she can only access the inheritance at twenty-one, and only if she's married. Otherwise, she needs to wait until she's twenty-five."

"Her father was an idiot," he growls.

"I can't disagree, but maybe his intentions were good. The problem is he made his daughter incapable of managing her own life as an adult. If she were my girl, I'd also find it reasonable to impose the age of twenty-one for her to inherit the entire fortune, but not requiring her to get married."

"Sort this out, Ares. I can't wait to close the matter." He sounds anxious.

I know Gordon has been pushing him more and more every day. In any other situation, my brother would tell the son-of-a-bitch patriarch to fuck off, but without the one percent of shares we lack, that would mean the end of any chance to enact our revenge.

Days later

"I think the best thing to do is to meet the guardian in person," I say, already fed up with this shit.

We are in Zeus's office, at the headquarters of our bank. Although we are all not only shareholders but also on the Board of Directors, it is my brother who occupies the position of CEO, since Dionysus, Hades, and I have separate businesses.

"Fucking stubborn man!" he growls. "What more could he want?"

"A guarantee. He would not accept me hiring a professional guardian. But talking on the phone isn't working. I suggest we go there together."

"New Orleans?"

"Yes. When would be a good date?"

"ASAP. The issue should have already been resolved."

"Then I'll go ahead and organize the trip to Louisiana."

"Do it. Even if I need to pay ten times the value of the shares, I will only return when we acquire what is needed to become majority shareholders of GordonBank."

"Do you think you will be able to resolve everything?" Hades asks, sitting next to me in a piano bar.

In the past, when we went out together, it was to parties on our yachts or those of friends, like Vicenzzo, but my brother is less and less interested in anything other than his obsession.

"I think so. It’s not the solution I want, but from what I can tell, it’s the only possible one," I say.

"And what would that be?"

"I will take on the role of the girl's guardian."

"Shit!" He groans, and even though he doesn't speak, it's clear what he thinks of the idea: it’ll be a fucking nightmare.

Who in their right mind would want to take care of a teenager? Not me, that’s for sure.

"It won't be personal. I'll keep my distance and just make sure Serenity has everything she needs until she's old enough to take possession of her assets."

"After she gets married? The idea is ridiculous! Forcing her to make a commitment at twenty-one years old just to have money to support herself seems like the kind of stipulation that would have been made in the Middle Ages."

"No. In the Middle Ages, she would probably have had to get married at twelve or thirteen years old," I say sardonically. Even though his intentions were good, I can't help but despise her father a little for putting a clause like that in his will.

"What do you intend to do? From what I’ve heard, the girl is at a boarding school in Germany."

I don't wonder how Hades knows these details. The four of us are extremely controlling, but my brother is a whole other level. Other people's privacy is a term he doesn't understand if our interests are at stake.

"She was. Serenity turned eighteen yesterday, but she’d already moved back to New Orleans a few days ago."

"Do you have any plans for her?"

"As I said before, if her current guardian accepts me as her new guardian, I will supervise her from a distance. I'll assign some of my men to watch her, of course, but apart from that, she’ll have her freedom—on condition that she doesn’t do anything stupid. She is very young and must be na?ve too, as she’s been at a German boarding school from the age of five."

"Fuck me! Was she practically a baby when she was orphaned?"

"Yes. I know there is a nanny who has been with her for a long time. Still works for the girl. This woman, I believe, is the only connection to the past that the girl still has."

"And the current legal guardian?"

"As I mentioned before, he is almost a hundred years old and sick. That’s the reason why he’s so hesitant to authorize the sale of the shares. He wants to ensure that his ward will have some assets when she is older."

"Does that mean he’s protective of her?"

"I don't think so. He’s fulfilling a legal obligation, nothing more."

He stares at me in silence, and I know he wants to say something more.

"What?"

"Serenity will be the perfect target for sons of bitches. Regardless of whether she is beautiful or ugly, they will be all over her like flies on honey. Young, orphaned, inexperienced, and an heiress. The girl is the complete package."

I drum my fingers on the wooden top of the bar counter. It's a bit of a tic I have when I'm making a decision.

I've thought about what he's saying, of course. Kostanidis blood is like a damn disease—we carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. When someone belongs to us, whether permanently or temporarily, we become fierce defenders.

"Maybe I could convince her to move to New York."

"It won't work. She’s studied ballet her entire life. She’s just been accepted by one of the best schools in the country, in New Orleans. She wants to become a professional."

"She could audition for the Joffrey Ballet School. Our family has been donating to this dance school for decades and I am confident that we could get the girl accepted."

"I've already thought about all that, Hades."

"And?"

"As I said before, I don't intend to make our relationship so personal. Serenity will be fine in Louisiana. I will make sure that she has everything she needs, and I will organize a veritable army to look after her, with well-trained bodyguards."

"Do you think she'll stay single until she's twenty-five?"

"As far as I know, she's never dated, but if her intention is to get married at twenty-one to get her hands on the money she's entitled to, she'll need my approval. That's what's in the will."

"And do you intend to intervene if you think the chosen one is no good?" He gives me a semblance of a smile, and even that, for my brother, is rare.

"If I think she's making a bad choice, I won't just intervene. I will make her understand that she will have to obey me."