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Ares

CHAPTER FIFTY

I'm not surprised when, upon leaving the room, I find my brothers watching everything through the glass. Only Hades is not here with us.

I know they came to support me, but I need to find Serenity.

We don't say anything until we are outside the prison.

"If we hadn’t been listening, we wouldn't have believed it. I thought I had already witnessed the worst kinds of shit in my life, but this is without doubt the most rotten story I have ever heard," Zeus says.

"Call Beau. See if he can find that son of a bitch Edgar Hazen."

"We already did," Dionysus replies.

"I need to find Serenity. You heard who Edgar's accomplice is. Have the bodyguards take care of it."

"Already done—that's why Hades left the interrogation room before you. He's on his way to our bank's headquarters. As for Serenity, she's not home. As soon as I started to see where JeAnne's confession was heading, I tried to contact her. The maid said she left around lunchtime and never came back."

"What?"

"We can try to track her cell phone through Odin, but it will take some time."

"One thing at a time. First I have to neutralize that bastard Hazen's accomplice. Ask Odin to find her in the meantime." I get in the car, and both Zeus and Dionysus dismiss their respective drivers, getting into mine as well. I tell my driver where I want him to take us, thinking about how I could have let something like this happen. How was it possible for the son of a bitch to sneak so close to us?

About half an hour later, as the driver pulls up to my destination, my cell phone starts buzzing with a message from Serenity.

Serenity: We need to talk. I'm confused. I heard you on the phone with Odin earlier today. If it's true that I'm not the Blanchet heiress, you have to believe me: I didn't know anything, Ares.

I try to call her, but it goes to voicemail. I enter my private elevator at our companies' headquarters, followed by my brothers, while typing a message to my girl.

Me: It doesn’t matter who you are. You are mine. Where are you?

Serenity: On the terrace of your offices at Kostanidis Group. I needed to get some fresh air, and Elmer told me I could wait for you here.

I punch the buttons in the elevator to get it to move, but it seems absurdly slow. I feel my heart beating in my ear when I finally reach my floor.

As I go to meet her, I say all the prayers I can remember, pleading with God that it's not too late.

Serenity

Minutes before

I spent hours crying in a taxi. I asked the driver to go anywhere he wanted, and at a certain point, he asked me if I wanted him to call someone to help me calm down.

First, I felt miserable. I thought that the life I knew would change forever because I don't know who I am or whether there is anyone who cares about me, if I have a family...But as soon as I calmed down, I tried to think rationally. I've come to the conclusion that yes, I have friends: Debra, Otis, the Kostanidou, and most importantly, I have the man I love by my side.

I trust Ares. I saw the ring. He was going to ask me to marry him. I don't believe he's just going to erase me from his life because of something that I wasn't responsible for, that I had no idea had happened.

I sent a message to his phone, but it must have been off, so I came to the corporate headquarters. I called his office, but it was the assistant who answered, not the secretary. He told me that Ares was already on his way and that yes, I could wait on the terrace.

I was surprised that Ares' executive secretary wasn't at his desk. I didn't want to invade his space without permission, but Elmer was kind and made me feel very comfortable.

I had been here for five minutes when my phone vibrated with a response from Ares to my message. He said it didn't matter who I was, because I belonged to him.

He also asked me where I was, and after I answered him, he didn't send another message back, so I believe he's coming to find me.

I hear the door to the stairs that lead to the terrace open again, and I look back. I smile when I see Elmer, but his expression quickly tells me that something is wrong.

I've met him a few times before, and each time he seemed polite and harmless. Not the kind of man a woman fears having around. The look he sends me now is anything but harmless, and when I see what he has in his hands, I scream at the top of my lungs.

"It's over, Serenity. You had your chance to become my queen, but instead you decided to be a damn whore, and now you're going to die."

I back away until my back hits the wall. If he wasn't armed with a knife, I'd try to run, but I don't think I could be fast enough.

I see the door behind him open again, and I cry with relief and despair, but it's not Ares who's there. It's Hades.

"You will be arrested if you hurt me."

"No, I won't be arrested. I will fly with you from the top of the building. Let's be together forever."

"Run, Serenity," Hades says.

I don't think twice. Even though I'm scared, I sprint towards the door to call the security guards, praying that nothing happens to my brother-in-law.

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."