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Serenity

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

Debra sits on 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.

The women say goodbye to me, hugging and kissing me, and I head to the en suite bathroom to check my appearance. I am amazed when I see the deep dark circles under my eyes, the result of artificial sleep caused by medication.

I turn on the shower, but before I can step under the spray, I see Ares behind me in the reflection of the shower glass.

Without saying anything, he starts to undress and then picks me up, entering the small space with me.

For several minutes, he kisses me, at first gently, but the desire escalates very quickly between us.

He makes love to me, hard and fast, and his passion and demand finally snaps me out of my daze.

Then he bathes me, taking care of every part of my body, washing my hair, wrapping me in one of the huge white, fluffy towels.

He takes me in his arms again and takes me back to the room.

"I want to know everything," I say, lying on his body, both of us naked.

He lifts me up and positions me beside him. We lie there facing each other.

His hand reaches my cheek. "Before I start telling you, I want you to know that your origins don't make the slightest difference to me. I fell in love with you the first night I saw you. There's nothing about you that I don't love, and it doesn't have anything to do with your last name or even your first name. It is your essence, Serenity. Before I met you, I never imagined myself being in a serious relationship, but even in the beginning, even when I continued to deny myself, saying that what we had was just lust, I always knew that you were the only one for me.”

I feel my eyes filling with tears. I already know Ares well enough to be certain that he wouldn't judge me, that he would make sure that whatever had happened in the past, I wasn't involved.

"I love you. Forgive me for running away that day instead of waiting to come clean like an adult. I had . . ." I feel my face heat up. "I had just found the engagement ring . . . I mean, I assume it was an engagement ring, and . . ."

"Yes, it was. I intended to ask you to marry me when we got home after your comeback performance, just the two of us, but then everything happened and I thought it was better to wait. You were scared of the threat you’d received. I thought if I asked you to marry me at that time, you would accept for the wrong reasons."

"I believed that because you discovered that I wasn't the Blanchets' real daughter, you thought I was involved in the plot and had given up on me, but after driving around the city for hours, I realized that I didn't want to run away from us. If it was the end, you would have to say it in a face-to-face conversation, looking me in the eye."

"I will never give up on you, Serenity. I will tell you everything in detail, but never doubt my love."

I nod, throat tight with emotion.

After kissing me again, Ares finally begins to explain what he discovered. He is in no hurry. He tells me how he visited JeAnne in prison and she confessed everything.

They still don't know how the girl, Roger and Leticia's real daughter, died, but someone is working on it.

It's an ugly story, involving betrayal on several levels: Roger's wife cheating on him with his partner and friend. JeAnne hiding the truth of my real mother, who I now know is called Mila Lawrence. Edgar Hazen desecrating the memory of the woman he supposedly claimed to love, Leticia, stealing her daughter from her home and doing her harm, probably taking her life, all in the name of envy, greed, and revenge.

"And what is Elmer’s role in this story?"

As soon as I ran into Ares' arms that evening on the terrace of the Kostanidis Bank building, I fainted, and until now no one has mentioned the name of that horrible man to me or given me any details. I just know he passed away, but not how. Two lawyers who were introduced to me as being from the legal firm defending the Kostanidou came to see me, but they said that everything had already been handled with the assigned detectives and that I would only need to give a statement when I was feeling better.

I have no doubt that this is not standard procedure, and it was only at that point that I fully understood the power and influence of this Greek family.

"He died.”

"Yes, I know. But how did it happen?"

"He fell from the terrace that day."

"I wish I could pretend to be sorry, but I can't feel sorry for him or anyone involved in this plot. Not even JeAnne. Does that make me a bad person?"

"No. That makes you human, Serenity."

"What was Elmer’s role in this story?"

"He was distantly related to Edgar Hazen. I haven't been able to confirm it yet, but it seems that his goal was to seduce you and marry you so that they could have access to your inheritance. But the plan went sideways when Elmer became obsessed with you. He stopped following orders, acting on his own, chasing you, exposing himself."

"He was completely insane."

"I think so."

"You said he wanted us to get married so he could have access to my inheritance. The plan was to kill me later, then?"

"We will never get all the answers, Serenity. How can you know what's going on in a criminal mind? JeAnne said she didn't know at first that Edgar Hazen would hurt the Blanchets' daughter. I don't believe that, but also, despite her alleged love for you, I'm sure she was aware that your life was also at risk."

I nod. "God, all this in the name of revenge and money?"

"Apparently so." He pulls me into his arms again. "The past doesn't matter. All I want is our future together. No rush or pressure. I will never let you go, Serenity. You are mine."