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Dionysus

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

She’s barely closed the door and I want to bring her back, because my treacherous heart can’t accept that everything between us could have ended like this.

I go to the window, staring blankly at the cloudy sky, my mind trying to rationalize what I’ve just discovered instead of letting anger and pride dominate me.

I go back to my desk and pick up the letter. I don’t want to read it because, no matter what is written in it, it won’t change the fact that Cecily lied, but at least I’ll get the other side of this story.

So far, I’ve only had Sue’s version. Putting together everything Odin discovered about Keith’s past and my relatives’ suspicions about her, I feel like I owe the dead man at least the benefit of the doubt.

I open the sheet of paper and see that, in some places, the writing is blurred.

Cecily’s tears?

I start to read it.

My beloved Cici, you know how horrible I am at writing even short messages. Now imagine a whole letter! But I need to record much more than I can put into a telephone conversation.

First about the past, about the two of us.

I want to ask for forgiveness. I swore loyalty. I swore to take care of you, and then I abandoned you.

While you were growing up in that hell, I was sure that you belonged to me, that you were my destiny and that at some point in the future, we would be together. Time passed and my love for you didn’t change. And neither did yours. On your part, there was no romantic feeling. What I perceived was the purest and most sincere friendship.

I know that if I had insisted, you would have stayed with me out of gratitude. It wasn’t what I wanted. I was in love. I wanted you to love me the same way.

I’m not proud to say I walked away out of spite. I underestimated you. How, my pride-clouded mind thought, could a rural Kansas girl not be grateful, in love with her savior? With a brilliant, young, and rich man, willing to give her the world?

Yes, Cici, arrogance brought me down, because today I see that you were the best thing that ever happened in my life.

Don’t be annoyed if, from time to time in this letter, I ask you for forgiveness. I can never apologize enough.

When I met Sue, I had just made my fortune and thought I could buy anything I wanted, including the love of a beautiful woman.

As I already told you, it was perfect at first, but after the sexual excitement of the first few months passed, the emptiness remained, because she wasn’t you. Nothing like you. She didn’t have your smile, kindness, and innocence.

In fact, the woman who had my son inside her body turned out to be a monster, and now I fear that I won’t see the baby born.

He still doesn’t have a name or anyone to protect him, and despite knowing that I don’t have the right to do so, I will ask anyway: take care of my son. Fight her for custody. Sue doesn’t want this child.

How do I know this? She’s reckless. She stays out late at night, drinks, screams, doesn’t eat properly. She seems to hope that the baby won’t survive, even.

I also suspect that she goes out with other men, even though she’s pregnant.

You must be wondering why I’m not leaving when, as I told you on the phone, more than once I thought Sue made an attempt on my life.

The answer is simple: I can’t leave until my son is born. Until he is free from the prison that is her body.

I had stomach problems in the recent past, and although the doctors who examined me didn’t detect anything, I think she tried to poison me. I’m getting paranoid. I don’t eat at home anymore. I sleep little, always vigilant for any sign of aggression, and I’m counting the months until she gives birth.

If something happens to me, watch over him. You have to promise me that, Cici.

I never planned to throw the help I gave you in your face, but I have no one else. It has to be you.

I fear sending you to meet her because Sue is dangerous and cruel, but someone needs to fight for my son. He can’t be at the mercy of that monster.

I will never have enough words to tell you how much I regret not only marrying her, but not persevering in trying to win your love, Cici. I was weak and arrogant.

I wanted you to be grateful, to run after me, to see how wonderful I was.

I was a proud idiot and destroyed any chance of being happy, but I will love you forever, my Cici.

Forgive me.

With all my love,

Keith.

I drop the letter on the table as the words I just read dance through my brain.

I don’t have much faith in the human soul. It’s just the opposite. My suspicious nature, such a strong characteristic in my family, makes me certain that when cornered, people are capable of the vilest attitudes.

I never thought, however, that Sue’s rot could go that far.

I think about my late wife and how she seemed like a devoted mother to Joseph. Then I remember that the opposite wasn’t true: my son was never as comfortable with her as he was with Cecily or even Elina.

I wonder how much, in his childish head, he knew that his mother was worthless.

Right now, I have the missing pieces of the puzzle, but it doesn’t change the fact that Cecily tricked me. She had several opportunities to tell me the truth and didn’t.

Out of fear?

Yes, after reading Keith’s letter, I believe it was out of fear. After all, I had no idea who she was. Certainly, even in her naivety, she didn’t believe that I would give my son away, no matter the sad story she told me about his conception.

I pick up the phone to call the one who can give me answers, Odin, but before I can do anything, the room is invaded by him and my brothers.

I get up, and even though it’s not even lunchtime yet, I pour myself a shot of whiskey.

“We need to think of a strategy to mitigate the damage Peyton caused,” Odin says. “And there’s also something I need to tell you about the death of Sue’s ex-husband.”

I nod at the letter. “Read that.”

One by one, they do so, and when they finish, I see their features change, not in surprise, since none of them liked Sue, but in anger.

“I think she killed him,” says Odin. “That’s what I came here to say. We can’t prove it because the police did a shitty job of the investigation, but I have reason to believe that Sue killed her ex-husband by pushing him off the balcony of the apartment where they lived.”

“How would she have the strength? She was pregnant,” Zeus ponders.

“We will never know. She may have drugged him first, or maybe he didn’t fight back. We will never know for sure.”

“How could the police have been so incompetent?” Ares asks.

“The police are lazy most of the time,” Hades says, anger taking over his features, and we know why.

“Where is Cecily?” Zeus asks.

“I sent her to the penthouse,” I reply.

“What?”

“It was before I read the letter. I didn’t want her near Joseph.”

“Damn that Greek pride of ours,” Odin growls. “She cannot be alone, Dionysus.”

“She isn’t. Anderson is taking her to the apartment.”

“This is not right. I’ll ask Elina to go find her.” Before he picks up the phone, however, as if it had been arranged beforehand, a phone starts ringing.

We look at each other, but it’s none of our phones, and only then do I notice the new device I bought for Cecily on the table.

I pick it up and see it’s Odin’s wife calling. I put it on speakerphone.

“Cecily forgot her phone,” I say when I answer.

“Where is she, Dionysus? I’m getting worried. Cici told me she would call as soon as she got there.”

“We had a fight. I sent her to the penthouse.”

“You did what?”

“I sent her away.”

“You are like a brother to me, but right now, I could kill you, Dionysus. How could you leave her alone?”

“You don’t know the whole story.”

“No, I don’t, but whatever it is, I know Cici. She is a good person and she loves you. She has been abandoned all her life, and now, when her world is falling apart, you, the father of her child, turn your back on her!”

I feel embarrassed, not because of what Elina says—I don’t care what anyone thinks of me—but rather because of the way I pushed Cecily away. “I’ll find her. She must have reached the penthouse by now.”

“Send her to me. If you don’t want her, I do. Cici isn’t just your fiancée, or whatever you consider her now. She is my friend, and she is not alone.” She hangs up the phone without saying goodbye, and when I look at my relatives, they all stare at me in silence.

I pick up my own device to call Anderson. It only rings twice before he answers.

“Has Cecily reached the penthouse yet?”

“What? Penthouse? No, sir, I brought her to the bank and she went up. She’s in your office. I haven’t seen her since then.”

“She came down about half an hour ago. She’s not here. I ordered her to find you and ask you to take her to the apartment.” As I speak, something like acid spreads down my throat.

I try to convince myself that she’s fine, but at the same time, the knowledge that I sent my pregnant fiancée away, alone and scared, makes me feel really uncomfortable.

Before I hang up, I see each of my brothers pick up their phones. I know what they’re doing: looking at the building’s cameras.

“She went down with Cage in the common elevator. They went to the garage,” Ares is the first to conclude.

“What?”

“Wait. I’m going back to the recording.”

Seconds later, he shows me the screen. In the video, Cecily enters the elevator crying, but before the doors close, Cage appears. We can’t hear what they’re talking about, but he pulls her into a hug, comforting my wife.

Hades shows me his own device now, playing a recording from the garage cameras.

In it, Cage and Cecily arrive at the underground floor, in the common parking lot for executives and clients. They disappear from view until, seconds later, I see his car leaving the building.

“Cage shouldn’t be here anymore,” I say.

“What?” Zeus asks.

“The executive I told you was being accused of harassment by his secretary was him. Cage should have already left the building before Cecily even arrived.”

“What the hell is going on, Dionysus?” Ares asks.

“I have no idea. I just know that Cage shouldn’t be able to move around the company premises any longer.”

I see Odin walk away, typing frantically on his phone.

Meanwhile, I try to call Cage’s phone, but it goes straight to voicemail.

I call the penthouse to see if she got there. Nobody answers.

I try the reception, but the doorman guarantees that Cecily didn’t go up.

When my cousin comes back to us, I say, “Should we call the police?”

“Not yet. I’m trying to track him down.”

I remember something. “Her watch.”

“What?” my cousin asks.

“Cecily wanted to stay healthy during her pregnancy. I gave her one of your smartwatches. The latest model your company released, Odin.”

“Excellent. We’ll find her.”

“What do you think happened?” Ares asks.

“I don’t know yet, but until Cecily is found, we should treat this as kidnapping.”