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Zeus

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Next day

About an hour ago, I dropped Madison off at the hospital to visit her sister.

Almost immediately afterward, Dionysus messaged me saying that I was welcome to have lunch at his house, as my other brothers would be there.

However, I was surprised when I arrived and found Christos—who said he was passing through New York—and Odin.

It's not very common for all of us to gather at the same time, especially because both my cousins have families. Furthermore, Christos's main residence is in North Carolina. He rarely comes to New York, and that tells me this meeting was planned.

What the hell is happening?

"It isn't a coincidence that you're all here," I say after embracing them, not wanting to beat around the bush.

Christos smiles. "No, it's not."

I look at Ares, because somehow I know this is related to Madison, but his expression, as always, gives nothing away.

"Let's go outside," Dionysus suggests. "The nanny who's with Joseph is a new hire, and I don't like the idea of her being by the pool with him without my supervision."

We sit at a table in the shade of a tree, and soon a servant comes along to offer us drinks.

"I can’t stay long," I warn, because I've just decided to go pick up Madison from the hospital. She told me she usually spends two hours with her sister and then some time with her niece and nephew. I'm curious to learn more about her family.

"Why not?" Odin asks, but somehow I think he already knows the answer.

"I have a meeting."

"With Madison ?" Ares speaks up for the first time.

"What is this? The Spanish Inquisition? Because if you think I believe this meeting was by chance, you don't know me that well."

"It wasn't by chance," Hades confirms. "It's an attempt to stop you from destroying your own life."

"Conversations in code aren't my specialty," I mutter.

"No, they're mine," Odin says, showing an unusually good sense of humor.

"Just tell me what you need," I growl, irritated as hell.

"We have an alternative for your situation with old Gordon."

"I'm not going to break the promise I made to my grandfather."

"What exactly was that?" my older cousin continues. "As far as I know, it was to destroy their entire fortune to avenge your father's death."

"Yes, and to wipe their centuries-old name off the map. That's why I made the deal. There's no other way to bring them down. I've been doing research for years."

"We're buying shares of GordonBank," Odin says.

"What?"

"For many months, we've been buying shares of GordonBank," says Christos.

"That’s not possible,” I retort. “He’s been preventing any sales related to my last name, and everyone knows we're cousins."

"We're using small companies that are part of our conglomerate, mine and Odin's, but that aren't directly linked to us,” Christos explains. “Separately, we don't own enough shares to have the board in the palm of our hands, but when we add our shares together, we're only one percent away from achieving majority ownership. Fifty-one percent. When that happens, we'll create a third company that will have complete control of GordonBank."

"And then, we'll sell it to you," Odin finishes, while I try to absorb this game-changing information.

If what they're saying is true, everything I've planned can be altered without me breaking the promise I made to my grandfather.

"Say something," my younger brother says.

"How long until you get that one percent?" I try to appear calm, but inside my heart’s racing like hell.

"It's been more challenging than we thought because the current owner isn't a professional but an orphan girl, represented by her guardian."

"Offer them triple."

"We're trying, but he's resisting because it seems like it's the only inheritance left for the girl, who's been living in an all-girls orphanage since she lost her parents."

"Either way, when my plans come to fruition, there won't be anything left of what was once known as GordonBank," I say. "The shares will be worth less than discarded candy wrappers. Selling will be a good move for her."

"What are you going to do about the employees?" Odin asks me.

"Redistribute them among my companies and my brothers' companies. I won't leave over a hundred and fifty thousand people unemployed."

"It's a high number," Christos says. "But we can also relocate them to some of our businesses. And for those who are of retirement age, offer some sort of incentive."

"Why did you do this?" I ask him.

"I wouldn't let you ruin your life over a promise."

"The penalty for breaking the contract with old Gordon will be high," Ares says.

"No. For him to enforce our agreement, he would have to hold the majority of the shares," I explain. "If Christos and Odin can secure that last one percent, he's finished. Even if he negotiates with all the other shareholders, which is highly unlikely, he'll never get more than forty-nine percent."

"It's going to be a blow to the old man," Dionysus says, but I'm not paying attention to that—I'm focused on Odin's expression.

"What are you not telling me?" I ask my cousin.

"I don't work with hypotheses, Zeus, only certainties. I'm investigating the old man, and there might be a different version of the facts you believed were true."

He doesn't explain any further, but I know that when he finds what he's looking for, he'll tell me.

An hour and a half later, I'm on my way to the hospital again. When I called Madison and told her I'd pick her up, she didn't protest, and I'm trying to guess whether it's because she's already gotten used to my presence or because she wants to see me.

The whole time I’m driving, my mind is racing; I’m thinking about how that family meeting has changed everything.

I will fulfill the promise I made to my grandfather to erase the Gordon name from the world of bankers, without needing to negotiate with the father of the man who ruined my mother’s life.

" "Hypocrite," my conscience tells me. "The promise you made to your grandfather has been the least of your concerns recently. All you’ve cared about is how the consequences of it will affect your present."

Before my mind starts to wander down the road of guilt, I park at the hospital and head to the woman who's turning my certainties upside down.