Page 42

Zeus

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

"She doesn't want to talk to you, Zeus, or she would have answered the phone," Madison's mother says from outside the house, not inviting me in.

"Eleanor, with all due respect, your daughter is an adult and she can say that to my face."

She opens the door, allowing me to enter, though her expression clearly shows what she thinks of me.

I don't give a damn. I don't have to explain myself to her.

"My daughter has been crying all afternoon, Zeus. Don't hurt her anymore. Move on with your life and leave her alone."

"Again, I ask you to let me speak with her, ma'am." I've never had to exercise so much self-control. I'm not used to having anything stand between me and what I want.

"I'll give you five minutes to talk to her, and then I'll knock on the door."

She leaves me alone in the living room with the twins, and I walk over to where they are. They don't smile as they usually do, as if they sense that something is wrong.

"I'll fix this, guys. I promise."

Soraya is the first to reach out her little hand to touch me, and only then does Silas seem to accept my presence.

I give each of them a kiss on the forehead and stand up, facing Eleanor's gaze.

"I usually have a good instinct for people, Zeus, and I like you. If I didn't think what you feel for Madison is more than physical attraction, I wouldn't have let you in here. She doesn't want to see you, but you both need to talk."

I nod and make my way toward the bedroom. At the door, I stop with my hand on the doorknob, trying to imagine how she's feeling.

Angry with me? Disgusted?

It doesn't matter. I won't leave until I say what I need to.

When I enter, she’s lying on the bed, facing the wall, her arms holding her knees.

I don't falter when she tells me to leave, but I stop in my tracks when she rolls over and looks at me.

Her face is swollen from crying, and her eyes are completely empty.

"Get out," she repeats.

"No. I need you to listen to me."

"I don't want to."

"I know. And still, I'm asking you to listen to me." All the adrenaline that hit me since I found out what happened on the plane is gone. I feel empty too.

"I don't want to listen to you, Zeus." She sits up on the bed and shrinks back, creating distance between us.

"I won't touch you against your will, Madison. You can hate me as much as you want for the rest of our lives, but listen to what I have to say first."

"Nothing will change the fact that you were with me while being committed to someone else."

"I've never seen Celine Gordon in person, Madison. And the only reason I made a deal with her grandfather was out of revenge."

"What?"

"Her grandfather, Emerson Gordon, comes from a family of bankers, like mine. My paternal and maternal grandfathers, as a matter of fact. There was a rivalry between the families, but ironically, my mother, my father, and Gordon's son, Adrian, became best friends. When she became an adult, she chose one of them to marry—my father—but the friendship among the three continued." I take off my suit jacket and loosen my tie, feeling suffocated.

"What does this have to do with that girl?"

"Listen to me. When I was twenty-two, Ares and I no longer lived with our parents, but the two younger ones, Dionysus and Hades, did. It was Christmas Eve, and the family was gathering for the holiday celebrations. It didn't always happen, but my grandfather's health was failing, so that year, we decided to get together. I arrived before the others—I don't remember why—and . . .”

"Zeus?"

I have my elbows resting on my knees and my head down. I don't usually talk to people without looking them in the eyes, but memories I've kept buried for so long are resurfacing with force.

"I found my father dead. He’d shot himself in the head in the library of our house. Next to his body was a farewell letter, saying that my mother had left him to run away with Adrian, Gordon's son."

"Oh my God!"

I fiddle with the leather strap of the watch that's been in my family for five generations. "My grandfather made me promise to erase the name Gordon from the banking system. It was the only revenge possible."

"Couldn't they do anything to the adulterers?"

"No, both of them were dead too. On the same night they ran away, they had a car accident. Apparently, Adrian was speeding and lost control of the car on a curve, crashing head-on into a truck. My father explained in the letter that he didn't choose to take his own life because he was betrayed but because my mother was dead. If she had survived and wanted him, he would have forgiven her."

"Zeus."

"I'm not telling you this for sympathy, Madison. Just like you, I don't digest pity very well."

"Go on."

"For years, I tried in every way possible to buy GordonBank's shares, but the old man protected himself and I never succeeded, until a few months ago when he proposed a deal: I would marry his granddaughter when she turned eighteen, and in return, I would take control of GordonBank worldwide. He told me he wanted to find a good match for that creature, but I could see that he was killing two birds with one stone: securing Celine's future and at the same time, having someone who knew what they were doing manage his bank."

"Were there no other heirs?"

"No. And I also think he had no idea how much we hated his family or he would never have proposed something like that."

"Do you think he didn't know about your mother's affair with his son?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, them dying in the same vehicle wouldn't have been a surprise; they had been friends their whole lives, and Adrian never married."

"But Celine . . .”

"He was a single parent. It seems her mother wasn't interested in his fortune either."

"So you agreed to marry her."

"I agreed. I wanted to destroy them, and I would use any means to do it."

"You said you've never seen her?"

"Not in person, and I didn't plan on living in the same house after we got married."

"Did he know that?"

"Yes, he knew because I included it in the contract. He thought it was normal. He thought I wanted mistresses, or maybe that over time, I would make her my wife in more than just name. Who knows? For most families in our circle, appearances are what matter. Many couples don't even sleep in the same room."

"Were your parents like that?"

"No. To the whole world, they seemed absolutely in love."