Page 49

Zeus

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

I go to open the door. I want to be the first to look at the woman who has been terrorizing Madison for months.

I don't know what I expected. Maybe Satan in a skirt, with horns and everything else. However, what I find is a lady around sixty years old, thin, with short hair and glasses. Nothing special.

She can't hide her astonishment when she sees me. I don't know if it’s because she recognizes me or because she didn't expect Madison to have someone by her side when she came.

"May I help you?" I ask, with a blank expression.

"I would like to speak to Madison Foster."

"Your name, please, so I can tell my fiancée."

"Mirtes Prates."

Behind the woman, the lawyer I hired to handle Madison's niece and nephew's case, Rimes, walks toward us.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Mister Kostanidis."

"What is all this? Why are there so many people in here?" the woman asks.

"Let me introduce you, ma'am. This is Dr. Rimes, my fiancée's attorney regarding child custody." I open the door for them to enter, and the woman's discomfort, which was already obvious, only increases when she sees my brothers and also my company's lawyer, Hector.

"I want to see the babies," she says, trying to hide her nervousness.

“Not so fast, ma'am,” Rimes says. "Maybe you can answer some questions first."

"I don't have to answer anything. I work for the government, and I answer only to it. My role is to ensure the wellbeing of children. Based on what has been in the newspapers, Miss Foster is unable to maintain temporary custody of the minors. I'm going torecommend to the judge that they be put in foster care. Of course, it won't be anything permanent for now, only a temporary home, where I'm sure they'll be better off than with a prost?—"

"Be careful," I warn. "You're in the presence of two lawyers and several witnesses. Offend Madison and you have my word you'll work for the rest of your life to pay her compensation."

The doorbell rings again, and this time, when Eleanor opens the door, there is a man, a complete stranger, who also looks like a lawyer, and to everyone's surprise, including me, three police officers.

"What is happening?" I ask.

It's Rimes who responds. "This lady has been under investigation for months. Several of the children she recommended for foster care have disappeared from the system. They were never heard from again."

"What? You can't accuse me of something like that! I'm a government agent!"

The man who introduces himself as Grysson, and who Rimes explains is a district attorney, steps forward. "No, you are a cancer within our institution, using your position to separate families. Your role was to ensure the wellbeing of children, not to take those who are already without their parents from their remaining family." He turns back and tells the officers, "Do your job, guys."

The men step forward, and one of them says, "Mirtes Prates, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford one, the state will provide one for you . . .”

As everyone in the room looks in shock as the woman who represented Madison's nightmare incarnate is arrested, my girl comes over to me. It may be out of turn, but she's smiling, and fuck social conventions, because it's the most beautiful smile in the world.

"We did it."

"I told you no one would take your niece and nephew away."

The police officers are already leaving with the social worker in handcuffs when Madison asks, "Can I have a few words with her?"

The men look at the prosecutor, who nods.

"Madison," Eleanor calls.

"Just a moment, Mom." she walks closer to the handcuffed woman. "You made my life hell for months. Even knowing that my sister was in a coma and that I did everything possible to take care of my family, you didn't spare me from your cruelty, because now we both know that the problem was never how much I had in the bank, right? I hope you stay in prison for a long time and pay for all the harm you caused us and other families. As for me, I regret being only nineteen, or I would open a bottle of champagne tonight to celebrate your downfall.”

Once she’s finished, she re-enters the house, walking towards the twins' room.

"Are you sure there's no Greek in her?" Hades asks, laughing, as soon as Eleanor closes the door.

Half an hour later, the lawyers are gone but not my brothers. Eleanor made sure to serve cake and coffee to everyone.

It's strange for us to have an older woman present, organizing and telling us where everyone should sit. We have become accustomed to managing our lives without a female figure.

"Come for lunch next Sunday,” she tells us all. “I love cooking, and I have no one to do it for."

Madison arrives hand-in-hand with the twins, who look a little scared, probably because there are so many strange people in the house. When they see me, however, they break into huge smiles, and I feel so fucking good that they see me as someone they trust.

I walk over to where the three of them are, and taking the babies in my arms, I kiss my woman. "Happy?"

She opens her arms, embracing the three of us. "Very much so. I'll never be able to thank you for what you did. They are my life."

"And you are mine, but I know a way you can pay that debt."

"Anything, Zeus."

I place the twins on the floor and kneel down. "Madison Foster, I fell in love with you the day you danced..."

She covers her mouth, looking at our family behind me, laughing and shaking her head.

"I fell in love with you the day destiny placed you in my path," I correct myself. "I thought it was obsession, but the day I hurt you was when I finally realized that it was always love. Marry me. Keep teaching me to be a better person. I'm not your Prince Charming—what I said that first day is still true—but I am the man who will love you until your last breath on Earth."

She starts crying, and I get up, because only now do I remember that I’ve rushed things. I don't even have a ring.

"I love you. Yes, I will marry you," she says when I pull her into my arms.

"I'm sorry, I didn't even buy a ring."

She pulls back to look at me. "Don't be mad, but if it's okay with you, I'd like to keep this one."

"Are you sure? It belonged to . . ."

"It belonged to the woman who gave birth to the man I love. To a woman who was loved a lot by your father. It will be an honor to wear it."

"My children, you’ve finally managed to understand each other." Eleanor comes over to hug us. "Now we'll definitely all have lunch together on Sunday."

"Congratulations, sister-in-law," Ares says to Madison, then gives me a hug. "Jesus, you know how to surprise us. It was obvious that you were heading towards this, but this was a lot of shit . . . a lot of events for just one day."

"I didn't want to wait," I summarize, when in fact the occasion, even though unplanned, has turned out to be perfect, since only Joseph and Brooklyn aren't here.

After talking to Dionysus and Ares, I pull Madison aside. "If you really want to keep that ring, I'll have it enlarged to your size."

"Yes, I want to, but only if it doesn't hurt you."

"I don't care, as long as you're happy."

She stands on her tiptoes, holds my face, and gives me a kiss. "Zeus, I'm the last person in the world to talk about forgiveness. To this day, there are things my father did to me that I can't forget, but at least I try not to harbor so much hurt. It's a poison that, unfortunately, we drank ourselves."

"I'll keep the promise I made to my grandfather, Madison. I can't forget what my mother and Adrian's actions did to my father."

"And then will the revenge end?"

"I could lie and say yes because I just asked you to marry me, but I don't want there to be any more secrets between us, so no, it's not over. In addition to breaking up the bank, I have scores to settle with Celine and Gordon. I won't forgive what they did to you."