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Zeus

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

The meeting with the board was cancelled. We released the announcement in the press that we are majority partners, and there is nothing they can do about it. If it were my bank, I would never act like this, as it would cause fluctuations in shares, but as the plan to dilute the GordonBank is already in progress, that's the least of my worries.

When he found out that we already owned the majority of the shares and that we would not attend the meeting, the old man called me and said, "I know defeat when I see it. I'm not a bad loser. You beat me at my own game. Congratulations. The bank is yours."

"You haven't been defeated yet, but you will be soon."

I knew when I hung up that a few minutes later Emerson would receive a package at home. Odin anonymously sent him Lyra's statement revealing his entire rotten past.

But not just that. There were instructions on what to do next: go to a warehouse, without security guards or a driver. A place my cousin said no one knew he owned.

A place that, a few years ago, he used to rid the world of the fucking monster who tried to abuse his wife.

I still think it's much less than Gordon deserves, but like my brothers said, no punishment would be enough, so we're here in our cars, outside the warehouse, watching him enter.

I think of the injustices that my mother suffered, the cowardice of our grandparents in caring more about the opinion of the New York high society than about protecting their girl . . . Adrian's failure to fulfill his role as best friend by keeping the truth secret, and finally, the betrayal of the one who knew everything yet chose to lie, tarnishing the image of her murdered cousin for her children and husband out of greed.

Incredibly, now that I know the full story, my hatred is directed solely at Emerson Gordon. As for the others, I feel profound disgust.

And there is something else, a feeling that I have been fighting but which is inevitable. It concerns my father. If this discovery about my mother's past had happened before I met Madison, perhaps I would have been able to understand the despair that led him to take his own life after a mere phone call, firmly believing in the betrayal of his best friend and his dead wife, without even digging into the story.

Today, however, now that I know what it is to love a woman beyond measure, I try to put myself in his place, and I'm sure that I would never, even after living with Madison for only a few months, believe that she would be capable of deceiving me in such a vile way.

That makes me wonder if my father was really sure of her and Adrian's infidelity or if he chose to die because he couldn't bear the idea of continuing to live without her by his side, regardless of the betrayal.

We'll never know the answer.

Another thing I’ve thought about is that for someone with as many skeletons in the closet as Emerson, he took a risk by trying, through a marriage contract with his granddaughter, to give me control of his bank and put his entire fortune in my hands. Perhaps he was so sure of his impunity that, after keeping his crimes covered up for so many years, he believed he would never be caught.

Did he really think I wouldn't go after him to avenge my father for Adrian and Mom's supposed betrayal? Did he believe that money would be more valuable than retaliating for the death of my idol? Because now I know that, no matter how much I said that what motivated me was the promise I made to my grandfather, deep down, what I always wanted was to avenge my father.

Gordon has no idea what a Kostanidis is capable of when he hates. Our resentment has not diminished over time. It has only grown stronger.

“It's time,” Odin says, and we all get out of the car—my cousins and brothers.

My phone vibrates, and I see it's Madison, sending photos of the baby clothes she bought on her outing with Elina and Zoe.

She and our unborn child are the link that keeps me lucid. If it weren't for the two of them, I would be capable of doing something crazy, ending the bastard's life with my own hands.

Hades, my brother, whose vengeful streak runs as deep as mine, grabs my arm. "I know what you're thinking, and I won't let you do it, Zeus. That son of a bitch in there destroyed our family. He raped and murdered—or ordered someone to murder—our mother. He was the indirect cause of our father's death and then our grandfather's. He'll not get the final victory. If you kill him, it won't satisfy our need for revenge."

When we enter the warehouse, there is nothing but a chair in the center of it, where Gordon is sitting. Next to him, there is a table with a gun lying on it.

The same gun with which my father killed himself and which was returned to us by the police when the investigation came to an end.

I kept it in my safe as a kind of motivator, looking at it every now and then to remind myself why I could never give up on my revenge.

We form a semicircle around Emerson, all standing, just close enough to watch.

"I wanted to say—” he begins, but I interrupt him:

"Stop. There is nothing you can say that will save you from your fate. You are a fucking rapist. A murderer who, to cover up his own crimes, took the life not only of a mother but also of his own son, his blood."

"You stole everything from us, Gordon,” Hades says. “Now it's time to give it back to us through your death."

Dionysus speaks for the first time. "When you are dying, think of her. Astra. The young girl whose innocence you destroyed and whose life you then stole."

"A Greek never forgets an offense, Gordon," Ares says. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

"Do it," Odin says. "We don't have all day. If you believe for a minute that we won't distribute Lyra's statement throughout the world, you are mistaken. You may not be held responsible for Astra's rape, but they will open an investigation into the murders. I followed your trail and discovered your rotten past. Don't doubt that I will go to hell to prove that you killed them.”

Emerson stares at us for a while and then looks at the gun on the table. I see that, even so close to the end, the miserable man is still trying to think of a way out.

But there isn't one, and we all know he'll choose death over having to deal with the scandal of having murdered his own son and best friend to cover up his crime.

I see the wrinkled and trembling hand pick up the weapon, and I wish I could do the deed myself, but Hades is right. For our revenge to be complete, it must be this way.

I don't look away when I see him position the barrel of the gun inside his mouth, just like my father must have done in the past. I don't even blink as I watch him pull the trigger or as his head falls back.

I say a prayer, handing over our revenge to my parents.

For the first time in more than a decade, I can think about them without hurt, and silently, I ask for forgiveness, especially from her, the woman who I thought betrayed us, but who was the only one betrayed. The girl who could not, even at home, where she should have been loved and protected, find shelter.

"It's over," Christos says. "You need to get out of here."

"What do you want me to do? Do you want them to find the body or not?" Odin asks.

"I want the video of his suicide, as well as Lyra's statement, to be distributed in the media." I walk closer to the dead man without feeling an ounce of pity. I wish he could keep dying and dying forever, but even then, it wouldn't be enough. "As for Gordon, I don't want his body found. His family won't have a grave to cry over. He doesn't deserve tears or prayers."

"I can make sure of that," Christos says and takes out his phone. He walks away but not before I hear him say, "Beau? I need to talk to you."

"Go. We’ll take care of it," Odin says.

My brothers and I leave, but outside the warehouse, we stare at each other in silence.

“It's over,” Ares says.

"Yes, it's over," I confirm.