Page 34 of Unleash Hades (Ungoverned Spaces #5)

“You almost blended right into the crowd with that black ensemble,” Bellamy said, looking my husband up and down.

“You must let me dress you someday. I think a bit of green. What about a nice russet hat? Oh, but then we’d have to change your tie, and re-tailor that suit so you’re not walking around in the shape of a coffin.

” Bellamy put his finger to his chin and shook his head.

“Oh, no-no- no ! We’d have to redo the whole thing. Far too much work. Never mind.”

For the first time, I wondered if all the flamboyance was something intentionally done out of spite.

It certainly enraged the hell out of Richard.

“I had forgotten you were taking the boys to Leeds,” Richard said, turning his eyes away from the orange creamsicle beside me. “That was marvelously convenient, I think.”

He lowered his voice, leaning in to speak directly into the shell of my ear.

“If you want to see the boys again, you will get up, and come with me. Right now.”

My eyes widened, and I turned to my husband who wore a saccharine but wolfish smile.

“Don’t look shocked, my love,” he crooned, as goosebumps peppered my arms. The world was turning white. The lights were too bright, and I couldn’t breathe. “Pretend I'm telling you sweet nothings, and smile.”

“What have you done?” I tried to keep my breaths even.

“Darling…” He ran a finger from my brow, down my temple, and the side of my cheek. He pinched my chin in his hand. “Check mate, my Eleanor of Aquitaine.”

Henry II kept his wife imprisoned until his death. That was my fate as well.

Dread slammed down around me like the gates of a cell. The worst was yet to come.

Richard brought up his phone, and showed me a picture of our boys, their hands bound in front of them. I couldn't make out the background. There were no clues as to where they were. But Romulus was terrified, and Remus was stone-faced… It looked real. Even if it wasn’t, would I risk being wrong?

“What are we looking at?” Bellamy said, almost throwing himself onto Richard’s lap in his attempt to see the phone screen.

Richard clicked it shut, placing it back in his pocket.

“Family business,” he said, his face terse.

“Oh no! I hope the boys are alright.” Bellamy looked at me, his eyes boring into my soul, almost as if he was asking something…

as if he knew. And I was starting to realize that he probably did.

“Such delightful creatures, I can’t wait to get to know them better!

That Romulus is a real credit to you, Cali. ”

A credit to me. Not to Richard. It was purposely meant.

Then he turned to Richard with an expression that shimmered with enthusiasm.

“I was just talking to Remus about the greatness of journalism as a tool of…”

Richard had had his fill of the conversation.

“Calissandra and I will be leaving now,” he said with determination, as he came to his feet, his hand outstretched to me.

I didn’t take it. Where was Hugo? I couldn't find him. Where was he?

“Oh! We’re leaving?” Bellamy said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Let me just say a few farewells and…”

“ We are leaving,” Richard said. “My wife and I.”

The title was a condemnation.

“Oh! Well, how rude!” Bellamy said. “We showed up together, and we’re partners in this story…”

“The story is dead,” Richard said. “Not a word of it will be published.” Then to me, “Let’s go, Calissandra. I’d hate for your actions to recreate what happened in Marseilles.”

My veins turned to ice.

He wasn’t just making a threat on my boys but reminding me of their mother.

Bellamy looked at me, then back at Richard. His lips hardened into a line.

“I must insist that…” Bellamy started to come to his feet, only for Richard to push him back down.

“Stay here, Peacock,” Richard gritted through his teeth. “You have no idea what you’re doing. I wouldn’t try to interfere if I were you.”

It was the closest thing to an overt threat that he’d ever done.

His threats were always veiled, laced with plausible deniability. But something about Bellamy made him angry… it made him lose his cool exterior.

“Calissandra?” Bellamy said, grabbing me by the bicep, his grip was much tighter than ever anticipated.

“I’ll be fine,” I reassured him.

I did not like Bellamy before… but he cared. And there wasn’t a surplus of people who did.

I couldn’t take it for granted when someone tried to do the right thing by me.

“We’re just going to see the boys,” Richard said, looking at Bellamy’s hand on me, and my hand on top of his.

I wasn’t sure what went through his mind, or what passed for emotions in his heart. Was he jealous? Probably not. He’d never consider Bellamy a threat as a lover. Was it for the emotional connection? No, I doubted that too. Afterall, what did he care for emotions?

“ Your boys,” I said, emphasizing that they were biologically his, “Are good people. And they…”

“Are in your hands,” Richard said, as he outstretched his hand again.

I knew the threat. I understood it completely. If I did not take his hand, then the boys would be harmed. Our boys. No… his boys… Adelia’s boys.

What was the use in lying?

They were my boys.

“Have a goodnight, Bellamy,” I said, under my breath, as my fingers landed on Richard’s palm. He snatched my hand, and I knew that it was the beginning of the end.

For better or worse.

Until death do us part.