My brother sighs, leaning back in his chair. “You want to talk about it?”
“About what?”
“Kratos. I do know a thing or two about marrying to stop a war.”
I shake my head. “I’m fine,” I shrug. “It is what it is.”
Ares’ brows furrow. “But I’m sorry you weren’t given a choice. And that this was the way this shook out to avoid—”
“You don’t have to apologize. This is what we do. What you give for family.”
His mouth thins. “Look, I know you keep a lot that goes on inside that big head of yours from us…”
I smile wryly. “Nah, I’m an open book.”
“And I’m the queen of fucking France. I’m not asking you to let me in, man. You have your reasons you don’t want to, and that’s cool. But I know you had it rougher than most of them realize when we were kids.”
I say nothing, staring at the floor, my jaw clenched.
“Obviously I don’t know the details, and again, you never have to tell me, although you know you always can. But I caught…glimpses.” His brow furrows as he leans forward, steepling his hands. “I saw how brutal Atlas and Dad were to you. I saw the way Dad paraded you around to his buddies like some sort of heavyweight champ. Like a weapon. And—”
“Let’s focus on the numbers and not the monsters under my bed, okay?”
Ares is silent for a moment. Then he reaches out and puts a hand on my knee. “I’m here for you, that’s all.”
“I know,” I growl quietly.
He nods. “Good. Oh, before I forget.” His brow furrows. “I got a weird call here at the office the other day.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, a Ms. Mircari’s assistant called?”
I freeze.
I know now that me getting busted in that sting was deliberate. It’s why Amaya or anyone else in the CIA never let my family know what happened and quieted all the paperwork.
She wants to use me. She wants me to spill secrets from my own family. And, apparently, now that it’s clear that it’ll be a cold day in hell before I ever do that, she’s moved on to the Italians.
I’ve been ignoring her since she crashed the engagement party. So I know what her calling Ares is. This is a warning shot across the bow.
“Thanks,” I grunt. “I’ll call her back.”
“Who is she?”
I shake my head. “Don’t worry about it.”
Ares eyes me. “Don’t worry about it because I’ve been handling less of that stuff?”
It’s true. With Ares running our family and Thermopylae, Hades, Deimos, and I have all taken on a lot more of our…less than legal business ventures, to keep Ares’ hands clean.
“Or don’t worry about it because something’s fucked and you’re trying to keep cool.”
“Yes.”
He scowls. “Which one, Kratos.”
I glance at my watch. “I need to run, actually.”
He gives me a look that says he’s not even a little ready to drop this. But just as he opens his mouth, the door to his office swings open and Hades comes charging through, a black expression on his face.
“Fuck,” Ares growls, rising. “What is it?”
Hades’ mouth twists. “Hope neither of you had any bets going on when Davit was going to be back on his feet. That ‘temporary liver thing’ just killed him.”
Shit.
“Fuck,” Ares swears. “FUCK!” He glances at me, then back to Hades. “Has Te Mallkuarit given any indication about—”
“Arian Kirakosian was officially made head of the organization about an hour ago.”
Goddammit.
That’s not good.
The phone on Ares’ desk rings. When he answers, his face darkens as his secretary, Leigh, chirps something on the other end.
“I understand. Call him back, tell him we’ll be right over.”
