49. Kennedy
Kennedy
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
I have knots in my stomach.
It's not because my son is now officially King O'Neal Kostanidis but because of what is about to happen.
King is relatively sociable, but he seems a little scared by the crowd around us and tries to hide in his father's shoulder, his arms locked around Hades' neck, as if asking him to protect him from the world.
"He's anxious," I whisper softly to Hades, "and so am I."
"We'll be done here soon. It's just a formal announcement. I want everyone to know definitively that you're untouchable now."
Today, before King's registration was formalized, we took photos, the three of us, with a professional photographer.
Madison, Cici, and Serenity took me shopping a few days ago, and now I have a wardrobe like theirs, filled with famous brands and prices so exorbitant that when I saw the tag on the dress I tried on in one of the stores, one of the options they gave me to wear on my wedding day, I spent fifteen minutes sitting in the fitting room trying to calm my nerves because it would equate to almost a year's worth of my old cleaning lady salary.
The chief of the Kostanidou's public relations team arranged for an image consultant to advise what would be the best way to present our family to the world. Even our clothes and the pose we would strike in the photos were not decided by us—they were all orchestrated to convey credibility to the public, the man said.
Hades and his brothers talked to me and explained how this whole circus works. Although in theory judges and prosecutors should be impartial, they read newspapers and magazines, watch TV, and are influenced by their families' opinions.
To be honest, if I were on the outside and was one of them, I would also find it sad to separate a couple with such a young child like Hades and me.
We make a beautiful trio.
But this, according to my now-fiancé, is just the "cosmetic" part of my situation for the media, because simultaneously, Hades has also been working on various fronts behind the scenes.
On the trip to New York, he mentioned to me that my blood had never been tested, even though a lot of it had dripped onto the sink counter in the beach house suite on the night Pam was killed. Or if they did, they concealed the result in the defense.
We found out that the samples were preserved but the prosecution team conveniently "forgot" to ensure they were tested because, of course, if there were no alcohol or drugs in my blood, that would disrupt the prosecution's theory that, due to being intoxicated, I helped kill my former friend.
Hades, through my lawyers, demanded that the tests be done, and yesterday the result arrived. There was nothing in my body, no cocaine or alcohol.
The lawyers handling my case say that this result is of great help for the jury to see me as a victim, not a perpetrator.
"Mommy, let's go," King asks after half an hour, when, in addition to more photographs, Hades introduces him to the half a dozen reporters who were allowed to participate.
"Gentlemen, my heir has given his verdict," Hades announces, putting an end to this small ordeal.
"Mr. Kostanidis, one last question?" asks a blond guy who can't be much older than my twenty-two years.
"Yes?"
"Are you sure about Miss O'Neal's innocence?"
I see the faces of the other Kostanidou present tighten, and I have no doubt that if they could, they would kill this guy.
I can feel Hades' tension, as great as mine, and I keep a neutral expression as I wait to hear what he's going to say, although, inside, I'm trembling.
"I am absolutely sure that Kennedy had no involvement in the crime committed. She was a victim and is a survivor. Soon, all the facts will be clarified. If you want to find the real culprit, keep hunting Ryan Corey III. Reiterating what I said before, this interview is over."
After everyone leaves, I turn to him. "You've declared open war on the Coreys. You practically put Ryan's head on a platter."
"You haven't seen anything yet, love. Soon, his father, Ryan Corey II, will be arrested for what he tried to do to us in Louisiana."
"What? Are you referring to when they tried to run us off the road?"
Hades mentioned to me that he was investigating the incident, and of course, I was almost sure the Coreys were responsible, but they are a powerful family and I didn't imagine we could prove something like that.
"Yes, but let's have lunch with our family first to celebrate King's paternity recognition, my fiancée. Then, I'll explain it to you calmly."
Hades
After the lunch that Zeus's mother-in-law, Eleanor, hosts at her place, with the whole family on a Friday afternoon, which is rare, I leave my wife and son with them and go with my brothers to the headquarters of our bank.
It’s not business we’re going to discuss, but rather, how we will conduct our investigations, gathering evidence to pressure the prosecution to the point where they have no choice but to drop the charges against Kennedy.
Remo called me and said he had good news. He also asked me to summon all the lawyers responsible for Kennedy's defense.
The prosecution has nothing but fingerprints on the statue, and her lawyers will argue self-defense. If Remo managed to find something relevant, that would be excellent.
I think about what I said to Kennedy today, about Ryan's father.
A few minutes before we entered the press conference, Beau called me. I don't know how, but he managed to uncover the connection between the men who came after us and the patriarch of the Corey family. I have no doubt that he must have used "special" methods to convince the man to give up his brother’s contractor, who was killed in the confrontation with our bodyguards. The fact is that now we have someone willing to testify against the Coreys.
I immediately warned Odin, and within an hour, he managed to identify the online trail left by Ryan Corey II, the father of the unfortunate fugitive, when he paid the men he hired to kill us.He is about to be arrested at any moment, and tonight I'm sure the news will explode all over the country.
Why would the father of an "innocent," a "victim of circumstances," as he called Ryan in the interviews he gave, order the killing of the alleged accomplice?
The answer is simple.
To silence her.
While my brothers discuss this issue, we wait for Remo Pellosi, as well as Kennedy's defense lawyers.Remo told us he already has his report ready on the investigation he conducted at the beach house.
"You'll never tell her?" Ares asks beside me.
"Tell who?"
"Kennedy."
"What are you talking about?"
"I know everything, Hades. We all know. You are my younger brother—did you really think I wouldn't shadow you, knowing you've been living in hell for the last three years?"
"Be more specific."
He shakes his head."You're stubborn as a mule. Tell her everything. Kennedy is still hurt. You can end this by clarifying that despite what your mind was saying, that she was guilty, your heart never left her."
"You are being delusional, Ares."
"Am I? I know you were going to the prison door in the middle of the night while she was in a coma."
"And also paying someone inside the prison hospital to take care of Kennedy while she was in her involuntary sleep," Zeus adds.
"You never hated her as much as you thought, Hades," says Dionysus. "You wanted to be challenged and proven wrong, shown that she was innocent, because deep down, you couldn't forget her. Otherwise, you wouldn't have paid people to watch over Kennedy to prevent her from being harmed in her vulnerable state during the coma."
"Yes, I did that, but I'm not going to tell her. Don't you understand? It's a drop in an ocean. She had my son without me by her side. She was trapped in an amnesia vacuum throughout the pregnancy. Kennedy hasn't said anything, but because of her lack of memory of the events of that night, I'm sure she was terrified by the possibility that Ryan was King's father. She never had any relationship with him, but the bastard could have raped her and she wouldn't have remembered."
"Jesus, I never thought of that!"
"I did. I've gone mad ten times over just that possibility. If her memory returns and Kennedy remembers that she was harmed, it will destroy her, damn it!"
"Hades—”
"Put yourself in my place, Zeus. How would you feel if it were Madison in Kennedy's situation? Now, add the fact that I turned my back on her, wanted her to be punished, and you'll come close to imagining how I feel. There isn't a dawn I haven't spent sleepless, and no matter how many people I've paid to take care of her, it won't erase the fact that I hated her and thought she was capable of killing Pam alongside that worm."
"The problem isn't whether Kennedy forgives you or not," Ares says. "It's you who can't forgive yourself."
"Yes. It will take time to happen. Maybe I'll never reach that point."
We hear a knock on the door.
"Gentlemen, Remo Pellosi and Miss O'Neal's lawyers are outside."
"Let them in," Zeus says, and five minutes later, we are sitting around the oval table.
"What did you find out?" I ask Remo when I can't wait any longer.
He takes a phone wrapped in a plastic bag from his briefcase and puts it on the table."Something that will clear Kennedy of all charges."