Chapter 40 Ares
ARES
Istare at my knuckles, raw and split, blood caked in the creases. Mine? Theirs? Does it fucking matter? I flex my fingers slowly, watching the skin crack further, fresh blood beading along the lines. The pain is distant, barely registering against the hollowness inside my chest.
Six hours.
She's been gone for six goddamn hours.
I close my fist again, tight enough that my entire hand trembles. The only thing keeping me from putting it through another wall is knowing it won't bring her back any faster.
When they took her, something inside me broke loose. Something I've spent years containing, controlling. I've killed before, but never like this. Never with this blinding, animal rage that turns everything red.
The first man I caught, one of Sebastian Makris's foot soldiers hiding in a tavern south of Kalamata, I beat until my knuckles shattered against his teeth.
I couldn't even hear what he was saying anymore, couldn't process the information he was trying to give me.
All I could think about was Katerina calling my name as they dragged her away.
Just like the guy at the vineyard, Theo had to pull me off him.
"You're going to kill him before he tells us anything useful," my brother had said. "Ares. Stop. For her."
For her. Those two words are the only thing keeping me together now.
I grab the bottle of whiskey from my desk where I've holed up to regroup.
I don't bother with a glass, just take a burning swig straight from the bottle.
It doesn't help. Nothing helps. Not the five locations we've torn apart looking for her.
Not the three men I've personally put in the ground.
Not the fact that George Zervas, a man I was ready to execute hours ago, has pledged his resources, his men, his blood to help find her.
My phone vibrates on the desk. I snatch it up, heart beating so hard I can feel it in my throat. Every call, every text could be about her.
It's a message from an unknown number.
A video.
Something in me already knows what I'm about to see, and my hand shakes so violently I can barely press play.
The moment I see her face, I stop breathing.
Katerina.
She's alive. Her eyes are clear. There's a redness on her cheek that looks fresh, like someone just struck her. My vision goes crimson at the edges just seeing it.
Sebastian Makris's voice comes through the speaker, talking about deadlines and demands, but I barely register the words. I'm looking at Katerina, at the barely perceptible tremble of her lower lip, at the way she stares directly into the camera. Not with fear.
God, I hope she believes I'm coming for her. That she trusts me to find her.
Fuck our fight, I will save you.
The realization hits me: any day that I don't acknowledge the fact that she's the center of my world is a day I live as a fool.
"Twenty-four hours, Kastaris," Makris says, and the video ends, freezing on Katerina's face.
"Ares."
I turn to find Theo in the doorway, his own hands bandaged, his shirt spattered with blood. I didn't hear him come in. I don't know how long he's been standing there.
"Did you see it?" I ask, my voice raw.
He nods once, his face grim. "We're trying to find anything that'll give the location away. Also, Dimitri's okay. He's getting patched up. Doctor says the bullet was easy to get out of his arm. He'll be here in an hour."
I barely process this. Dimitri is fine. Good. One less thing to worry about. One less failure on my conscience.
"What the fuck is he talking about? The Nafplio port and the money we took?"
Theo takes a step forward, slight hesitation in his voice. "I have no idea about the money, but the port in Nafplio is the one our dad made George Zervas take if anything should happen to him."
I run a hand over my face, feeling the stubble that's grown over the past day. My mind keeps trying to calculate what they might be doing to her, but every time it starts down that path, something inside me fractures further.
"I don't get it. It doesn’t make any sense. Shit, I wish Dad would have told us what he was working on, why Sebastian and these fucking Athenian Warriors want it, and why he told George to take the port from us."
I start pacing the length of the room. "I need to think, but I can't fucking think. All I see is her face."
"That's why I told you to come back to the house," Theo says, stepping fully into the room and closing the door behind him. "You were going to get yourself killed out there, Ares. And then what happens to her?"
I whirl on him, fury rising so fast within me. "Don't lecture me about this. Not now."
"Someone has to," Theo snaps back. "Because you're not the only one who cares about her. She's got our last name, and clearly your heart, so she's family now. My family. And I need you at your best if we're going to get her back."
When did Katerina become family to Theo? To any of them? When did she stop being a transaction and start being something we would all die for?
"She looked afraid," I say, and the admission costs me something. "She was trying not to show it, but I could see it."
"Of course she's afraid," Theo says. "But she's also strong. She saved Calli at that restaurant, remember? Put herself between our sister and bullets."
I remember. The image of her blood-soaked dress, the way she trembled in my arms afterward but still managed to smile, to reassure me. The woman is steel wrapped in silk.
My chest constricts again, that feeling of suffocation. Every second without her feels like drowning, like the air is too thin.
"I need to find her," I say.
"We will." He says it with such certainty that for a moment, I believe him. "But you need to be smarter than this."
I slam my fist onto the desk, making the bottle jump. "I've been all over this fucking city! Five buildings, three warehouses. Nothing. She could be anywhere—"
"Not anywhere," Theo interrupts, stepping closer. "Somewhere that matters to Makris. To the Athenian Warriors. Somewhere he feels safe, where he has control."
I stop, considering his words. Sebastian Makris. What do we really know about him? Smuggles weapons and fake knockoffs. Likes to think he's more important than he is. Thinks he's bigger and more dangerous than he really is. Again, someone has to be backing this asshole.
"His home?" I suggest, but even as I say it, I'm shaking my head. "Too obvious."
"And too risky," Theo agrees. "He wouldn't bring her somewhere so easily traced back to him. Plus, we've got men there and they haven't seen him."
I close my eyes, forcing myself to think past the red haze of rage and fear. "He used to run a legitimate business. Ouzo distilleries."
"Most of which we now control," Theo says, nodding slowly. "But there are a few left that he abandoned when he moved into more profitable ventures."
Something clicks into place. "Get men to those abandoned locations. See if—"
Theo is already pulling out his phone, texting coordinates. "I'm on it," he says.
I check my weapon, slide it into my holster. "I want to go myself. Let's head to the most secluded one."
"I'm coming with you," Theo says as he's typing into his phone.
Suddenly, there's a knock at the door.
"Come in," I call out, checking the clip on my backup piece.
The door swings open, and Stavros Petrou steps into the room. His face is pale, eyes bloodshot. He looks like he hasn't slept since the news broke. Since she was taken.
Fuck. Her uncle. I should have called him immediately.
"Stavros," I acknowledge him with a nod.
He looks between Theo and me, taking in our bloodied appearances.
"I heard there's a video. Let me see it," he says, his voice stern.
I hesitate for only a second, then nod to Theo to show him. It is his niece, after all. I owe him that much.
Theo hands him the phone, and I watch Stavros's face as he watches the video. His hands shake slightly, but he doesn't look away. Not once. He watches it all the way through.
"My poor Katerina," he whispers when it's over.
He hands the phone back to Theo and looks directly at me.
"We're allies now, and that's my niece, so I'll tell you this," he says, stepping closer to the desk.
"That man is Sebastian Makris. Among many things, he owns a seafood restaurant here in the Peloponnese.
It's not just a restaurant. It's fortified.
Rumors say he runs that—what does he call it—Athenian Warriors or some shit from its cellar basements.
" He plants his hands firmly on the desk, leaning in.
"I bet you that's where she is. You can have some of my men. "
My pulse quickens.
"You're sure about this?" I ask, already reaching for my jacket.
"As sure as I can be," Stavros says. "There's always more security than a restaurant would need. And it's isolated enough, right on the coast, away from the main tourist areas."
I turn to Theo, my decision already made. "Round up everyone. We're leaving."
Theo nods. "How many men do you want?"
"All of them," I say without hesitation. "Every single one we have in Kalamata."
"Consider it done," Theo confirms. "We'll fucking annihilate them."
"Good." I check the second gun at my ankle, making sure it's secure. "I want a full perimeter. No one gets in or out once we're there. If Makris is inside, I want him alive." I look up, meeting Stavros's eyes. "At first."
He knows what I'll do to the man who took Katerina. What I'll do to anyone who dared touch her.
"My men will meet yours there," Stavros says, pulling out his own phone. "I can have twenty ready in fifteen minutes."
"Thank you," I say, though the words feels inadequate. This man gave me his niece in marriage, and I failed to protect her. That sits heavy in my chest, mingling with the rage and fear.
I turn back to Theo. "I want the heat on this place. We go in hard and fast."
Theo nods, already relaying the orders to someone on the other end of his call.
"And Theo," I add, my voice dropping, "if she's hurt, if there's a single fucking bruise on her that wasn't there in that video…" I don't finish the sentence. I don't need to.
"I know," he says quietly. "We'll level the place if we have to."
Stavros is watching me, something unreadable in his face. Is it doubt? Concern? Evaluation?
"Car's ready," Theo announces, hanging up his call. "Team's assembling now. ETA to the restaurant is thirty minutes if we push it."
"I want to be there in twenty," I say, moving toward the door.
No one argues. They all fall in behind me as I walk down the hallway, my mind already at the restaurant, already tearing through walls and bodies to find her.
"Ares," Stavros calls after me. I pause, turning to face him. He catches up, his expression grave.
"There's something else you should know."
I wait, impatience gnawing at me.
"Makris isn't just some thug. He's smart, and he's got connections in places you wouldn't expect."
"I don't care if he's connected to the fucking Pope," I say, my patience wearing thin. "He took my wife."
"I'm not saying don't kill him," Stavros clarifies. "I'm saying be careful. He'll be up to something."
"So will I," I promise darkly.
Stavros nods, seemingly satisfied. "Then go get your wife back."
I slide into the back of the waiting SUV, Theo beside me.
"Let's go," I command.
I'm coming for you, Katerina. Just hold on, baby. And if anyone lays one more fucking finger on you, I'll gut them and make them choke on their entrails.