CHAPTER SIX
Hadleigh – Langley, Virginia – Three Months Ago
I stand in a plain blue suit before the Deputy CIA Director who reads a prepared statement from the admiral I reported to for the mission in the Mediterranean.
I sniff, holding back tears. I didn’t get the Trident, but getting the Intelligence Star feels damn good. Especially when it’s gone to other SEALs.
The part that sucks? This is a private ceremony.
SEALs walk on water all over the country, glory raining down on them. My mission was secret.
“Good work, Lieutenant.” Cherise presents the star to me, formal and unsmiling, like she doesn’t know me.
It doesn’t feel real in my hands. It’s not on a ribbon and doesn’t get placed around my neck with a handshake from the President.
Time stands still until she holds her hand out for the star. An odd tradition. I’m expected to give it back. I can’t publicly claim it until my death. Then it will officially be awarded posthumously, and my family will receive it.
Only, I have no plans to ever get married. My brothers are psycho mobsters who will surely be gunned down soon. So...yeah. That star will stay locked in a closet here in the George Bush Center.
Shaking all that away, I hand the star back with a salute.
Cherise salutes me, too, our eyes briefly connecting. In a flash, I’m back on that rope wall with her, killing myself for a brotherhood who didn’t want me.
“As you were, Lieutenant.” Cherise takes my star, pivots on her heels, and disappears with her aides.
Before I can wonder if she’s happy, someone clears their throat behind me, sending a jolt down my spine. I turn slowly and the shadowed figure in the doorway stops my heart.
The height, the set of his strong jaw, those wide shoulders.
Alexander!
He found me because I returned stateside, which I knew was a risk. I take a step forward and any fear I had about facing Alexander’s wrath triples.
No. No, no... Fear snakes down my spine.
That’s not Alexander.
Ares steps out of the shadow. Our other brother, who, according to Alexander, didn’t know I enlisted and who is being demoted to install me as his second.
Oh no...
This happens all the time. Brothers fighting brothers and keeping little sisters in their place. I feel the strong instinct to run, to chase down Cherise and hide under her desk.
The ice in my spine turns to fire as I coax myself to stand tall with the truth: You’re a fucking decorated Navy lieutenant. This is your fucking turf.
Squaring my shoulders, I trek cautiously toward my brother. “Can I help you?”
“Hello, Ava.”
“My name is Lieutenant Hadleigh Castille,” I correct him, my heart pounding.
“Not anymore, Ava.” Ares crosses his arms and looks over my shoulder.
I follow his gaze into the vacant ceremony room. Looks pathetic, all this running and avoiding my family for silent valor.
“You haven’t seen me in nine years.” I fold my arms and match his stance.
I’m not short in stature, five-nine according to the last physical, but Ares is six-three. I’m pretty sure I can take him.
“I’m here now. Have a seat.” He points to a row of empty chairs.
“I’d rather stand. I sat on a plane for ten hours to get here.”
“Ava!” he roars, triggering his guards hovering nearby to react. “Sit. Down.”
I’m outnumbered unless I start yelling. But I can’t turn on my family. That’s not who I am. Gritting my teeth, I lower into a metal chair, and a strand of hair comes loose from my tight military bun.
Ares touches the blonde lock. “I’m offended that Alexander covered your beautiful ebony hair.”
I smack his hand away. “What do you want, Ares? Where is Alexander?”
He cups my shoulder, the contact shocking me. “Ava, I’m sorry.”
I bolt out of the seat, dread sweeping me under like a wave. “What happened?”
“Alexander is gone,” he whispers, yanking me back down.
“Gone?”
“Dead. Gunned down.”
The room spins and the roaring in my ears deafens everything around me. Tears leak from my eyes, and I want to cry out. But crying suggests weakness to someone like Ares. “When?”
“Last week.”
“How?”
“Did the military take away your ability to communicate in more than one-word sentences?”
I glare at him in response.
“Great. Not talking at all. That’s perfect. Be mute. You and I have much to discuss, and I don’t like being interrupted.” He grips my hand in a dominating squeeze.
With Alexander gone, I’m terrified of what Ares has planned for me. That’s how psychotic and lethal my brothers are. Alexander kept them in check. But he’s gone.
“Tell me right now how my brother died,” I demand.
“I will tell you tonight. When you’re home.”
Home, I don’t even know where that is anymore, since the last home I knew was Father’s apartment in Lower Manhattan.
Alexander...
“Alex died a week ago?” It hits me. “I missed the funeral?”
“You were on a naval ship in the Mediterranean. Did you want me to send the Hellenic Navy for you?”
I flatten my lips. “Is he buried with Father?”
“No. Our beloved Alexander wouldn’t want to be buried with a man he hated, but because it was sudden, I looked into Father’s plot and found out there wasn’t an open spot.”
“What? Only he and Mother...”
Ares looks down. My God, our mother is dead and buried without Father telling us.
“I’m not robbing a grave and exhuming bodies right now. I purchased a new family plot.” Ares stands up and the two men in suits fall in line behind him. I realize that I am looking at the new head of the Greek Mafia, a man who has a war with the Irish to deal with. “These are your guards, Ava.”
“I don’t need guards.” I fold my arms.
“My men will escort you to your hotel room at the Willard, they will watch you pack, and then bring you to my plane at Dulles.” He holds my chin and leans in. “I don’t doubt your ability to get away from them, but if they show up at that plane without you, I will kill them.”
Neither guard moves a muscle.
I tuck my phone inside my jacket. My brother won’t grab my breasts to get it. Even though I bought it with my own money, I know how this works. I’ll have to surrender it eventually.
Damn, I’m cornered.
“Alexander mentioned wanting to take out the Irish,” I whisper and it hurts to say his name. “And that he needed my help.”
I study Ares to see if he knew of Alex’s plan to put me in charge of the attack mission. How Alexander appreciated my strength, cheered me on to be a badass.
“We are still at war, Ava, yes.”
“Alexander gave me a thumb drive with intel, who to strike, where. Said he needed me by his side. I planned to honor that.” I doubt Ares will make me his second. “Is that what you need me to do?”
“Not exactly.”
“But you are the God of War.”
“Even I know when it’s time to make peace.”
“Then what can I possibly do to help you?”
He grins. “I’m so glad you asked.”