Chapter 24
Twenty-Four
E lias
I arrived at my father’s house, alarmed and annoyed at the abundance of vehicles parked out front. At first, I worried he was calling a meeting for strategic reasons. And then, I reminded myself how out of character that would have been.
Ozias wasn’t current on the protocols for organizing a formal gathering of the lieutenants. Things ran completely differently since I’d taken over, and someone would have informed me the moment the old directives passed through the ranks.
No matter, something was going on. A party, perhaps. Whatever it was, I planned to crash this wonderful event, and no one would fucking stop me. I planned to get answers. If an audience awaited, so be it.
They’d get a fucking show.
I couldn’t lose Avra. And I would protect her and her sisters.
Before I got through the front foyer, I was beckoned to the side by one of Ozias’s lieutenants, Stephanos. Technically, he was one of my men woven into my father’s team. For the last week, he’d left messages to meet, but nothing was secure. Now, I regretted not making a better effort to collect his information, especially considering a convenient recording passing into Avra’s hands.
“Sir.” He glanced toward the back patio before tipping his head to the side.
From the distant sounds of music and laughter over conversations, I figured that was where my father was. I followed Stephanos, though, curious what he could have learned here at the bastard’s home.
I nodded at him, giving him silent permission to speak. “Some fresh recruits came to me saying they heard a few higher-level recruits talking about plans that didn’t sit well with them.”
“Go on.”
“They were flirting with some girl and then bragged about how they were part of a plan to take your child and kill your wife and her sisters.”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
“That’s what she was talking about,” I muttered, connecting the dots. “That was why Avra accused me of wanting to give our child to him.”
Red rage surged within me, heating my blood and forcing me to step back and clench my teeth. I held my breath and attempted to temper the chaotic energy inside me and rein in my wrath to hear him as he continued.
“First of all, congratulations?—”
“This is all hypothetical. Avra isn’t with child,” I snapped, trying not to direct my anger at him. He wasn’t my target, but hearing him explain this plan made my blood boil.
He nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“What else?”
Stephanos glanced toward the patio, checking for security. “A trust of over two hundred million Euros, potentially three hundred million, was established by Juno Vitalis for his daughters and remains intact. It can only be passed to a blood relative of the Vitalis family. Your father knew this since the coup. He arranged for the sisters’ escape and intended to force your wife into marriage, but they vanished instead.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Ozias’s greed knew no bounds. After all, didn’t history love to repeat itself? He’d murdered Eudora. What was one more Vitalis woman? Or all of them? And why not add forcing a fifteen-year-old girl to marry a twenty-five-year-old, too?
“Tell me all of it.”
“The land is legally divided among the sisters. Regardless of current claims, it won't belong to anyone while a Vitalis lives. Any child you have inherits everything. That’s your father’s plan. By taking your child, he gains control of the trust and land.”
“You did well, Stephanos.”
“There’s more, sir.”
I waited, knowing whatever he added would only fuel a storm inside me.
“We found a recruit with videos from our last meeting. He was on overwatch that day. Our team confiscated all of his belongings.”
I clenched my jaw. “Where is he?”
“In holding.”
“Did he tell you why he decided to record us?”
“To gain favor with your father, he believed the recording would prove his loyalty.”
“Then how did it get to my wife?”
“That, I cannot say.”
I’d find out up close and personal once I dealt with the old man.
“Go to Carlo. He is outside. He’ll give you instructions. Be ready.”
I waited to collect myself once I was alone.
I’d come here seeking answers, the details Avra had refused to share. Now I knew and understood the devastation on my beautiful wife’s face.
No wonder she found it so hard to believe me. I wouldn’t have believed me.
I stormed outside, squinting in the bright sunlight glaring in the cloudless sky. Scanning the crowd, I followed the robust sounds of deep laughter .
There. I found him. Ozias sat on a plush lounger, two young women sitting beside him and fawning over him. He relaxed in a loose white shirt with his arms around them both. In one hand, he held a lit cigar, smoke bellowing from the tip. With the other, he trailed his fingers along the top edge of one of the women’s shirts, nearly exposing her breasts to all the people around them.
She tittered and giggled, sliding against him to cuddle and whisper something in his ear.
“Oh?” He chuckled, then furrowed his brow as I stalked closer.
I stood tall and unmoving, blocking out the sun. Casting him in my shadow, I hoped he felt the chill of the darkness, of my darkness, because ice ran in my veins at the sight of him out here like this.
Gluttonous with food on platters, indulging in underage whores. Smoking his cigars and joking with his chiefs. Like a fucking king.
“Son.” His lips curled into a mocking half-smile as he reached forward and picked up his cocktail glass, complete with an olive on a stick. “Welcome home.”
With his hand still outstretched, the cocktail liquid glistening with condensation, I fumed and tried to find my last reserve of patience.
I had none. His smug, mocking smile was all it took for me to react. Saying nothing, I reached forward and slapped his glass to the patio.
“Get out. ”
I ordered it once as the glass shattered and flew out in an arc from the stone slabs underfoot.
Music stopped. I felt the eyes of all the chiefs directed my way.
“Get. Out!”
They scrambled, climbing out of their chairs and leaving. The women seated with Ozias hurried away too, dodging any contact with the shards of glass. I’d come to a party scene of them all kicking back and living it up, and now, it was just me and him.
I didn’t move, blocking the sun from touching him and warming him. I felt no warmth or benevolence for him. He didn’t—hadn’t ever—deserved it. Not from me. Not from anyone.
“I demand an explanation for your plan.”
He pursed his lips together, feigning concentration, and he hummed. “What plan?”
“Don’t fuck with me.”
He chuckled. The sound grated on my nerves as he smirked at me like this was some big joke—an epic stunt.
“What plan? I have lots of plans, Eli. I’m the head of the Xenos Family. A leader has to have plans.”
“You’re not a leader.”
His smile dimmed.
“You’re nothing but a figurehead, an outdated example of what this family used to represent.”
He pulled his lower lip in and bit it. Anger was creeping over his face, slowly, but he was losing the war to hide it from me. “And what did the family ‘used’ to represent? ”
“Power.”
He pointed at me, his cigar still wedged between his fingers. “Now, that, I agree with. The Xenos name used to be so readily associated with power.”
Keep believing that. It had never been his to have in the first place.
“I said I want an explanation for your plans.”
Reverting to the humor, he smiled and nestled back in his chair, puffing on his cigar. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Here we were once again. History repeated itself, with me pushing Ozias for answers and to own up to his schemes.
Not even an hour ago, I was at home with Avra, put on the spot just like I was putting Ozias on the spot. The only difference was that I was clueless when confronted with an accusation of participating in something I’d never heard about.
Ozias, on the other hand, was the mastermind of the entire conspiracy. He acted innocent when he was guilty of all this chaos.
“What is it? You’re already so sick of married life that you want to return home?”
This place was never home. Not mine. Not his either, when he had to steal it from Juno Vitalis.
“It’s tough, isn’t it?” He puffed his cigar again. “Married life is a hassle. Listening to the wife bitch and nag. Wanting this and that. I can only imagine how fucking miserable that girl is making you.”
I stood there and said nothing, letting his pathetic words go in one ear and out the other. Who gave a damn what he felt about marriage? He never honored the one he had with his nonstop affairs.
The longer I remained silent, glaring down at him, the more he grew uneasy, squirming beneath my intense scrutiny.
His smile faded, then crumpled completely. His eyes narrowed as suspicion and annoyance claimed his mood. He shifted in his seat, unable to maintain eye contact.
Since childhood, the best way to irritate and push his buttons was with an unblinking stare and an added lack of response. He’d never been able to handle a silent treatment well. He couldn’t take the suspense.
The only way he ever won this challenge was through physical violence. A child was no match for an adult. Of course, a slap to the face or a punch to the gut garnered a sound or reaction.
Now, as an adult, he knew better. If he dared to touch me, the hospital was where he’d end up.
“I don’t understand why you’re so angry, Eli.” He shook his head, snarling as he tried to be more conversational. “You just said it yourself. We lost our power.”
“It was never your fucking power.” I slammed my fist to the table, cracking the glass top. It webbed, splitting into thick, pointed shapes. Each one of them became another weapon I could use on him, another sharp blade I could hold against his neck and end him.
Over the shattered table, I spilled what I’d heard. I shared what Avra had discovered. I repeated what Stephanos had just confirmed, never exposing him as the source. I laid it all out, heat coating my every word. The summary would be the same, no matter how I paraphrased it.
“Once I get Avra pregnant, you intend to eliminate the sisters for good. And after my wife gives birth, you want to get rid of her, too. Then, my son or daughter is the only living heir to the Vitalis trust and lands. Let me know if I have this right or wrong. You orchestrated the coup, the murders, everything from the very beginning for money?”
Silence hung between us, broken only by the tinkling trickle of water in the fountain across the patio. It didn’t distract me. Nothing would interrupt my focus on the devil himself.
At last, he caved to the pressure of the quiet, losing this waiting game as well.
“For money, land, and power. You think too small, boy.” Ozias shrugged. “What about it? That is how things run in our world.”
I cracked my knuckles, fisting my hands so hard. He wasn’t even going to try to deny it. He wasn’t arguing or making excuses to get out of this. He’d all but owned up to the fact that this was his plan.
“You knew about everything when you went after Eudora and Juno.”
“Of course I did. No one runs an operation like that without finding out every detail. You need to learn from my example.” Ozias narrowed his eyes. “It’s time to stop fucking around and become my son the way I raised you.”
The way he fucking what ?
“And what is it you expect of me?” I refused to hide my hatred.
“Get rid of the Vitalis girls.”
My heart raced. He was out of his mind.
“One by one.”
I couldn’t even picture it.
He leaned forward, stubbing his cigar on a cracked piece of the table. “I’ve set part of the plan in motion. You will fall in line and end the ‘figurehead’ bullshit. Is that clear?”
“Cancel it.” I set my teeth together so hard that they clacked.
He arched one brow. “Cancel what?”
“Cancel the hits.” I stepped forward once, glad that he flinched. “Cancel the hits on them. Right. Fucking. Now.”
He shook his head. “I won’t.”
“You better.”
“It’s a done deal.”
I tried steadying my breaths. The vision of lunging at him and slamming my fist into his face was too tempting. I’d beat him to a pulp and relish every gasping and dying breath he’d wheeze out.
“I won’t be a part of anything that brings more blood to those women.”
His laughter made my cheek twitch. I’d never been so high-strung, so pushed with the viral need to inflict pain as I was now. Hearing him laugh like I was ridiculous was one taunt too far.
“Pathetic. That goddamn Vitalis pussy is making you weak. So she’s that good at it? Huh? She good at fucking you while she tries to fuck me over?”
I shook, coiled, and braced to attack.
“I should have known you’d turn out like your mother.”
I slit my eyes, boring him with a lethal stare. “What?”
Under his breath, he muttered, “I’ll never forget how happy I was when that bitch finally died.”
I shuddered, overwhelmed with need to destroy this vile man. For that comment about my mother. About me. But most of all, about the wife I loved.
Killing him would be too fucking easy. It would be too quick of a reward. Besides, I knew his death belonged to Avra. She should be the one to end this piece of shit. It was time to throw this fucker off his throne.
Instead of launching at Ozias, I tipped my head. The guards surrounding us hadn’t left. They were always there, waiting and watching, blended into the background.
I caught the eye of the leader, who was focused on me. I gestured forward, flicking my fingers in a come-hither motion. I directed him to surround my genetic donor, the man I hated from the deepest depths of my soul.
Ozias Xenos would finally learn the majority of the Xenos men only answered to me, not him. They hadn’t taken orders from him in over a decade.
The soldiers moved forward as the trained unit they were and surrounded Ozias.
“What the fuck is this?” He shouted his outrage and moved his head from side to side, looking at them all.
“Stand down. Stop. I said stop!” His voice rose as he stood, stunned in furious disbelief. “Make them stop. Stand the fuck back!”
They tightened the circle, blocking off any chance of escape. I remained where I stood, watching, assessing, and enjoying the show.
“I order you to stand back. What the fuck are you doing? Listen to me!” His face was pinched with anger, red and sweating as he bellowed useless instructions none of them followed.
Two of them grabbed him, securing him in their grasps and sending him down to his knees with deft kicks and confident maneuvers for holding a prisoner. He struggled, cursing and spewing spittle as he demanded that they release him.
Satisfied to see him on his knees, captured, and learning the true strength of his power, I watched as he puffed and bucked, frantic to get free. I wouldn’t let them kill him. Not yet. Not until he spoke and told me all the details of the hits he’d put on Avra’s sisters. On her.
“You won’t win,” he spat, snarling at me. “Even if you take over completely, you won’t win.”
I raised my brows, amused he’d still cling to his insane beliefs.
“We’ll see,” I replied, turning to leave. It was past time to return to Avra. I’d bring her here and show her how I’d captured him. We’d work together to torture him and get the details out of him about the hits on her sisters.
“Before you go,” he sneered, breathing heavily from the exertion of his struggles, “I’m curious.”
I stopped, not turning back to face him as I listened .
“Does your wife know where her dear baby sister is?”
I whipped around, catching sight of his sinister smirk.
Everything in me froze. My heart stopped, then thudded into overdrive time. My lungs drew in shallow pants as panic kicked in.
Calista? No. She is too young. Too soft. Too gentle.
I could only hope it wasn’t too late to save her.