Chapter 48
Xavier
I’ve never been in a corporate war room before, but I imagine that it’s a little like this, with fewer sofas and not as many snacks.
Artemis’s living room is full of his siblings—including Scott—and the more I eyeball the door, the more alluring it becomes.
I shift on the sofa and immediately regret it.
My shoulder sends up a hot, vicious warning, like it’s reminding me I don’t belong anywhere right now—not on the ice, not in this room, not in my own skin.
That burns more than my injury.
There’s an air in the room, a get-shit-done vibe charged with energy that’s making even the oxygen molecules crackle. My shoulder hurts, my head throbs, and even though he walked right in and took my hand, I’m not sure this is where I should be right now.
As if the de la Pena problem wasn’t enough, I have problems of my own.
Concussion I can handle in a couple weeks, but separated shoulders take four to six weeks to heal.
I’ve never been quick at recovery, so when they give me a time frame like that, I always assume the worst, so let’s say ten for the sake of argument.
Six weeks, best case, assuming things heal as they’re supposed to, no one missed anything, and I don’t need surgery. Surgery.
It’s been the word humming in my ear since I woke up in the hospital. They say it’s ‘unlikely,’ but can’t rule it out. Unlikely is doctor-speak for don’t make plans. And hockey is nothing but plans: game schedules, playoffs, travel. Plans. Lots of plans.
As much as I want to be present for my guy, and I really do, a combination of the simmering pain and panic in my body has pulled me out of the moment. Six weeks takes us into March. If recovery runs even later, I won’t be back on the ice for the playoffs.
Like everyone else, I stare at my Arte, waiting for him to speak, but the tiny voice at the back of my mind is yelling at me that it might be time to consider what I am—who I am—without hockey.
A shiver snakes up my spine at the thought, but at the end of the day, hockey isn’t a forever career. I’ve always known that. And this injury is just another reminder of the fact.
I can’t take the silence in the room for another moment. Everyone’s waiting for Artemis to get his poop in a group and speak, but he’s just… staring. His jaw works, muscles in his face feathering, but he’s not speaking.
Come on. My foot taps before I can stop it. I need him to move. To choose something. To say something.
Scott sits on the other side of me and nudges my knee with his. “Before we get into the annihilation of your asshole father, Arte.” He clears his throat like the words are sticking. “I need to apologize.”
I didn’t think the room could go any stiller, but somehow even the air itself holds its breath.
I suddenly feel very aware of how visible I am—the sling, the bruises still blooming on my shoulder and face, the fact that I’m not just Artemis’s boyfriend but his current liability.
It’s all crushing my bones and making it harder to breathe.
Do I look at Scott? Do I let him say his piece? Artemis has turned his head to look at his best friend but still hasn’t spoken.
“I was a dick.”
Athena snorts at Scott’s declaration.
Scott drags a hand over his jaw. “Fine. A really, really big dick.” He gives her pleading eyes like she’s busted his balls a time or two over this already. “You’re not helping, Bright Eyes.”
She smirks. “Good. It’s not my job to help you, Gizmo. You dug this hole all by your really, really big dick self.”
I feel vaguely out of the loop, but for Scott to take the stage in the middle of this crowd—including Thiago, Mathias, and Alejandro—Artemis’s half siblings who arrived while Gabriella was chatting to Artemis—it must be important.
“I was a dick to both of you.”
I must have hit my head harder than I thought because I have no memory of Scott Raine being a dick to me.
“I know I told you that Xavier wasn’t good for you. Wrong time, wrong guy.”
My stomach tightens. Artemis hadn’t told me. I mean, I didn’t get ‘I’m so happy you’re banging my best friend,’ vibes from Scott, but I also didn’t get ‘back all the way up, you’re bad for my boo thang,’ either.
“Truth is, I was jealous. Not seeing you in college every day…” His face turns a dark shade of red, and Athena does little to hold back her award-winning eye roll.
“Bromances are so fucking pathetic.” Athena practically sneers. “He misses you, Hermano. He’s too up his own ass to spit it out but he doesn’t shut the fuck up about how he never sees you anymore.”
Scott throws a glare her way. “I was getting there.”
She flicks her wrist. “Not fast enough. We have real problems to solve here, so hurry your kiss-and-make-up shit along, sí?”
Artemis’s sister is fucking terrifying, but Scott just flips her off and turns his attention back to us.
“She’s not wrong. I do miss you. Seeing you every day, hanging out together, studying together, playing together, practically living together.
.. To go from that to hardly ever seeing you…
I was pissed, embarrassed even. I had no idea you even liked Xavier, let alone were so fucking gone for him. ”
Artemis’s lips twitch as I turn to confront him. “You’re so gone for me, Pumpkin?”
Artemis shakes his head, his hair kissing his face as he does. “He doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about.”
I pinch his heating cheek. “You’re totally gone for me.”
Athena groans, and Ares stage whispers behind his hand “so fucking gone.”
Scott holds his hands up. “Look, I’m sorry.
I didn’t like the idea that anyone was getting more of your time than me.
We’ve been joined at the hip for all of college.
I’m not proud of it, but there it is. I think you two are great together, and I’m fully on team…
” He looks at Ares. “What did you decide on?”
Ares grins. “Xartemis. Like Fartemis.”
Scott returns the grin. “Hashtag team Fartemis.”
Ares and Scott hi-five like it’s the best idea in the history of the world.
Artemis groans, dropping his face into his hands. “I want to say I hate you, but I need your help, so I won't. Apology accepted.”
Ares’s gasp is as award-winning as Athena’s classic eye rolls. “What? Asking for help? You? Say it ain’t so.”
Apollo jabs him in the ribs. “Like it’s not hard enough for him right now. Don’t make it worse.”
Arte’s rigid next to me. “I hate asking for help.” There isn’t a single person in the room who needs him to say it but it’s a big thing for him to say out loud.
“We’ve noticed.” It’s Alejandro who answers, which speaks volumes. The three half siblings don’t know Artemis nearly as well as the other three, and even he’s noticed my man is an island.
Artemis surveys the group around him. “I don’t like to take up space.”
That lands somewhere just south of my ribs. Because I know exactly what it costs him to say that—and I can take a guess at how long he’s been trying to disappear out of his own life.
He clasps his hands together on his lap. “Or people’s time or energy if I can help it.” He meets the eyes of every one of his siblings before he continues, and I take one of his hands in my uninjured hand to give him some silent support.
“But I can’t do this alone.” His jaw flexes, like he hates saying it out loud, like it’s admitting defeat of some kind. “And I hate it, but it’s true.”
No one says a word for a long beat.
“Mamá has helped get the board members back in line, but Alonso will be a different matter entirely.”
Athena’s nostrils flare. “About that.” She casts a cursory glance at her mother, who gives a firm nod. “The smug bastard’s already been beaten at his own game.”
Artemis sits up straighter.
“Firstly, the NDAs he had our siblings’ moms sign are void because they were signed under duress.
” She shakes her head like the words taste dirty in her mouth.
“He threatened to cut off his measly child support if they spoke. But the guys aren’t covered by it and haven’t been since they turned eighteen. ”
“So they can sue for inheritance.”
Athena smirks, and Jesus Christ, if it isn’t a little terrifying.
A lot terrifying. “He paid child support for years, a shittily low amount for a man so fucking rich, but whatever. To hide it from…” She winces, clearly not wanting to say her mom.
“Everyone. He paid them through a shell company. But in order to create a legal paper trail for the payments, he stupidly made the boys minority shareholders.”
It dawns on Artemis. “They already have voting rights?”
Athena nods.
“There’s more.” Apollo’s eyes have a dangerous glint in them as he speaks. And I don’t think it’s on purpose, but this whole fucking vibe tells me never to cross this family if I don’t want to be destroyed on a cellular level.
“The family trust contains a morality clause that voids his controlling interest if he’s proven to have committed…” Apollo clicks his fingers a few times.
“Moral turpitude,” Ares supplies.
“Being a prick,” Athena adds at the same time.
“Conduct unbecoming,” Apollo finishes.
My shoulder throbs again, sharp and insistent. It’s a stupid parallel, but I can’t shake it—bodies breaking, systems breaking. Men who thought they were untouchable finding out they’re not. This isn’t about me, not in the least, and yet… it doesn’t feel like a world away from my situation either.
“The boys all submitted standard paternity tests days ago, results are in, and to no one’s surprise, they’re fambam.
The legal paternity tests will take a few more weeks, but we won’t need that to flex in the boardroom.
It wouldn’t be an instant removal by any means,” Apollo continues, his voice hard, “but it gives the board grounds to act.”
Artemis holds up a hand, his eyes working back and forth like he’s doing the math. “The paternity tests are done already?”
Apollo shrugs. “Just because you didn’t ask for help, doesn’t mean we didn’t know you needed it. Or that we weren’t going to give it. He tried to bury all of it, obviously, but Mamá keeps meticulous records.”
“And has an exceptional legal team.” Gabriella’s voice is as sharp as broken glass.
“We don’t want his money.” Thiago grunts. “But we’ll happily help destroy him.”
Artemis turns his attention to his relatively new brother.
“What about your own money? I have positions in the company picked out for each of you. Not token ones either. Real jobs, with real responsibilities, and real salaries. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but with him setting fire to everything, I just hadn’t gotten around to reaching out. ”
The three men nod, each staring at Artemis with a combination of awe and gratitude. “Aren’t we too young?” Thiago’s looks unsure at Artemis’s decision to give them jobs in the company.
Artemis nods. “Probably, but I think with some shadowing from senior members and intensive coaching, you can pull it off.”
Thiago purses his lips but stays quiet.
“I honestly don’t think we’ll need any of this.
” Athena regains control of the discussion.
“I think the threat of going public and embarrassing him will be enough for him to tuck tail and scuttle back under a rock. But it helps that rich men do stupid accounting crimes all the time.” She looks over her manicure.
“I’m glad we take more after Mamá. We’re all smart as hell and more than capable of destroying a mediocre cabrón. ”
Fuck, I hope she’s right.
“There’s more.” It’s back to Apollo. “We found out who Tabitha is.”
I hiss out a slow breath. This one’s a biggie. If Artemis was prone before, he’s coiled like a fucking spring now. I squeeze his hand. “Easy.”
“Fuck easy. I want to destroy them.”
Apollo winces. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
Artemis’s face drops. “The fuck?” He glances between his siblings, but none of them seem to have the same thirst for vengeance against Tabitha as he does. “What am I missing?”
Apollo swallows. “It’s Claudia.”
“Claudia? From the restaurant, Claudia? My ex Claudia?” Artemis looks at his mother who nods, an odd sadness in her eyes.
Artemis looks like he’s been hit in the face by a two-by-four. “Wh-at…? How…? I-don’t… shit.” Words flow from Artemis’s mouth like he can’t hold on to one thought.
I shift closer, angling my body toward his without thinking. I can’t fix this. I can’t shield him from it. But I sure as hell can make sure he doesn’t face it alone.
“Our father paid her to keep an eye on us. Her grandmother needed medical treatment, and she needed the money to pay for it.”
Claudia, the server from Guac ‘n Roll, the woman Artemis dated for a while, his “cover relationship.” She needed public clout; he needed cover from people throwing themselves at him.
I don’t blame them, to be honest. I threw myself at him, too. He’s easy to throw yourself at.
Artemis’s face pales. “Shit. She’s not?” He looks around the room.
Ares snorts. “No, Hermano. You didn’t fuck your sister.”
The relief on my boyfriend’s face is tangible, and his shoulders soften.
“But Alonso made threats against her, her family, her job,” Ares continues.
“And you know what it’s like when medical bills get out of control.
She felt like she had no choice but to do what he wanted.
” Athena’s voice is softer, though still carrying a hard edge.
“Like with everything else, he used her. He sent her the information about the merger. He’s known for a while but was waiting for the right time to use it. ”
I hate this man with my whole fucking being. And I can’t wait to watch my boyfriend bring him to his knees and then knee him in the face for good measure.
The siblings stay for hours. We order food, we strategize.
When we’re done talking business, there’s a raucous game of Cards Against Humanity that makes us laugh until our ribs hurt.
Gabriella might be a woman scorned but she’s chatting and laughing with her husband’s “illegitimate” children like she’s known them their whole lives. I want to be like her when I grow up.
Everyone’s laughing, and I’m smiling with them, but my arm is heavy in the sling, like it’s reminding me that I don’t get to forget what’s waiting for me when this room empties.
But it’s the change in my man that’s most notable, the tension in his face has eased, his shoulders are more relaxed, and he’s smiling more. There’s a lightness in him that I haven’t seen before, and I’d be lying if I said it isn’t hot as hell.
When he catches me staring, he quirks a brow, and I shake my head. He leans over and sweeps a kiss against my cheek. “Thanks for not letting me run.” His fingers tighten around mine like it’s a promise.
“Thanks for letting me stay.”