Chapter 12 Constantine
Constantine
Over the course of a couple days, Aurelia unpacked her stuff and incorporated it with my belongings. Because she had no furniture, her entire life was in a dozen boxes. Clothes, shoes, accessories, mementos.
I’d never lived with a woman before, but I was happy to share my space with her. Happy to know she was safe when I wasn’t around, that when I came home from a long night, she’d already be waiting for me in bed, that Medusa had her favorite woman to keep her company. And I liked how easy it was.
I asked her to move in, and she said yes—just like that.
She’d had cold feet the entire beginning of the relationship, had a million reasons why it wouldn’t work, but then she’d turned a corner when she lost me. And it’d been great ever since. She was one hundred percent in this with me, and we finally felt like a team.
When I got out of the shower, I stood at the vanity for a while and stared blankly at my reflection. Didn’t really see my face or my eyes. I pictured my brother’s face instead, the last time he’d looked at me as he lay on the floor—before Darius broke his knee.
I heard his screams and I closed my eyes, but that didn’t make it stop. My brother had been dead for seven years, and there were times when I thought the grief had passed . . . and then it lunged at me like a pissed-off viper. Sank its fangs into my flesh and poisoned me.
A soft hand landed on my bare back. “You okay?”
My eyes snapped open, and the screams were silenced. My hands left the edge of the vanity, and my spine straightened. “Yeah.” I cleared my throat and looked at my pale face again before I reached for my razor.
Her eyes shifted to the mirror, looking at me in the glass.
I put the preshave lotion over my chin then turned on the electric razor and got to work, getting rid of the dark hair that had grown across my jawline.
She continued to stand there like she didn’t believe me.
I was a shitty liar. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I focused on my own face as I kept shaving, feeling her stare just the way I’d felt it at Rosticceria Da Cristina. I continued and she stayed, but I refused to look at her.
“There’s only one thing you don’t like to talk about.”
I turned off the razor, then leaned over the sink as I splashed water onto my face.
I stared at the bottom of the basin as the last drops slid down my face.
Then I grabbed the towel I used in the shower and scrubbed away the water and the residue from the lotion.
“I have to see someone tonight that I really fucking don’t want to see. ”
A hint of confusion moved over her face, like she wondered if her guess had been dead wrong.
“But there’s no way around it.” I left the sink and walked out of the bathroom to the closet to get dressed. I put on my jeans and T-shirt, along with my watch. I left the handgun on top of the dresser and stepped back into the room.
Aurelia sat on the edge of the bed with Medusa lying on her stomach beside her.
Her makeup was gone like she was already ready for bed.
She did her nighttime routine after dinner, and her eyes looked pretty even when they were tired.
She had a healthy and predictable sleep schedule, starting to get grouchy around ten in the evening.
Polar opposite of mine—which was all over the fucking place.
“I’ll be back in a couple hours. Don’t wait up for me.
” I moved to her and gave her a quick kiss.
I didn’t fuck her before or after dinner.
I’d been in a sour mood since I’d started my day.
“Be careful.”
I headed to the front door. “It’s not me I’m worried about.”
I arrived in Vatican City, and like everyone else who stepped onto the grounds, I had to go through security. But there were more security steps this time than there’d been in the past—probably because of the occasion.
I was escorted by security to the Apostolic Palace, and when I entered, I found Pope Zephyrinus seated on the couch, fully dressed in his robes and glasses. “Hope it’s not too late for you.” I approached him and extended my hand.
He rose to his feet and took it, patting the back of my knuckles with his other hand. “God doesn’t work on a schedule, and neither do I. Hope you’re well, Constantine.”
I shrugged. “Eh.”
He gave a nod in understanding. “This moment will pass.”
“And then it’ll come back . . . until I kill him.”
He didn’t admonish me for the confession. Nonjudgmental as always. “I enjoyed meeting Aurelia a few weeks back.”
“Yeah, she was a bit awestruck by you.”
A little smile moved over his lips. “I can tell she makes you happy.”
“She does,” I said. “I hope you’ll marry us when the day comes.”
“It would be my honor to bless your union—when the day comes.” He smiled, then gave my arm a playful squeeze.
I smiled back.
Then the joy was sucked out of the room when the door opened. “He’s here, Your Holiness.”
Showtime.
“Send him in,” Pope Zephyrinus said. “Thank you.” He was over a foot shorter than me, shorter than Aurelia, so he had to lift his arm high to give my shoulder a comforting squeeze. “You’ll make it through.”
“We’ll see.”
A moment later, he came into the room like a fucking storm cloud. A darkness so intense it drove away the shadows. He sauntered into the place like it was his own, took a scan of the space even though he’d been there before, and then he stopped before us—his eyes locked on mine.
I stared back, his dark eyes morbid like the underworld. I could see the devil in those eyes, see evil like no other. A man without a heart, a soul that had already been taken by a demon. He cared for nothing and no one—except power.
The stare went on for several minutes. Minutes of the most intense silence ever known to humankind. I was so angry I couldn’t feel my face, had no idea how my expression looked when I stared at the man I wanted to break with my own hands.
Years had passed since we were last in the same room together.
Since then, I’d changed, bulked up to his size, so now there were two mountains in that room.
I worked hard every single day, lifted once in the morning and then again in the late afternoon.
Continued to train, continued to keep my reflexes sharp, continued to prepare for the moment I’d finally kill him.
I didn’t know when that moment would come, but I believed in my heart it would someday.
Pope Zephyrinus stood between us, blanketed in our shadows. “Welcome, Darius.” He extended his hand.
Darius struggled to take his eyes off me, hostile like I’d been the one to kill his brother. But he possessed some inkling of manners when he turned to the pope and took his hand. “Thank you for having me, Your Holiness.”
“Of course.” He gestured to the couches on the rug. “Let’s have a seat.” He moved to the armchair in the center of the two couches.
We went right back to our death stare.
Darius’s eyes left mine to do a quick check of my body, clearly noticing my change in size since we’d last crossed paths.
“Good, you aren’t a vegetarian anymore.” He turned his back on me and walked to one of the couches.
Took a seat, knees wide apart, forearms on his thighs in a position that would allow him to jump up instantly if he wanted to. “Oh, and your brother says hi.”
I hesitated because the jab stung even though I’d been prepared for it.
I fortified my mind with all the armor I could muster, but it still wasn’t enough to dull the sting.
I inhaled and brushed it off as I took the seat across from him, the coffee table between us, surrounded by bookshelves and artwork from the Renaissance.
“Got something to say?” It came out as almost a bark. Probably would have been a shout if the pope weren’t there. “I came all the way down here. You better have something fucking good to say.”
“Mind your manners when you speak in the presence of the Holy Father,” I said calmly.
Pope Zephyrinus raised his hand slightly and shook his head, excusing the classless behavior.
Darius went quiet then, but his jawline was tense like he had more to say but was smart enough not to say it. My response hadn’t even been offensive, but this man couldn’t tolerate any kind of criticism at all.
“It’s come to my attention that arms are getting into the hands of our enemies through Florence.
” I came right out and said it. “I’ve already had intelligence from MI6 that a terrorist attack is imminent somewhere in the EU.
I’m concerned that the two events are connected.
A treaty has been signed with the EU through the UN not to sell any types of weapons outside our allies.
I’m afraid someone in your jurisdiction is violating this agreement. ”
His stare didn’t change at all. He continued to look at me like he hadn’t heard a word I said.
I waited for him to say something.
The pope looked back and forth between us.
I realized nothing would come. “Have you nothing to say?”
“Thank you for the information. Are we finished here?”
“No, we aren’t finished,” I snapped. “Because you need to stop whoever is doing this . . . or stop doing it yourself.” My gut instinct was always right, and judging by his indifferent reaction to this information, not only did he know about the sale, but he was a part of it.
“Sounds like you’re trying to tell me how to run my country.” He moved forward slightly, farther off the couch, his fingers stitching together. “Which is none of your fucking business.”
“It is my business when it affects everyone else. When it directly violates an international agreement. You can conduct whatever nefarious activities you wish, but not at the expense of innocent people.”
“I can do whatever the fuck I want, Constantine.”
“You already make money hand over fist. Just sell to a different buyer. You still get your money, and you can do the right thing for the first time in your goddamn life—”
He slammed his hand down on the coffee table and made it tremble. “Mind your manners when you speak in the presence of the Holy Father, asshole!”
The pope raised both of his hands before we went for each other’s throats. “Gentlemen, let us be civilized. Remember, this is a discussion, not an attack.”
“Country before profit, Darius,” I said. “Money is important, but there are things infinitely more important.”
“God, you’re such a pussy. Little vanilla ice cream bar sitting there covered in little nuts.”
The pope gave a sigh.
“Your spine is as weak as your brother’s, which is why I was able to snap it in half so fucking easily—”
“I’ll fucking kill you—”
“Then do it. You think a couple protein shakes is enough to take me on, pussy? I didn’t like your face the last time I saw it, and now I fucking hate looking at it. See the same pussy eyes that thought they could look at my wife’s cunt and get away with it—”
“Enough.” It was the first time I’d heard my uncle raise his voice.
Darius scooted back on the chair, withdrawing from his rage.
“This conversation has gone as far as it should,” Pope Zephyrinus said.
“Constantine, you’ve let Darius know about the rising tensions among enemies of Europe and the catastrophic consequences of an arms deal.
And Darius has received this information.
That is the most progress we’re going to make here. ”
The Skull King had so much power, he couldn’t be challenged—even when it could make us vulnerable to an outside attack. We had our disagreements, but I assumed there was one thing we would be united on—fighting against enemies of our country.
But I was fucking wrong.
Darius rose to his feet and addressed the pope. “Thank you for your time, Holy Father.” Then he let himself out.
I stayed seated on the couch, my hands clutched tight, my eyes on the surface of the coffee table.
Rage pumped in my heart so forcefully, I could feel it beat against my ribs.
The corners of my eyes were red instead of black.
My hands ached to snap every joint in his body that held his bones together.
My uncle stared at me for a while. “It’s done, my son.”
“It’s never done—not for me.”