Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
ARES
I couldn’t save her.
I watched from the ground as Hephaestus tossed Aphrodite over his shoulder. Ouranos had me pinned down, his boot pressing mercilessly into my wound. Every shift of his foot felt like a fresh, brutal assault. My screams of agony echoed throughout the room as I desperately clawed at his leg. Through the haze of torment, I couldn’t look away from Ouranos’s sinister smile—a twisted expression that seemed to savor every moment of my agony, reinforcing this brutal reality.
I tilted my head, trying to get a clearer view as a group of determined henchmen stormed into the room. Ouranos finally lifted his boot from my wound, and a fleeting wave of relief washed over me, but it was short-lived. One of the men yanked me roughly forward, my back scraping painfully along the rough stained carpet.
I roared in defiance, trying to summon every ounce of strength I had left.
Even as they tackled me, I fought back with raw, unyielding power. My fists swung wildly, catching one of the henchmen across the jaw. He snarled, eyes blazing with fury, struggling against their hold. “You think you can just take me down?” I roared, my voice filled with a guttural rage. “I’ll make you fucking regret this!”
I wasn’t going down without a fight. They swarmed me, one bastard pinning my shoulders to the ground while I roared and thrashed. “Get the hell off me!” I bellowed, my voice a snarl of defiance. My kicks and wild flailing couldn’t break their grip; they just kept piling on, holding me down like I was a sack of cement.
Through the mess of it all, I caught a glimpse of Aphrodite. She was trying to rise, her voice cracking with desperation. “Ares, don’t give up!” The raw edge in her shout hit me hard. Seeing her like that, helpless but fierce, only stoked the fire in my gut. I fought harder, feeling the crushing weight of their bodies, but I wasn’t about to give in.
Just then, I noticed one of the men on top of me was holding a syringe. My heart rate accelerated. “We use this to tame the beast,” he said.
I thrashed violently, every muscle in my body fighting against my restraints. “You touch me with that, and I’ll rip your fucking throat out!” I roared, my voice cracking with a mix of rage and desperation.
He ignored my threat, his eyes gleaming with cruel amusement as he moved closer. The syringe glinted menacingly in the dim light, and I could feel the icy grip of terror tightening around my chest. I tried to wrench myself free, but their weight pressed me into the ground, my struggles growing weaker.
He jabbed the needle into my neck. Within seconds, I could feel the drug enter my system, and my breath caught in my throat.
“This will allow you to experience every sensation as if you were awake, but you won’t be able to scream.” The henchman laughed with delight.
“You brought this on yourself, Ares.” Ouranos stood looming above me, radiating invincibility. I felt like I was being submerged in the icy depths of the ocean, and I observed him from beneath the surface .
My muscles were beginning to stop working, and thick fog engulfed my mind.
Ouranos’s henchman bound my hands behind my back. The next thing I knew, I was being thrown into the back of a cold white van. The heavy door slammed shut with a resounding thud. I lay there completely dazed; senses dulled.
Desperate to escape, I attempted to fight against my restraints, but my limbs were unresponsive. An acrid stench filled the air as metallic blood dripped from my nose to my lips.
I summoned every ounce of strength I had left, trying to create friction on the rope in a desperate attempt to fray it. My muscles, numb and sluggish from the sedative, barely responded. Blinking against the dim light, I struggled to focus. My gaze locked onto a sharp blade glinting in the corner of the floor.
The truck’s movements became more aggressive with each turn. Despite my weakened state, I forced my body to lurch forward, eyes locked on the blade I had spotted. Every jolt and bump felt like a brutal assault on my already battered body. Summoning every last ounce of strength, I maneuvered myself closer, my movements fueled by raw determination.
Pain flared through my muscles as I slammed into the metal wall, but I managed to snatch the knife from the floor, its cold steel biting into my palm as I gripped it tightly.
Drowsiness from the drugs began to kick in.
I started cutting into the rope with everything I had left, my hands clumsy from the muscle relaxer. Each slice was a battle, my movements sluggish and awkward. I fought through the numbness, the blade biting through the fibers until the rope finally snapped. I let the knife drop with a clatter that echoed in the cramped space
My hands, slick with blood and trembling from exhaustion, moved clumsily up to my face. The rough surface of the rope had left deep, angry lines across my wrists, and the blood seeped freely from them, streaking down my arm in thick, crimson lines.
The engine cut out with a jarring thud, my heartbeat pounding like a jackhammer in my ears. I could feel the blood trickling down my arm, and the urge to stop the bleeding was growing more desperate by the second.
The drug’s haze made my movements sluggish, but I wasn’t about to let that slow me down. My hand fumbled for the blade, my only shot at turning this around. I had no intention of letting Ouranos take me down like this.
I gripped the knife tightly, fighting through the fog in my head.
Yanking my bandana from my back pocket, I wrapped it tightly around the blade, using it to absorb any blood and keep my grip steady. I could barely make out the contours of the weapon, but it was all I had between me and whatever was about to come through that door.
The moment the door swung open, a blinding blast of headlights cut through the dim haze, momentarily throwing me off balance. As my vision cleared, I saw the early morning sky giving way to a dull gray light, the first hint of dawn breaking through. The harsh glare was almost unbearable, but I forced myself to focus.
A menacing figure emerged from the darkness beyond the door. It was Ouranos, his silhouette a dark, imposing shadow against the blinding headlights. He moved with a predatory grace, his men flanking him like a pack of wolves.
“I’ve got to give you credit, Ares, you are a warrior. You never give up, do you?” he growled, his words dripping with contempt. “Put the fucking blade down. You’re outnumbered.”
I locked eyes with him, my glare burning with a seething hatred that felt like it could ignite the very air between us. My entire being roared for the chance to tear him apart, the rage in my veins screaming for vengeance. “What the hell do you want from me?” I growled, my voice low and edged with a fury that barely contained itself.
Ouranos signaled with a nod, and his men advanced toward me. I was determined to defend myself, but the drug in my system was making everything blurry .
Someone grabbed my arm, and I responded by delivering a blind punch. It connected to his nose, which cracked under the force. He brought his hands to his face, cradling his injury, just as another man stepped forward and landed a hard punch to my stomach, leaving me winded and gasping for breath. I fell to the ground, and my head hit the dirt, pain spreading throughout my body, the drug making it worse. My world spun uncontrollably.
Ouranos’s face twisted into a malevolent grin, his eyes cold and pitiless. Leaning in close, his breath hot and rank against my skin, he hissed, “You’re just as weak as my son. That’s why I had to eliminate him. Weakness like yours has no place in my world.”
My eyes widened in shock at his confession.
The ground felt like it had slipped out from under me. “You’re the one who did it? You killed your own son?”
“He wasn’t my son,” Ouranos boomed, his eyes turning black. “My wife is a whore. She deceived me, Titan was never mine. I had planned to entrust everything to him, but I learned the truth. Gaia’s web of lies came undone, and I realized the necessity of taking him out.”
I tried to lift myself, but it was useless, the muscle relaxant was in full effect.
“Don’t get up,” he continued, then delivered a kick to my ribs. I cried out from the pain.
You need to get up, I thought. You need to find Aphrodite.
“Was it Hephaestus?” I could hardly speak as my face pressed into the cold dirt.
“Oh, you clever boy,” he taunted, his voice dripping with malice. “You see, I struck a deal with him in exchange for marrying my daughter. We had mutual interests—he wanted to eliminate your father and seize his place as the head of the OS, and I wanted Titan dead. It was the perfect exchange.”
He leaned in closer, the cruelty evident in his gaze. “We met in secret before we discussed the trade with Zeus and the others,” His hand flexed, rubbing his knuckles as if relishing the memory of the treachery.
Ouranos’s breath surrounded his face in an icy cloud as he leaned down next to me. “Hephaestus had to get rid of you too. You made a mockery of yourself, chasing after some pretty piece of ass while pretending you were anything more than a pathetic, weak little shit. You thought you could play with the big boys, but you were just another dumb fuck who got chewed up and spit out. And now, look where you are.”
He reached for my hair and yanked my head back, forcing me to meet his eyes. “What Hephaestus doesn’t realize is that I will kill him too. I’m going to wipe out every last one of you.
I’ll own this city, and there won’t be a shred of Olympus Syndicate left. Your filthy presence will be erased, and as we speak, my men are heading to the hospital to finish off your pathetic old man. This is just the beginning.” Ouranos threw my head down, and disorientation washed over me. My body was stiff, battered, and weak. I lay on my back, defeated, feeling the information haze through my mind.
It was all a lie. Titan’s murder, the supposed betrayal—every bit of it was orchestrated to manipulate me, to turn me into a pawn in their game of power. The realization hit me like a cold wave, freezing my blood. “You fucking bastard,” I growled through gritted teeth, my voice low and dangerous. “You’re not just killing us. You’re tearing apart everything we ever stood for.”
His smile widened, devoid of any trace of remorse. “You see, it’s not just about killing you or your father. It’s about erasing everything you’ve ever believed in, everything that made you think you were worth something. By the time I’m done, there won’t be a single soul left who remembers your name.”
Ouranos was giddy at the sight of my bettered body splayed out on the floor, defeated.
My brother’s greed had torn everything apart. His hunger for control drove him to try and take down our father. He’d always been desperate for approval, striving to be the son our old man could be proud of. But this? This was beyond betrayal. It was a gutless, weak move. Taking it to murder? That’s not ambition—that’s cowardice at its worst.
“I am going to burn the Olympus Syndicate clubhouse to the ground with your entire family inside. Maybe, while I’m at it, I’ll even have some fun with your sisters.” Ouranos winked at me, his laughter booming obnoxiously in my face, spit flying from his open mouth.
“I’d love to see you try,” I growled, my voice laced with fury as I glared at him, rage thrumming through every muscle in my body. His words lit a fire deep inside me, igniting the part of me that refused to surrender, even when my body begged me to. He thought he had the upper hand, but I wasn’t about to let him destroy everything my family had built.
The Olympus Syndicate was more than just a name. It was blood, grit, and legacy. And no one—especially not this smug bastard—was going to burn it down without a fight.
Pain radiated through me, but I pushed it aside. I was built for this. The blood, the struggle—this was what I lived for. He could throw everything at me, but I wasn’t backing down. Not now. Not ever.
That’s who I was.
“I will kill you with my bare hands.” I uttered through the cold, the thought of my family fueling the little hope I had. Perseverance hit my body like lightning, my will to fight unrelenting. I raised myself up onto my knees. “You will not win, Ouranos. I will make damn sure of it.”
Ouranos cackled maniacally as his hands came to rest on his hips, “You son of a bitch,” he said, rubbing his chin before nodding toward his men, “Dispose of this worthless scum.”
Scanning the area, I realized that we were on the Aetherion Bridge. The rough waters below filled with sharp rocks; Ripped body parts from past disposals were strewn all over, leaving behind only remnants of their demise. There was a low chance for anyone to survive if they went over. I didn’t know how the hell I was getting out of this, but I knew I had to dig deep and find the strength to survive.
Two of Ouranos’s henchmen gripped my arms tightly and dragged me across the rough terrain. I fought the haze from the drugs, trying to break free. There was so much at stake—Aphrodite, my father’s life, and my family’s legacy, all teetering on the edge, waiting to be swallowed by the wrath of Ouranos.
I couldn’t let that happen. Not while I still drew breath.
Gripping one of the henchmen’s arms, I slithered my hand around his hold, twisting his wrist in an unnatural motion. He released me as he gasped in pain.
“You motherfucker!” He lashed out, trying to punch me, but I dodged sideways and punched the other man in the crotch, causing him to topple over, groaning in pain.
Ignoring my badly battered body, I ran for my life.
Bullets went off, the deafening pops ringing out behind me, and my heart pounded violently against my chest. I pushed my way through dense forest, every branch seeming to whip against me along the way.
Exhausted and bloody, I reached the water’s edge beneath the bridge. Glancing back, I saw a calvary of men gaining on me. There was no chance to hide and I knew I couldn’t outrun them. I took a deep breath. The water roared around me. I had reached the end of the road.
So, I jumped in.