CHAPTER TWELVE
I’d always known Darzi was a real piece of shit. I'd never realized just how much until I saw the way he treated Selene. Fathers were strict, but they didn’t resort to cruelty or seek out reasons to enact some bullshit punishment.
Selene hadn’t said a word against him until that came up and it was clear to anyone with eyes the two did not have a good relationship despite him forcing the rumors otherwise. She wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore. I’d meant what I told her.
When I arrived at his home, it was silent as a tomb.
The dumb fuck didn’t lock his door, allowing me to walk right in with my brother and Derrick trailing behind me.
The air smelled of the very lemon polish Selene had just told me she hated.
Something told me he did that on purpose.
He’d taken away everything she wanted to love and given quantities of things she disliked instead.
An elderly man in a pressed uniform stiffened at the sight of us standing in the marble foyer.
"Mr. Kostas," he managed, voice barely above a whisper. “Mr.…Voss,” he added at the sight of Derrick.
"Where is he?" I asked, not bothering with pleasantries.
His Adam's apple dipped sharply. "Master bedroom. Second floor."
I nodded once and moved past him without another word.
Cassian and Derrick flanked me silently as we ascended the grand staircase. Household staff scattered like roaches when exposed to light, ducking into side rooms as our footsteps echoed through the corridors.
The master suite occupied the center of the mansion—typical of men like Darzi, who built shrines to themselves at the core of their domains.
Halfway down the hall, I heard the sound. Low, rhythmic. Moans punctuated by the creak of an expensive bed frame.
"Nightmare fuel," my brother muttered with disgust.
Derrick laughed lowly, a rumble that barely escaped his throat.
I didn't slow my stride, each. When I reached the door—some hideously heavy mahogany thing carved with intricate patterns of peacocks and grapevines, I pushed it open with the flat of my palm, feeling the cool brass handle dig into my flesh.
The smell hit first. Cologne mingling with Dom Pérignon and the faint metallic scent of sweat that clung to the air like a desperate perfume.
Darius Darzi stood half-naked behind a woman draped over his bed, her spine curved like a drawn bow, her hair tumbling over olive-tanned shoulders in glossy waves as he pounded into her with lazy, practiced thrusts that spoke of entitlement rather than passion.
Neither seemed to notice us.
He had no sense of awareness until my brother spoke.
“I give her arch a solid 4,” Cassian remarked loudly.
Derrick shook his head and glanced down, nose twitching. “3.5”
The woman froze mid-movement as she rocked back onto Darius dick, kohl-rimmed eyes going wide, pupils dilating with shock.
She was pretty, in that ornamental way men like him preferred. Flushed pink at the cheeks and chest, full lips parted in interrupted pleasure, a body that spoke of being used to indulgence and display, the delicate strap of a black negligee hanging uselessly off one \ shoulder.
Darius turned, his breathing heavy but his stance casual, like finding someone watching him fuck was nothing more than a minor disruption to his day. His lips curled into a slow, vulgar smile.
"Kostas. Ah, and my favorite Voss," he greeted, running fingers through his disheveled hair. "What brings you to my bedroom?"
I remained motionless. "I was wondering if you’d finish before you noticed us."
The woman jerked upright, manicured fingers clutching crimson silk to her heaving chest, her skin flushed with humiliation.
Goosebumps prickled across her exposed shoulders as she trembled.
Darius laughed—a soft, grating sound, as he withdrew his stubby, glistening cock from her with an obscene wet pop.
He slapped her breast with casual contempt before tucking himself away.
"A phone call would have been courteous," he drawled, voice thick with the arrogance of a man who'd never faced consequences.
"Courtesy is a privilege," I replied.
A low chuckle escaped him, his teeth gleaming unnaturally white against his tanned skin. "You're forgetting whose property you're standing on."
"I'm well aware whose shitty property I'm standing on," I replied, each word precise as ice forming. "Your daughter, however, is no longer on it and won't be again. That's why I'm here now."
His smirk vanished instantly, melting away like wax near flame. The muscles in his face tightened. "What did you say?"
I met his gaze without wavering. "I think you heard me just fine.”
He blinked. "You believe you can simply claim what's mine?"
My feet carried me forward without hesitation. "Mine."
A muscle twitched in his jaw as he measured the distance between us. "Bold of you to enter my home and issue decrees."
"It isn’t a decree. This is a reality you'll need to accept."
His lips curled into a sneer, but I caught the sweat beading at his temple. "Whatever lies my daughter has fed you, she's not worth creating friction between men of our standing. The girl has always lived in her own fantasies."
"Fantasies?" The air thickened with tension as I invaded his personal space. "The only fantasy here is your belief that you still have any control over her."
Behind me, Cassian shifted his weight—a subtle reminder of our numerical advantage. The woman on the bed had gone completely still, her eyes darting between us.
"What exactly do you think you're doing, Kostas?" Darzi's voice had lost its earlier smugness, replaced by something closer to genuine concern. Good. He should be concerned.
"I'm taking what's mine and informing you personally," I replied simply. "Selene won't be returning to this house. She's moving into my estate effective immediately."
His face contorted with rage. "You have no right—."
"I have every right." I cut him off, voice low and deadly calm. "The moment you offered her hand; you surrendered your authority. Did you think I'd leave her here where you could continue to use her as a punching bag because you’re too fucking weak to ever hit another man you know can swing back?"
Darzi's nostrils flared, his composure slipping. The woman on the bed finally moved, clutching the sheet higher around her body. I glanced at her briefly.
"Get the fuck out.”
She didn't hesitate, scrambling off the bed and slipping past us with her head bowed so that none of us could her face anymore. Derrick quickly skirted out of her way as if she were diseased, to my brother’s amusement.
Darzi's face had turned an interesting shade of purple. "You come into my home, interrupt my privacy, and now you're giving orders?”
He puffed up his chest, reminding me of a garden gnome. All he was missing was the hat and the beard.
“Boy. Who the fuck do you—.”
My hand shot out, wrapping around Darius's throat before he could finish his sentence, making him release a satisfying wheeze.
"Boy?" I repeated, my voice deadly quiet as I tightened my grip. "Is that what you think I am?"
His eyes bulged, hands clawing at my wrist with pathetic desperation. I could feel his pulse hammering against my palm, a rapid flutter.
"I've been patient with you, Darzi. I've played by your rules. I've endured your disrespect." I leaned closer, watching fear bloom in his eyes. "But you seem to have confused my restraint for weakness."
Behind me, Cassian chuckled. "He never was good at reading people."
Darius mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air. I loosened my grip just enough to let him speak—I wanted him fully conscious for this.
"You're making... a mistake," he rasped, spittle forming at the corners of his mouth.
"The only mistake was letting you believe you had any power in this arrangement.
" I adjusted my grip, thumb pressing against his carotid.
"Let me be crystal clear. Selene belongs to me now.
Every bruise you've put on her, every fear you've instilled, every fucking moment of misery you've caused—it ends today. "
His eyes darted to Derrick and Cassian, searching for intervention that wouldn't come.
“They're not going to help you.”
I released him abruptly, and he collapsed to his knees, gasping and clutching at his throat where my fingerprints were already forming dark marks against his skin.
"Tomorrow, my men will collect Selene's belongings," I continued, straightening my cuffs as I looked down at him. "If you interfere in any way, what you just experienced will feel like child’s play."
Darius struggled to his feet, dignity forgotten as he leaned against the bedpost for support. "You think this changes anything?" he wheezed, voice ragged. "She's still my daughter. My blood."
"Blood?" I laughed, the sound devoid of humor. "You think that matters? You've lost any right to claim her."
His eyes narrowed, calculation replacing fear as he regained his composure. "You need me, Kostas. The Dominion—."
"I don't need you for anything," I cut him off. "Your position in the Dominion is an illusion I've allowed to continue until now. Our business arrangement continues only if you understand the boundaries regarding Selene."
A laugh escaped him, hollow and brittle. "And if I refuse?"
"Then I'll make sure the last thing you see is her holding the gun that puts bullets in you.”
Time suspended itself in that room. Behind me, Cassian exhaled a soft whistle that walked the line between appreciation and caution. Derrick's arms crossed over his chest, his mouth morphing into what almost became a smile.
My gaze remained locked on Darius. "As long as we're clear," I concluded, "there won't be problems."
Darius held my stare, tension locking his jaw. Finally, he forced out a laugh that vibrated with something primal beneath it. "The Kostas family. Such a flair for theatrics."
I turned away from him. "We call it clarity of purpose."
Behind me, I left a man undone, the room now thick with his humiliation.
Cassian matched my stride as we reached the hallway. "Diplomatic," he muttered with a half-smile. "By your standards."
"Diplomatic? That's generous." Derrick's voice was rough with amusement.
I adjusted my sleeves, feeling the weight of my watch against my wrist. "He heard what he needed to hear."
Outside, I inhaled deeply, letting the clean air replace the stench of Darzi's desperation as I descended the steps. The heavy doors sealed shut behind us with a satisfying thud of finality. In the Panamera, Cassian took the passenger seat while Derrick settled in the back, cracking his window.
"You realize what you just did in there?" Cassian asked.
The engine awakened beneath my touch. "It was a boundary."
"Since when do you set boundaries? Usually, you just eliminate the problem," Derrick remarked.
""You know I can' t put him in the ground yet. Not until everything's in place. But she needed to know someone would stand between her and him."
Cassian leaned back in his seat. "You did the right thing.”
" I did what was necessary," I corrected. My reasons weren’t entirely noble.
I did want her away from her father and I would remove each of his fingers if he put a hand on her again, but more than that I wanted her closer to me where I could watch her all day and night with nothing but walls to separate us at night.
The truth was simpler and far more dangerous if I were completely honest with myself. I was borderline obsessed. What began as curiosity when she sat across from me at Azure, had evolved into something I hadn't felt in years, genuine fascination with another human being.
I was intrigued. Not by her beauty—though it was undeniable. It was how she carried herself in rooms designed to diminish her. How she'd built fortresses from whispers and survived on scraps of dignity no one thought to leave her.
I'd spent years perfecting emotional detachment.
It served me well in business, in the Dominion, in every facet of life.
I'd built my own corner of our empire on the ability to act without sentiment clouding my judgment.
Relationships were transactional. Sex was physical release, marriage was strategy.
But now I had Selene and I wanted to peel back every layer she'd built, expose every secret she kept hidden. I wanted to own not just her body but her mind—to be the only person who understood exactly what lived beneath that perfect facade. The realization should have alarmed me.
Instead, it felt like confirmation of something I'd known instinctively from the moment I decided to make her mine.
From the back seat, Derrick cleared his throat. "Angel will approve—and God knows you need someone who won't shatter the first time you show your true nature.”
I didn't respond to his assessment.
"Nothing to say," Cassian observed, breaking into my thoughts.
"No," I replied, accelerating through a turn.
He knew better than to press further.
"We're almost home," I said after another few miles, breaking the silence as we approached the estate gates.
Cassian nodded. "She'll be waiting."
She would, wouldn’t she? From this day forward Selene would be there, in my home, surrounded by my possessions, my family, my protection. She would sleep under my roof tonight, wake there tomorrow, and begin to understand what it meant to belong to me completely.