Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
Hades
Finding myself in such a vulnerable position was unchartered territory for me. Maybe I had misjudged the situation when I came after Capri. Perhaps she was too young and it was wrong for me to expect her to follow me back to Greece so we could explore a future together.
Atticus and Zeus joined us in front of a small bakery that was closed for the evening.
“Hades, I’d feel better if you weren’t out here exposed to certain elements.” Atticus glanced across the street where we had parked. “Let’s get in the car.”
“Give us a minute,” I said, because I wasn’t sure if Capri would be returning back to the hotel with us. I needed to understand what she meant when she said she was wrong about us.
Atticus nodded as he and Zeus headed to the corner and waited. I didn’t expect them to go as far as the car. Not after what had happened between Leo and me. They were both on edge and took their obligation to protect me seriously.
My only concern was the woman standing in front of me, appearing more conflicted than I would have liked. We hadn’t had a moment’s peace since returning to the city. I should have demanded she stayed in Greece with me. I should have forced Leo to come to me. Then, I would have held all the cards.
“What were you wrong about?” I asked Capri. “Do you regret not leaving when I told you to?”
“I made a mess of things for you.” When she looked down, I realized I had lost the confident girl who trespassed on my property to get answers that she had no business seeking. “I should have left you alone. I’ve blown up your life. I disrupted everything.”
“What?” I lifted her chin and scolded her with my eyes. “I told you to run away from me because I wanted to protect you from me. I didn’t need you to leave because you cause problems for me. I can handle whatever comes my way.”
“You rebuilt your whole life after what happened all those years ago. You were doing just fine without me interfering.”
“You didn’t interfere.” I clasped her hands in mine. “I could have given you the one night you asked for and let you go, but I didn’t.”
“Why didn’t you?” she asked with a sigh.
“I was being selfish.”
“Letting me go would have been so much easier for you.”
“Easier, maybe? But once I had a taste of you, there was no stopping me. There were too many reasons for me to keep going. Your obsession with me turned into mine with you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me it was my dad who killed Emilio?”
“I didn’t want to shatter the image you had of Leo.” As much as I hated him, I couldn’t destroy her that way.
“Wouldn’t that have been the ultimate revenge?”
“Revenge doesn’t seem to be my motivation anymore.” I smiled at her. “I’ll be honest, being with you in the beginning triggered my thirst for vengeance. Part of me wanted to be with you because I knew it would infuriate your father, but hurting you was never my intention.”
“I’d be stupid to think you didn’t see me as an opportunity to get back at my dad, but my attraction to you was much stronger, so I believed your feelings for me were more important than revenge.”
“You were right.” I squeezed her hands. “Using you to get back at Leo seemed like the perfect plan, but every time I looked into your eyes, every time you trusted me, and all the moments in between convinced me that you were more important than any vendetta.”
“I’ve always trusted that’s who you are.” She pressed her soft lips to the corner of my mouth. “I have limited experience with relationships, but something told me you wouldn’t hurt me that way.”
“I’ll never hurt you. I want to take care of you.
” I trailed my lips across hers, creating a radiance that only happened when I was with her.
“I’m dark and sometimes heartless, but not with you.
I want to be different when I’m with you, but there’s so much in my past that keeps me from letting anyone in. ”
“It’s understandable.” She kissed me, tilting her head and surrendering to my mouth.
Her soft heart and caring demeanor slowly but deliberately broke down my defenses.
“You had a rough start,” she said. “But you found a way to succeed. You not only rebuilt yourself as a young adult after a traumatic childhood, but you started over after what had happened in that church.”
“I do what I have to do to survive.” I kissed her again. “I always will.”
“I have another question.”
“Go for it.”
“Wait?” She laughed. “You’re not going to ask for something in return?”
“I’m storing up for a big ask.”
“What is your big ask?” She placed her hand on her hip, looking sexy enough for me to want to take her against the wall. “Do I want to know?”
“I’ll tell you later.” I glanced around the dark street, knowing Atticus was about to lose his shit if we didn’t wrap this up soon. “What’s your question, Scooby?”
“Why did you take the fall for my dad?”
“I wasn’t expecting that one.” I thought for a moment. “That’s an easy question for me to answer.”
“Tell me.”
“I took the fall for you.” Maybe it wasn’t right to lay that on her shoulders, but that was the most honest answer I could give.
“What do you mean?”
“Leo had you, he had your mother. What kind of life would that have been for you if he took responsibility for what he had done?” That night in the church was a blur, because all the chaos had unfolded so fast, but I had years to dwell on the reasons that led to where we were today.
“Your dad would have had to go on the run or he would have had a target on his back. It was easier for me to look over my shoulder than it would have been for Leo. He had a family to protect.”
“You sacrificed everything.”
“I’m not that noble,” I admitted. “When I left, I honestly thought Leo would find a way for me to get out of it, but that never happened.”
“I’m sorry he betrayed you.”
“Even if we had worked together and found a way out of what he had done and I could have stayed, the dynamic between you and I would have been a lot different.”
“I would have grown up with you in my life.” She bit her lip. “The universe would have had other plans for us.”
“We could never have been together.” If I had helped raise and protect her, I would never have crossed such a line. I’m so glad I left when I did.
“I might have had to marry Christopher.”
“I would never have allowed that to happen under any circumstances,” I said.
“You would have protected me even then.”
“I’ve always wondered what the reason was for me having to abandon my life and leave everything behind. I wasted years trying to make sense over what had happened.”
“Do you know what the reason is?” she asked.
“I do.”
“Can I have the answer to that question?” Her hearty giggle brought me back to the first night we met in the club. When I lost myself without any warning. “Please,” she added.
“The reason is simple,” I said. “It all happened the way it was supposed to so that eighteen years later, a sassy little stalker could walk into my club and steal my dark, battered heart.”
“For such a brutal assassin, you can be quite romantic.” When she gazed into my eyes, concerned filled hers. “But you’re still a hit man.”
“I can’t change that.”
“I know,” she whispered.
“Do you have something else you need to ask me?”
“How do I know the two of you won’t try to kill the other?”
“You don’t.”
“Sebastian?” She leaned against the brick wall. “I know my father screwed you over big time but…”
“He’s still your father.”
She nodded.
“I respect that.” Leo would never accept my relationship with Capri, and there was still a good chance he might come for me, but that was a problem for another day. “I give you my word that I won’t go after your father unprovoked, but if he comes after me, I’ll have to protect myself.”
“That’s fair.”
“I’m not going to pursue this vendetta. I don’t have to.” What would be the point? I had what I wanted and I wouldn’t risk losing her.
“Because of me?”
“Yes, but it’s more than that,” I said. “You believed from the moment I told you about what happened in the church that I didn’t kill Emilio.”
“I’m a good judge of character.”
“Says the girl who found her way into my club with the help of a rapist.”
“Nikolas was on your VIP list. That wasn’t all on me.”
“No, it wasn’t.” I gently kissed her. “We’ve had an explosive start.”
I glanced around the street, noting it was quieter than a few minutes ago. There wasn’t a flow of traffic. Atticus must have sensed it too. When his stoic gaze connected with mine, I nodded toward him.
“We should go,” I said. “I’ve tested Atticus’ patience far too long.”
“Okay.” She took my hand. “But I need to say thank you.”
“For what?”
“For sacrificing so much for my family.” She touched my cheek. “You could have retaliated a long time ago. You could have come back for revenge, but you didn’t.”
“I thought about it plenty of times, but as the years moved on, so did I.” I was never really sure why I hadn’t made Leo pay for all the pain he had caused me until I met Capri. “There was nothing I could have done about the past. I’m focused on the future now.”
“Do you think we can finally head to Greece?” She tilted her head and pressed her tempting lips together. “Maybe we could focus on the future together?”
“I think that’s…” I trailed off when a car sped down the street, slowing as it came closer. When it stopped in front of us, I blocked her with my body. My instincts screamed at me to protect her.
Something is off.
“What is it?” she asked.
Atticus and Zeus rushed toward us, but it was too late to retreat.
I grabbed Capri’s arm and shoved her to the ground, taking in the scene before me.
She gasped when Zeus drew his gun. The person in the back of the silver SUV lowered the window just enough to get the shot they needed.
Chaos erupted around me. I was usually the one taking aim. But not tonight.
Atticus looked over his shoulder as I tugged my gun from my pants and gripped the black metal, but I lost my focus when the sparks from the street popped and cracked in my direction. Capri shouldn’t be with me. Her safety came above all else. Atticus slammed into me, forcing me to the pavement.
"Stay down,” he said, his voice low and strained.
I sheltered Capri from the gunfire with my own body, holding her tight against my chest, leaving my back vulnerable to an attack. What choice did I have? She would always come first.
After the shooter got off six shots, the wheels on the oversized vehicle screeched into the distance, leaving us in the aftermath of the moment.
Zeus took off, probably trying to get a plate, as I held Capri close to me.
Her small frame trembled against me, but her breaths were strong.
I leaned back to assess her, but when she looked up at me, her eyes widened.
“Were you hit?” I smoothed my hands along her neck and over her chest. “Are you okay?”
“I… No!” She pointed at me. “You’re bleeding.”