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We’d ended up traveling so far beyond it.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Sloane
“Big?”
My voice startled Ares. Jumping, he’d been lingering outside of Ramses’s home office, the door cracked. He lifted a hand. “Little… Hey, you should be downstairs. The group will be here any minute. You should go meet them.”
And why wasn’t he? He’d been ahead of me after we both left Bru’s room following the pictures.
Ramses had actually been the first to leave. He’d gotten a call, and after looking at his phone, he’d said he had to go take care of something. He’d mentioned heading to his office and said he’d meet us downstairs after he handled whatever he had to handle. I assumed that meant his call.
That had left the three of us kids and Brielle, but Ares and I both had decided to give Bru and her the room. We wanted to give them some time since well… that was his mom.
It’d all been a really special moment, and I was still on the high of it. I angled close to Ares. “What are you doing?”
I started to look into the room, but he raised his hand again. He put his finger to his lips, and I was definitely intrigued now. His growl was low. “Seriously, little. Go downstairs—”
“Thanks for seeing me, Dad.”
What the…
I shouldered against Ares upon hearing our dad’s voice, and I think he only let me because he didn’t want me to make any more noise. He hovered a head above me while we both peered inside that room and saw our father. Ramses was behind his desk, standing while another man stood in front of it, his hair graying white, curly. He wore a silver suit, dark in tone, with a black dress shirt and matching tie.
And he looked a lot like our dad.
My mouth parted. I gazed up, but Ares wasn’t looking at me. He had his eyebrows narrowed, hard, and only in the direction of that room.
The man in the silver suit put his hands together, one flesh and the other… something else. Fingers of dark metal braced the man’s hand, a prosthetic. The man nodded and was older than our dad, much older. “I was surprised to hear from you, son.”
Son…
“I’m sure you know the surprise lies more with me,” Ramses said, his hands in his pockets. “You were presumed dead many years ago, Dad. A bombing in Italy.”
This was news to Ares, his head lifting. His jaw shifted a little, and I held onto the door.
“The authorities believed as much. I didn’t argue with it.” The man… our grandfather worked his prosthetic hand. He looked at Ramses. “How did you know I was alive?”
“Actually, our family lawyer,” Ramses said, causing our grandfather to blink. “He wanted me to know that the kids’ shares in Mallick were being talked about, my kids.”
Our grandfather said nothing but did wet his lips.
“Said someone wanted to make sure things turned out okay with all that and, well, Callum. That the kids got what was theirs.” Ramses nodded. “But most importantly, that what was theirs stuck, even if a certain someone was still alive. Said you gave them everything and wanted it to stay that way.”
Ares directed a look down at me, his eyebrows squished together, and I was sure my expression matched.
Our grandfather laughed. “Fredrick never could keep his mouth shut. Could he?”
“Well, he cares about this family, and he’s also how I found you. He gave me your contact and said you were recently in town,” Ramses continued. He drew fingers down his mouth before asking his father to take a seat. Ramses then explained he didn’t have long to speak with him. “It’s the kids’ prom night. I need to be there for that.”
“I understand,” the older man said, crossing his legs in front of the desk. “Is that why you asked to see me? About the kids’ shares? Well, you don’t have to worry about anything. Everything unlocked to the children after I was presumed dead, but I made sure with Fredrick that all stayed, regardless of the fact. They have everything, and it’s all legal. I assure you.”
I shook my head, and Ares did too. I knew he’d never met our grandfather, and after everything with Dorian’s, I guess, well, I’d assumed the man was the same. He was a man obsessed with greed and power, and it was because of our grandfather all this had begun. Callum had gone after me due to an obligation our granddad had failed to fulfill.
Ramses’s smile was subtle after what his father said. He sat back in his chair, his fingers together. “I guess I have another thing to thank you for, I suppose,” he stated before opening his desk. He presented a small object, and even from here what was clearly a flash drive could be made out. He put it on the desk. “A man known as Lucas Gray presented this to me not too long ago, a man who, until recently, my friends and I believed had been in the wind.”
Lucas?
