That had been a perfect fall night in the city. I frown, thinking about them. I should go back to my apartment. I’ve been too shell shocked by everything with Law to want to be alone, but I can learn to be able to face him, for them. I’d gotten texts from them checking in and assured them I’d be by soon. Tiffany had sent me memes and asked me when I’d be in to take a shift with her at A Different Brew. I need to return to my life. It isn’t much, but it is mine.
“I don’t think-” I start again, ready to tell Zeus that I don’t need a party, much less a birthday party to some fancy ass society. That I am going to be going home and we can figure out what it means for me to be his daughter once I am there, but what he says next stops me dead.
“I’ve invited Mister Sokolov.”
“Why did you do that?” I whisper.
“He should understand who you are now. Where you fit into society. The club is under his partial ownership, but he has no claim to you. Tonight will make him see that.”
I shake my head. “I don’t- I can’t see him.”
“You must.”
“But why?” I am still whispering. Those two words feel like they are ripped out of me, ragged as they are as they hang in the space between us.
Zeus shakes his head. “Because you are a Vlahos. You hide from no one. Sokolov is nothing more than a common enforcer, even if he has influence now. You are so much more than that. It’s time he learns his place.”
“He,” I stop and suck in another deep breath. “I’m not ready.”
“You are.”
“But-”
“Do you want to spend the rest of your life like your mother?” Zeus asks. His dark eyes move over me and he gives me a cold smile. “A woman beholden to men? Someone who has hollowed herself out until there’s nothing left there? Nothing of value anyhow, because you’ve sold it all at the expense of what men have made you into?”
“I-I,” I swallow hard and shake my head. “I’m not like her.”
“Then face him tonight. You may think you’re not ready, but I know different. The Cairn will be yours one day and Lawson Sokolov is a brilliant businessman. He won’t let himself be bought out from his share of the club. That means you will have to do business with him. He will make himself known at the Cairn and you need to be ready for the day that comes.” He brings a finger down onto the table as he speaks, “The club is a family business, Honey, and in the Vlahos family there is nothing more important thanfamily.There is no escaping this,daughter.”
My gut twists and I taste sour in my mouth at the sickness that rises up in me. Family. I’ve never had one of those. I fight the urge to bolt from the table. I don’t know why I want to leave. Zeus is offering me what I’ve always wanted. A place to belong. Family. With him as my father. The club, the Vlahos name. They are mine.
There is nothing more important than family.
I drop my eyes to the table and give him a jerky nod. He is right. Even if I don’t want this birthday. Even if I want to pretend that everything is normal and go back to making coffee with Tiffany, dancing on my roof with the twins while I drink cheap red wine out of paper cups with Elaina, there is no fixing it.
Even if I try to go back to my world, it isn’t just Lawson now that is waiting there for me. It is Zeus. The Cairn. The weight of what it means to have a father as powerful and connected as I now do. I have a family now. Even if getting what I’ve wanted the most has me scared to death, fearful in a way that I hadn’t realized I’d carried so close to my heart… I have to see this through.
I have to try.
The server comes back with our food then. Every element, gourmet. Beautifully plated and delicious. Just the way I remember it, being here with Law. My eyes water thinking of him and that day. I’d been carefree and happy. It all seems so far away now, even though it had only been weeks before.
“All right,” I say quietly and pick up the heavy linen napkin in front of me. I place it in my lap and pick up my knife and fork. “I’ll face him.”
CHAPTEREIGHT
HONEY
The birthday is weird. As in the- incredibly posh and above anything I’ve ever dreamed of going to, let alone having thrown in my honor- kind of weird. It is also at midnight, but that doesn’t surprise me, not with the hours I’ve watched Zeus and his entourage keep.
The party though is beautiful. It is dark and lush in the way that I am fast identifying as Zeus’ preferred environment. There is a mix of old and new with state of the art security hidden by the burnished brass and golden hued fixtures, gilded frames hold priceless works of art at regular intervals on the walls. The bright crystal of the chandeliers sparkle like jewels in the low lit underworld Zeus has created. I’ve seen the catering staff losing their shit trying to outdo themselves to create a menu to Zeus’ taste. I think they mixed gold flakes into about half the menu before he’d finally signed off on it. Decadence for the sake of it. That seems to be Zeus’ preference.
Plush carpeting in crimson mutes my footsteps as I walk down the black marble hallway. It is just after midnight, but the party is in full swing. I don’t think anyone will have dared to show up fashionably late, except for Zeus, of course. Well, and me. I haven’t done it to make an entrance like I know he– no, myfather, has done it. Mine is mostly down to nerves.
I rub my hands along my thighs, the smooth silky material of my dress sliding across my palms and I take in a deep breath. I’m wearing the plum sheath dress I’d gotten at the boutique. It is simple enough that I feel comfortable in it.
The shoes? Not so much.
They are high heels. Spike high heels. They make me a few inches taller than I normally am, which is nice, but I have to be careful how I turn or I’m going to eat shit. I have to take smaller, smoother, steps, but the effect does make me look calmer. At least, I think it does. Fuck, I hope it does. Otherwise I am taking a big risk for nothing.
