But this?
Shit. I don’t think I can handle this.
I press my hands together, fingers twisting tightly until my knuckles turn white and take in a quick breath. Zeus is done talking. The silence that fills the room is so deafening it rings in my ears. I look out into the crowd and see men are already stepping forward. Fucking shit.
Part of me wants to make a run for it, but where am I going to go?
I have no one to turn to. Even the friends I’d started to make are in Zeus’ crosshairs. He won’t hesitate to make them pay if I run to them. I can’t do that to them. I have to stay. Because even if I did run, my apartment wouldn’t be safe. I have the money Law gave me, but how long will that last really?
Zeus is capable of taking every penny from my mother because I finally gave control to my anger and asked him to do it. How do I know he won’t do the same to me? I glance at him and see how he’s surveying the men that have already come forward. He’s got a shit eating smile on his face, like he knows he’s won.
I guess he has now that I’ve been turned into a bargaining chip for him to find someone to run his empire. Protecting it, he’d just said. How could I have been so stupid to think that he saw me as the one that would do it. My bottom lip trembles but I refuse to cry. I won’t do it. Embarrassment rolls over me and I know it’s turning my cheeks pink. I’d let him draw me in with words of how family was the most important thing.
Family is forever, Honey. That’s real power.
The only power I can see is the power he is exerting over me. The kind that is bending me like a reed in a windstorm to his end goal of finding a powerful hand to guide his empire. I might be the means to inherit it, but that doesn’t mean I am going to be in power with his hand picked man as my husband. A husband that he intends for me to have children with. I’ll be forever tied to all of it then. I wouldn’t be able to leave my child behind. No matter how little love I had for their father.
Just the thought of a child left alone to the machinations of a man motivated to further his empire at the expense of family has me shaking. It doesn’t matter if I’m not strong now. I’ll learn for them. I’ll protect them the best I can. I can’t do what has been done to me.
Again, bile rises in my throat but I swallow it down. I’m not going to cry and I am not going to fucking puke. I have to think. I move to stand but that is when I see him step out of the crowd.
Law.
It feels like a lifetime ago when the biggest concern I had was facing him. Worrying if I’d be able to stop myself from crying and slapping him, or worse, running to him when we finally came face to face. Seeing Law now seems small in the grand scheme of the night. I am essentially being auctioned off to suit Zeus’ needs.
I am going to have to get fucking married to a stranger, and that isn’t even counting the retribution I’d let loose on my mother. I’ve reached the highest of highs only to be jerked back down to earth. The adrenaline of it all has me shaking while I try to keep my shit together in front of everyone.
Yeah, I am emotionally wrung out enough to see my ex. At least, I can from a distance. The sight of Law sends another spike of adrenaline through me. It also has my body reacting. I want him still, even after everything that has happened. If you are in love with someone you can’t just turn it off, at least I can’t. Law looks unbothered though as he shoulders his way into the group of men in front of Zeus. The men there are polished and obviously wealthy. Their clothes look bespoke even from where I sit. They vary in age and appearance. Some are old and some are young, there are men with scars and men I would classify as beautiful, but they all share one trait beyond their wealth.
They are scared of Law.
I see it the second he joins them. They shy away, take that half step away from him, angling their bodies so they aren’t looking directly at him. They know better.
I know better.
Even if he looks calm, I know what he is capable of. I’ve seen him with blood on his hands. Blood that had been there because of me.For me.
I bite my lip and stare at him. An idea starts to form in my mind as Zeus addresses the men. He is speaking without the mic. His voice a low hum against the chatter of the crowd. There is no music now. The party is on hold, but no one minds. Not with the entertainment we are providing. Law’s eyes flick to me. It is only an instant, but the second his familiar blue eyes hit mine I can’t breathe.
Okay, so maybe I’m not as prepared to see him as I’d thought. I’m glad I am still sitting. If was standing, I would have no double stumbled from that single look. Fuck.
“Honey, come here, won’t you?”
I stand on autopilot and join Zeus. He’s holding out his hand to me and I take it like an idiot, because what the fuck else am I supposed to do? I agreed to this. I don’t have anywhere else to go. I’m trapped and it’s my own fucking fault.
“What’s going on?” I ask him once I’m beside him. The men in front of us are looking me over like I’m a piece of meat. There’s a handsome man in front of me that winks while another older man with blond hair gives me a smile that makes me feel dirty. I look away from them before I see anymore and lose my nerve. That’s when I see that all but one man has their attention on me.
Law.
He’s not watching me. He’s got his eyes on Zeus. Anger wells up in me bright and sharp. I hate that he isn’t looking at me when everyone else is. His eyes, his attention, used to be the only thing I ever wanted and he gave it to me so freely then.
Why isn’t he now when I’ve got a roomful of other people’s attention? I glare at him. Him not watching me reminds me that I was just a job. That his affection and attention had been given at Zeus’ order. I don’t know what he’s doing here now.
My hands ball into fists at my sides. I have a plan and I’m going to make Law do what I want to make it happen, because while the men are looking at me like I’m a prize to be won, I know that to them I’m just a means to an end. They’re here because they want to be part of Zeus’ world. His family.His power.
They want the Vlahos name attached to them on a permanent basis. They wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice me to satisfy his whims and gain his favor, but there is one man that wouldn’t.
A man that would defy Zeus for the sheer fact that he doesn’t like to be fucked with. He’s shed blood for me before to keep me safe. Law is my only chance of getting out of this without losing myself entirely.
