That was his first mistake.
“And soon, it’ll be your last,” I muttered to the empty room.
I’d never paid much attention to her family over the years. All I knew was that her parents’ names were Dick and Mary Freud, and her mother’s side of the family was old money. It was generational wealth, dating back three centuries. Her family has been quite influential over the years, involved in politics and rumored elite society, although there hadn’t been any evidence of it.
But now, I would make it my business to learn all there was about her father, and then, I’d slaughter that motherfucker.
I recalled the night she brought Aria to my penthouse. Pale, alone, and tired. She was scared of what her father might do, so she did the only thing she could do.
She handed me our child and then walked away.
The worst part was that I’d let her go.
I had been a fool, but not anymore.
I stood and made my way down the hallway to the other wing of the house where my children’s bedrooms were. I poked my head into Dimitros’s room and found him sleeping. I entered, covered him up, and went to Aria’s bedroom through their adjoining bathroom.
My gaze found her curled into herself, sleeping with a soft smile on her lips. I kissed her forehead and took a seat in the corner, just wanting to be close by.
No one touches what’s mine. Not my daughter. Not Violet. Not my family.
A dangerous calm settled over me, followed by a resolution.
I’d spent years building an empire in the shadows. Money, power, influence. It was time I used it all and taught Violet’s father a lesson.
First, I would dig into every aspect of his life and learn things about him that even he didn’t know about himself. And then he would feel the thorns of war and taste my wrath.
TWENTY-SEVEN
VIOLET
Sleep struggled to find me after my conversation with Lykos. We’d exposed parts of ourselves that we hid for a long time, and that type of release would always come with a steep drop. All I could do was slide under the blankets and stare at the ceiling.
After Lykos walked me to my room, he kissed my cheek good night. It was an innocent touch of his lips against my skin, yet it made my entire body tremble.
Did I wish he had tried something more?
Maybe, but I was determined not to be the other woman, so it left us between a rock and a hard place. Lykos must have sensed it too.
My thoughts returned to his voice, the way he hadn’t judged me, despite how much I knew it had to pain him. He shared how lost in his own pain he’d been back then, and still he was able to find compassion. That spoke volumes.
But compassion did not untangle the knot I was now trapped in, and I couldn’t stand to be in my room a moment longer. Thewalls felt too close, and before I fully decided what to do, my feet already carried me out of the bedroom.
The hallway was dim and my feet silent against the floor as I made my way toward the far staircase. The one that led toward Amara. To the woman who tried to kill my daughter and Dimitros.
I told myself I only wanted to talk, but it was a lie. I wanted to eliminate the threat to my daughter, but I didn’t know if I was brave enough—or strong enough—to go through with my plan.
My heart rate climbed with each step until I reached the top floor, the wood creaking under my weight.
I found the same two guards in their regular spots. This time they didn’t try to stop me. Instead, one of them just got up, unlocked the door and motioned for me to open it.
I hesitated at the door, my hand hovering a moment before knocking. I didn’t expect an answer, so I pushed inside.
The curtains were drawn, blocking out the moon, but the window must have been open because they danced in the breeze. My eyes slowly drifted across the room. The neatly made bed. The nightstand with a book, a cross, and table lamp. It was clean and pristine, void of any knickknacks. I assumed to ensure Amara wouldn’t hurt herself.
And then I spotted her, sitting behind a curtain. Her knees were pulled to her chest and her dark hair fell loosely down her shoulders, partially obscuring her face.
I shut the door behind me and sat on the floor, my back pressed against the door to keep my distance.
