Page 46 of Fractured Empire

“I don’t know where she gets that personality of hers,” Mom says with a chuckle.

“Ares,” Linus and I reply at the same time.

As if summoned—like a demon—the man himself swaggers into the room on cue.

“You rang?” he drawls, leaning against the doorframe, tossing a green apple between his hands casually.

“Where have you been?” his father asks with a dark tone. It’s amazing how quickly Linus can go from an adoring girl dad to a strict mafia father when it comes to Ares and his antics.

“Taking care of our little Contos problem,” my stepbrother replies, unbothered by being questioned.

“What?” I flinch, hoping I’ve heard him wrong. “You didn’t hurt Chloe, did you?”

Ares smirks, giving me a little wiggle of his fingers in greeting. “Good morning to you too, sis. No, I didn’t harm a hair on your ex BFF’s head. She’d be tickled pink to know you still care whether she lives or dies, though. Too bad I won’t be telling her that.”

Linus pinches between his eyes and grimaces. “What have you done, Son?”

“A little light kidnapping and imprisonment.” Ares shrugs. “Nothing for you to worry about. Her father is well aware of what I’ve done and he has no objections.”

I can’t believe my ears. “You’re keeping her captive somewhere?”

“She’s fine,” he huffs, rolling his eyes. “You shouldn’t bother asking about her, she hasn’t asked about your well-being even once. Even after I informed her about her drunken activities as she sobered up.”

“Ares—”

“Enough about Chloe,” he stops me before I can insist on more information. “You have your stuff to deal with, and I have mine. End of.”

Affronted, I frown. “Since when is Chloe yours to deal with?”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to.”

“What does that even⁠—”

“KAT!” Gaia shouts from upstairs. “Come help me with my hair!”

“Duty calls,” Ares says, grinning.

Realizing he won’t be telling me anything more, I get up from the table and try to shake the topic from my brain. I have too many things to think about, and I know Linus won’t let Ares go too far. If Chloe’s father knows where she is, she isn’t truly in danger, even if she isn’t happy to be there.

“KAT!” Gaia yells again.

“I’m coming!”

Sheesh.

I hope Leon’s family is ready to meet the chaos that is mine.

Chapter Twenty

Leon

Reserving an entire twenty-floor luxury hotel was likely an extreme measure taken for privacy and safety, but Armani insisted that no other building would do for my second wedding. My fashion-obsessed brother stole most of the responsibilities for planning this event as soon as he was alerted that it would be happening.

It was a relief when he took over, of course. What most people consider stressful planning and tedious details, he thrives on. I could handle planning a last minute wedding ceremony and reception on my own, but not to his level. Armani has more connections than anyone else I’ve ever met, and he coordinates parties as if he was born to do it. The fact that he’s a huge, tattooed, muscular man with expert marksmanship when handling any weaponry whose hobbies include fashion and party planning may sound strange, but it oddly works for him.

I hardly had to lift a finger to put everything all together between him and my sisters. Ana, Jade, and Rayna have been godsends in this process, both with helping me with the kids, and wrangling our brothers together and keeping them in line in the days leading up to coming here. We all arrived and settled into the hotel last night, and everyone seems extremely in order.

Dad, Apollo, and Nico have arranged security to an elite level, having the whole block monitored and guarded within a couple hours of arriving. Every floor of the hotel has been swept for weaknesses, and was officially declared secure before any of us went to bed. Half of the reason we showed up a day early was to be sure of the building’s safety. None of us would allow our children to stay here otherwise, and we wouldn’t expect Katya or her family to put up with less than perfect standards.