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Holy shit.
“It’s why I ran over to Gemma’s house. At first we all thought they’d been in a fight. But it’s a lot worse than that.”
“Oh my God, Nora.” My face falls as I hug her tightly. “What happened? Who got hurt?”
She doesn’t say anything.
“Hey,” I smile, lifting her face to mine. “You can tell me anything. You know that.”
“Promise you won’t get mad?”
“One thousand percent.”
“Theo Petrakis and Nick Eliades.”
The two boys who were over here smoking pot that day Hades drove me home.
“Two other guys, too, Evan Chan and Kyle McMasters. But Nick and Theo got the worst of it.”
I wince. “How bad?”
Nora shudders, choking back a sob. “They’re both in the hospital. Nick has a broken arm, broken leg, and a fractured eye socket.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
He may be one of the little shits who tried to get my fifteen-year-old sister high, and that damn well better have been the extent of his plans for that evening. But still, he’s just a kid.
“God, that’s horrible,” I murmur, hugging her closer.
Nora’s face pales. “Theo got it even worse. I guess they knocked him out, then doused him with vodka and lit him on fire.”
Holy shit.
“Oh my God, Nora, I’m so sorry.” I squeeze her tightly. “Did they catch the guys who did it?”
She shakes her head miserably. “No.” She suddenly shivers violently. “They’re still out there. Elsa, what if they’re targeting kids from St. Mark’s Academy?”
I shake my head quickly, pulling her tighter to me. “No, Nora. No. Nobody is targeting anyone. It’s horrible and senseless, but I’m sure it was just a random act of violence. I mean they’re all wealthy enough kids, from families with money. Maybe these guys who jumped them saw four teenagers with fancy watches and figured they were easy targets?”
“But why hurt them so badly? Elsa, Theo is inreallybad shape. And Nick’s going to lose his spot on the Cornell hockey team next year.” She shudders and tears up again. “Why the fuck did they have to hurt them like that?!”
I shake my head, rocking her. “I don’t know, Nora,” I murmur quietly. “But I’msureit was just senseless, random violence.”
She doesn’t need to know that both Theo’s and Nick’s fathers work for the Drakos family. She also doesn’t need to dwell on the idea that being doused withvodkaand lit on fucking fire is a pretty cut and dried Bratva message.
She alsoreallydoesn’t need to know that suddenly I’m worried that something very, very bad is looming on the horizon.
23
HADES
Technically speaking,Ihavean office at Thermopylae Acquisitions. I’ve just never once actuallyusedit. To me, this whole city is my office. Sometimes my office is my home. Other times, a bar or a café. Still others, the nature of the work I do for my family doesn’t really entail an “office” at all.
I mean smashing someone’s nose in or lighting their car on fire doesn’t really come with a casual Friday dress code or mandatory holiday party.
Today, since Iamactually doing work-work, as opposed to hurting people or trashing their personal property, I’m at the family home on Central Park South. We lived here when we were kids, back before Mom died and our father moved us all to London—a city he always preferred to New York.
Since we’ve returned, the full-time occupancy has dropped. Ares and Neve are in their glass and steel loft over on the west side. I’ve got my place in Brooklyn, though I do keep a room at the main house. And Deimos is in London, obviously. Which leaves Callie, Kratos, and of course Ya-ya, who never left at all.
