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“Speak,” Deimos hisses. “Now.”
“I’m sure by now, you’ve all heard of my father’s unexpected and unfortunate passing.”
When no one says a thing, he shrugs. “Indeed. That’s about my feelings on the subject too.” He turns and spits onto the grass as he mutters something harsh-sounding in Italian. “However, with his passing, it is nowIwho wears the Carveli crown.”
“I’ll be sure to send a delightful fruit basket,” Ares mutters through grit teeth.
Massimo grins. “But you see, a crown, a throne, and a ludicrously fat bank account aren’t the only things I’ve inherited from my father. Which is what brings me here tonight…” he turns his gaze to me once again. “And toyou, sweet Calliope.”
“Look, I’m gonna make this easy for you,” Hades snaps. “I’m counting backward from five, and I’ll even do it in Italian so nothing gets lost in translation. When I hituno, if you’re not on that chopper, I’m throwing your ass off the roof,capisci?Cinque.”
Massimo just smiles wider.
“Quattro.”
The Italian clears his throat.
“Tre.”
“I’m here,” Massimo growls quietly, “because the last thing my father left me, Calliope…” His eyes stab into me. “Isyou.”
The rooftop goes silent. The color drains from my face as my pulse thuds in my ears.
“You see, by all rights, you are nowmine.”
My head swims.
Because there it is.
The other shoe, dropping right down on top of me.
Ares barks a cold laugh. “Byzerorights will you have anything to do with my sister. Get the fuck back on your—”
“Under the terms of your father and my father’s blood-marker—”
“I suggest in thestrongest way possible,” Ares snarls, “that you re-read those terms.”
Massimo smiles. “What makes you think I didn’t do exactly that before flying all the way from Los Angeles to New York—a dirty city I fucking hate, by the way,” he sneers with an air of distaste. His eyes glint at my brother. “I suggestyoure-read the terms on the copy of the marker you hold, Mr. Drakos. And as for you, my dear?”
I shudder as he turns his cold, brutal eyes on me, his lips curling dangerously.
“You, Calliope, have a week to be at my home, ready to assume your position as my wife and doeverythingthat comes with that. Or there will be consequences—consequences that I promise you your family is not ready to deal with.”
He drains the last of his champagne, sets the glass down, and smiles once more at the whole group of us.
“Again—happy birthday.”
Then he turns and walks right back to his waiting helicopter as the motors engage.
And the second shoe crushes me under its heel.
8
CASTLE
You’d think by now,given the cards I’ve been dealt, that I would no longer be shocked or surprised by life’s ability to flip over a table and fuck shit up when you least expect it. I mean my life has beendefinedby fate kicking in the door and making a goddamn mess.
Even so, when Massimo drops that bomb, I feel all the air leave my lungs.
