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Ares looks grim as he turns to Callie. “I’m so sorry. I was going to talk to you about this sometime this week.”
“What the fuck did you do,” Hades growls quietly.
Ares exhales. “I put Thermopylae Acquisitions in Callie’s name three days ago.”
The room goes silent. Hades closes his eyes, his teeth bared. “Youstupidmotherfuck—”
“Come on, man!” Ares snaps back. “Like I could have seen any ofthis shitcoming?!”
“Your job is to run this fucking family!” Hades snarls.
“Iamrunning this goddamn family!” his brother roars back. “Every minute of every hour of every. Single. Fucking.Day!”
Neve quietly slides in next to him, slipping her hand into his and turning to kiss his shoulder. Ares takes a deep breath. So does Hades when Elsa puts her hand on his.
Slowly, Ares exhales again.
“The problem is, at the moment, eighty-five percent of our money and fifty percent of the Kildares’ money is tied up in Thermopylae.”
I glance at Cillian, watching his jaw clench.
“At the earliest, I could divest next quarter,” Ares mutters. “It would mean some fines, but I’d cover those myself. But that’s the earliest. The real issue is, if Callie just marries some friend or buddy or whatever, there’ll be no hiding that kind of money attached to her name. We’re talking two point six billion dollars in capital.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
“And friend or not,” Ares grunts, “that kind of money can change people.”
Deimos clears his throat. “You’re saying if she married a buddy, he could take one look at that money and file for divorce, looking to take half or more?”
“Exactly.”
“Yeah, well, isn’t that what prenups are for?” Hades mutters.
Next to him, Elsa makes a face. “Yes, but the second this theoretical husband filed and made a motion to collect on her assets, prenup or not, those funds would be locked down. Indefinitely. Every divorce and contract lawyer in the country would take that case on contingency, given the possible payout. We’re talking those funds being potentially frozen for decades.”
The room threatens to dissolve into chaos as voices begin to raise and fingers start to get pointed.
“Actually…” Elsa says loudly, quieting everyone. Her face sours as her eyes scan the document in front of her. “Wait. It actually gets worse.”
Ares groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Exactly how the fuck can this possibly get worse.”
“It can’t just be some random guy,” Elsa says quietly, raising her eyes from the page. “As it’s written here, Callie can avoid marrying Massimo only if she instead marries the head ofanothermafia family.”
That’s the breaking point. At that, the room explodes into chaotic screaming and yelling. I stay where I am on the fringes of it all, my eyes locked onto Callie as she throws herself right into the thick of it—jabbing an accusatory finger at Ares, yelling something incoherent at Elsa, turning to scream blindly at Hades.
A hand lands heavily on my shoulder. I turn and meet Cillian’s calm, cold look. He nods with his chin, and I follow him a few feet away to the window.
“I’m going to be brief,” he growls quietly. “Ares is wrong.”
“About?”
“About having half of our money invested in Thermopylae That’s what it was at first, but I’ve since gone behind his back and invested more.”
I make a face. “Fuck. What are we talking?”
“It’s more like ninety percent.”
Jesus fuckingChrist.
