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Not now, anyway.
She’ll only think it’s another lie to control her—another manipulation to keep her returning for more.
“How could you do this to me, Ares?” Ophelia’s hands are shaking as severely as the rest of her body. “I cared about you. I told you shit no one else knows. I let you see me. Touch me. There’s nothing I wouldn’t have done for you.”
She loves me, too.
Or at least she did.
Fuck.
I see a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye and snap my head to the door. My brothers stand at the edge of the driveway, Apollo with his arms folded over his chest and Atlas with his hands stuffed into his jeans pockets.
I give them a look to stay put.
I got this under control.
Ophelia’s eyes follow mine, and then she starts crying even harder. “What the fuck is wrong with you three? Just let me fucking go! Haven’t you taken enough from me?”
I don’t know if she’s crying like this because of the will or because her father is dead. We didn’t set the fire. That was the work of The Serpents.
Atlas signed over his bar to the street gang in exchange for their help—a small price for what we will get in return. And once Ophelia knows the truth about her father and what he did to her mother, she will wish she put a bullet in his head.
I finally see an opportunity to grab the gun from her hand. She lowers it toward the ground, ready to collapse onto the pavement from sobbing so hard.
I tip my head at my brothers. They understand without words and cross the space between us. As I take the gun, Atlas moves behind Ophelia.
He wraps his arm around her, cradling her head against his chest. “We didn’t mean for this to happen, goddess. None of us wanted this for you. I’m sorry.”
“You killed my dad,” she chokes out, yanking on his hands to get free. “You fucking killed him and took my inheritance.”
“No,” our mother says from the front step. “I did. If you want to blame anyone, it should be me. My boys followed orders.”
Mom knows I have feelings for Ophelia. I even asked her to back off when I knew things between us were getting serious. After the second night she slept in my bed, I knew she was it for me. I didn’t care if I had to share her with my brothers as long as she was mine.
“Oh, I do,” Ophelia hisses, struggling to break free from Atlas’s arms, but he holds her against his chest in a death grip. “I blame you most of all. You’re a fucking snake, Athena. I knew you were full of shit.”
“You’ve got it all wrong, little dragon.”
Her head turns to me. “Fuck you, Ares. Fuck all of you.” She elbows Atlas in the stomach, and he groans but doesn’t relinquish his hold on her. “Get off me, Atlas. Jesus! What the fuck is your problem? Are you assholes going to kidnap me, too?”
“We’re not going to hurt you,” Apollo says in his peacekeeper tone, slowly moving toward her. “Just give us a few minutes to explain everything.”
She shakes her head, snot dripping from her nose. I hate seeing her like this, so I rip off my shirt and wipe her face.
“Get away from me, Ares!”
“No.”
I continue dabbing at the tears and snot until she looks like my Ophelia again. Then I steal her from Atlas, hugging her. I want to kiss her. The feel of her against my bare skin brings back memories of better times.
I missed her so fucking much.
Two weeks without her.
It’s been too long.
She looks like she hasn’t showered in days. Smells like it, too. But I couldn't care less because she’s here with me.
