Page 40 of Hades

She’d sat at the table quietly while Indie shared everything. She hadn’t said a word since. Just stared at the table. Processing. Breaking apart inside.

“I forgave him,” she said absently, eyes still fixed on the table. “I believed his excuses, his tears.” She shook her head. “He sold me off to a fucking monster and I forgave him.”

Diesel whined and nudged his nose under her hand until she placed it on his head. Cerberus moved to the other side and did the same thing. The two dogs pressed their noses together in her lap, and I couldn’t help but smile despite the pain they were all going through. Despite the horror that had been revealed.

“I can’t go back to the clubhouse. Not right now,” Aspen said, her eyes pleading with Banshee not to make her.

“We’ll get a hotel, baby girl.”

“What about you, Diana?” Bane asked.

“I need to go back. I have to talk to my brother.” She looked at Aspen. “I’m sorry, but I have to hear it from him.”

Aspen nodded. She stood and looked at me. “Thank you for giving us a place to escape.”

“Of course. Anytime. I’ve enjoyed having people here.”

Diana and Aspen left, and the others walked them out. All except Indie, who stayed back to help me clear the table.

I placed the cups in the sink and turned to her. “I don’t even have words for what you all went through.”

She shrugged, and I grasped her hand. “Don’t do that. Don’t diminish what you went through. Have you talked to anyone? Can you talk to anyone?”

“One of the old ladies back home is a psychologist. She’s been working through some shit with me.”

“I’m glad.” I took a deep breath and said, “I wish I’d known. All this time the biggest monster in Athens lived right next door, and I did nothing.”

What good were my instincts if I’d missed the biggest evil in my own backyard? What good was my darkness if I hadn’t seen his?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Hades

Days had crawled by since the funeral, each one heavier than the last. Indie had spilled everything to Diana and Aspen. Every goddamn detail. Every nightmare. Every violation. It was one more fucking reason for Zeus to hate her, one more weight on the scale tipping toward violence.

Diana wanted to tell her mother. Needed to, maybe. But Zeus had convinced her to wait, his voice low and commanding, the kind of tone that brooked no argument. It caused a rift between the twins, a fracture I could see widening every time they were in the same room. The air between them crackled with unspoken accusations and hurt.

Bane backed his brother-in-law. Said that until we confirmed what Indie and Karlyn accused Kronos of, or had solid proof to deny it, there was no fucking reason to tear out Rhea’s heart. The words made sense. Cold, calculated sense.

Though Bane made it abundantly clear he believed Indie’s accusation. The conviction in his voice left no room for doubt. And there was no fucking way I’d admit it out loud, but I believed her too. Every word. Every horrific detail. The truth sat in my gut like a stone, heavy and undeniable.

They all left a few days after the funeral. Diana wanted Rhea to leave with them, practically begged her. But she refused. Her place was here, even without her husband. Even with the ghost of him haunting every corner of this goddamn town. She wasn’t the same woman anymore. Grief changed people at their core, hollowed them out and filled the empty spaces with something darker.

Rhea didn’t smile anymore. Not even when Zeus told her about his son. The news that should have brought joy just slid off her like water off glass. Nothing penetrated the wall she’d built around herself.

Reggie was pissed at me for telling Zeus about Gus. Furious, actually. Her eyes had blazed when she cornered me outside the clubhouse. My only retort was that if I’d known he’d fucked her, I would have told him years ago. The truth, plain and simple.

Reggie left town not long after Aspen got married and moved to Arizona with her husband and the Death Dogs. No one thought much of it. People left Athens all the time, seeking something better, something different. Even when she came back a year later with a baby, we all assumed she’d met someone while she was gone. Some faceless man who’d knocked her up and disappeared.

Zeus immediately contacted a lawyer. I tried to stop him, tried to make him see reason. Told him he was making a mistake by not just talking to Reggie first. But Zeus was stubborn, like his father. Bullheaded and convinced his way was the only way. He led with his fists instead of his head, thinking he could bulldoze through a problem and make it disappear.

He was only making things worse. Digging the hole deeper with every aggressive move.

“I want my fucking son!” He slammed his hand on the table, and the lawyer jumped. The sound cracked through the office like a gunshot. Papers scattered. Coffee sloshed in cups.

“Mr. Cooper, these things take time. We have to petition the judge to grant a DNA test. Once we prove the boy is yours, then we can file the necessary paperwork to obtain visitation.”

“I don’t want every other fucking weekend. I want my son in my home. I’ve already missed four fucking years of his life.” Zeus’ voice was raw, scraped clean of everything but rage and pain. The kind of pain that made men do stupid shit.