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Ares kept his attention on the road ahead. “I got a wife to take care of.”

“I’ll come out there in a couple days. Stay for a few weeks.”

He looked over at me. “Wifey cool with that?”

“Yeah. I’m bringing her and my son too. We’ll stay with Azaria. Maybe seeing her nephew will help her.”

Ares nodded.

I knew my sister was going through hell over there, and no matter how much she hated all of us right now, she needed people around her who belonged to her before any contract ever did.

We kept driving through Los Angeles, headed back toward the lives waiting for us before morning.

CHAPTER 18

Ares

“Burner On Me”

The moment my car rolled through the iron gates, I knew something was going on inside the house. Before the engine even cut off, I could hear Azaria yelling.

I got out of the car and adjusted the cuff of my coat while two of the guards looked at each other as if they had been waiting for me to come handle whatever the fuck was happening.

“That’s been going on all afternoon, sir,” one of them said.

The front doors opened before I reached the steps, and two members of my house staff rushed past me looking relieved to be getting away from the situation.

“I said give me a damn phone!”

I walked inside and followed her voice.

Azaria was halfway down the hallway, pacing back and forth in a red silk robe with her hair thrown up and bare feet hitting the marble every time she turned around. She looked healthier than she did when I left, but apparently getting some of her strength back meant everybody in the house had been catching hell.

The second she saw me, she stopped pacing.

“Oh, there you are. The king finally decided to come home.”

I stayed near the doorway and looked her over. “You miss me?”

“Miss you?” She walked toward me. “I’ve been asking these scary-ass staff for a phone all day, and they acting as if I asked for the nuclear codes.”

“They know better.”

“I want my cousin here, and I want a vape.” She jabbed her finger against my chest. “I’m not staying in this big-ass prison by myself.”

“You’re not by yourself.”

“Yes, I am.”

Her voice carried through the hallway, and I knew every employee in the house was somewhere listening.

“If you think I’m about to sit here being some quiet little bride because everybody signed some papers, you got me fucked up.”

I walked closer to her. “You finished?”

“Not even close.”

Azaria stepped directly into my space and looked up at me.