“And he agreed?” Just that afternoon, he said he wished I were dead.
“Instantly.”
I couldn’t believe what he’d just said.
“It worked out better that way, because Heath wouldn’t hesitate to kill Hades if he showed his face. But me…he wouldn’t touch me. I’m bulletproof, and not because of my size.”
But because of his blood. “I’m really glad I saved your life.” I was still in a daze, unable to believe what had just gone down.
His eyes drilled into mine. “I’m gonna give you some advice. Take it. Because I won’t be there next time. You could call me and beg, and I’ll hang up on you.”
I nodded.
“Give Heath what he wants. Because that wasn’t a bluff. He would have killed your father.”
I wanted revenge for what he did to my father. He could have given him a heart attack. But I was also scared shitless in that moment, so revenge wasn’t my number one choice. “Yeah.”
He turned to walk away. “Your father is being held on the top level of the Saint Apartments. Hades will wait with him until you arrive.” He walked out first, and like a small militia, the rest of his men followed.
I entered the empty room with the floor-to-ceiling windows and found my father sitting in a wooden chair, visibly unharmed and wearing his favorite blue sweater because he was always cold—even in summer.
A dead body was on the floor, a puddle of dark blood soaking into the carpet. The man’s gun lay beside him with his outstretched hand reaching for it. Hades stood near the large windows and looked out across the dark city, his back turned to us.
The only person I cared about in that moment was my father.
Old, frail, defenseless.
Seeing him made me want to kill Heath, to torture him for what he’d done to this elderly man. “Father…” I ran to him and kneeled down so I could hug him, wrap my arms around him and hold him close. I never appreciated my father until I almost lost him, realized I hadn’t spent as much time with him as I could, wasn’t as good of a son as I could be. I recognized the cologne he’d been wearing for twenty years, seriously outdated and a little musky. He never changed his wardrobe, so the sweater was just as old.
He patted me on the back. “I’m okay, Damien. I wasn’t even worried. I knew you would save me.”
But I didn’t.
“Hades took care of business like he always does.” He gripped my shoulder and gave me a slight smile, his puffy cheeks full of wrinkles. “You always have each other’s backs. That’s hard to find in times like these.”
“Yeah…” I swallowed the lump in my throat.
He patted my cheek. “Damien, it’s alright. You can calm down.”
“I’m so sorry, Father… I’m sorry this happened to you.”
“Nothing happened, son. It’s a risk that comes with the business. But you handled it beautifully.” He patted my cheek again before he rose to his feet. “Let me piss, and then we’ll go. All the action excited my bladder.” He shuffled his feet and moved slowly until he turned the corner and entered the hallway.
I rose to my feet and stared at the powerful man in the suit. His hands rested in the pockets of his slacks, his watch noticeable on his wrist. He must have been meeting a client on this side of town to be dressed like that. His stoic countenance reflected in the glass as he looked at the lit city.
I came up behind him, at a loss for words. I stared at him for a long time because my mouth couldn’t articulate all the thoughts swirling in my head. “Hades…I don’t know where to begin.” I’d betrayed him and pushed him away…but he was still there.
He slowly turned around and faced me, his eyes hard and his expression cold. His brown eyes looked me over, noticing the puffiness around my eyes and the tears that were still fresh.
“Thank you.” My voice choked as I said the words, but I didn’t feel shame. “I don’t know how to thank you for what you did…”
He pulled his right hand out of his pocket and placed it on my shoulder. “You just did.”
All the emotion I’d been holding in for the last year rose straight to my throat, making me feel vulnerable, like a completely different person. I felt the surface of my eyes moisten with tears I refused to shed, but it was getting harder and harder to fight.
“You would have done it for me,” he whispered.
All I could do was nod, feeling the tremors all over my body. “I’m so sorry about everything… I miss you.” It was the lamest thing I’d ever said, words that should never come out of a man’s mouth, but I was more emotional than I’d ever been, and shit was just pouring out.