Page 97 of Hades’ Revenge

I rolled off her and onto my back next to her, searching for a response. She lifted up and propped herself on her elbow. The weight of her stare rattled me. How could I be that selfish? Someone tried to kill me a few hours ago with her standing right next to me. I was a quarter of a century older than her. I had baggage, enemies, and a past that would haunt me for the rest of my life. Not to mention what I did for a living. My career took me to dangerous places that weren’t fit for any woman, much less her.

It isn’t fair to plague her with any of that. It wasn’t right to make her fall in love with me either.

“Capri.” I sighed. “You’re very special to me, but I’m not the man…” How am I going to explain this?

“Don’t.” She sat up. “I misunderstood.”

“What did you misunderstand?”

“You wanted me to come back to Greece with you.”

“I still do.”

“You told me I belonged to you. You said you would make sure everyone knew it.” She pushed her long, shiny locks from her face. “You wouldn’t let me leave after you took my virginity. I told you one night was enough but you…”

The hurt in her eyes and the heartache in her voice tore at my battered soul. The same soul that understood what I had done when I said all those things to her. I could never be the man she saw when she looked at me through her naive eyes, but I was too arrogant to stop.

“I shouldn’t have⁠—”

“No!” She tugged a throw from the top of her bed and draped it around her vulnerable, exposed body. “You said your heart needed me.”

“It does.” I raised myself into a seated position. “I’m just not sure I understand what that means, but I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t feel it.”

“I get it.” Tears streamed down her face. “It was too early to catch feelings for you.”

When she scooted off the bed, I reached for her hand. She wiggled out of my hold and hurried to the bathroom. But even from behind the closed door, I couldn’t block out the sound of her sobs.

After I showered and changed into the clothes Zeus had retrieved from the hotel this morning, I checked in on Atticus, who was still asleep. I had spent most of the night in his room making sure he didn’t need anything or wasn’t in any pain. Truth be told, I was hiding. Avoiding the hurt on Capri’s face.

When have I ever hidden from anything?

Once I went into her room, she was already up and out. I assumed she was downstairs but she hadn’t come back yet. We needed to talk. I had to fix what I had broken last night.

“Hades.” Gia joined me in front of the large stained-glass window at the end of the hallway just outside the guest bedroom. “How is Atticus?”

“He had a restful night,” I said. “I appreciate your hospitality.”

“I’m glad we could help.”

“I should be able to take Atticus back to the hotel this afternoon.” I glanced at my watch, wondering if Capri would ever come upstairs to face me.

“There’s no rush.” She smiled. “He’s probably going to sleep most of the day.”

“I hope so.”

“Capri said you own a club. That’s where she met you.”

“It isn’t like the clubs we frequented back in the day, but it does really well.” I hadn’t thought about those times in years. “Do you remember those days?”

“Like it was yesterday.” She shook her head and laughed. “Don’t ever tell my daughter about the things we got into.”

“I do recall having to break up a few bar brawls that you caused. You could be a little rough back then.”

“It was Manhattan in the nineties. Those were pretty tough times.”

“I see a lot of you in Capri.” I hadn’t realized this before, but being with Capri reminded me of my past. When Leo, Gia, and I were friends. Capri carried so much of both her parents inside her. I chose not to see it before, but now it was inevitable.

“Maybe some,” she said. “But Capri is more observant than I am. She feels things so much deeper than I ever could.”