“I’ll go get him,” I mutter.
I walk behind Zeus as he storms out of the hospital. He isn’t running or anything, but I’m not chasing him. He needs time to cool off and to let himself process what is happening. I walk through the hospital doors as he rides off. I wait until his taillights have vanished before making sure no one else is near. When the coast is clear, I take my burner phone out and dial a number I wish I didn’t have to.
“Midas?” His panicked voice whispers down the line.
“You stupid motherfucker.” I seethe. Rage is the only thing I feel right now. “You were just supposed to scare her, not hurt her. Now she is lying in a hospital bed because of you. Why the fuck did you shoot her?”
“I… I… I don’t know, man. I got freaked out, and I just reacted. Man, I am so fucking sorry dude.”
“I should kill you myself for this. You are lucky that it would cause too many questions, so you will get to live another day. If you ever fuck up again, I won’t be so kind.” I hung up my phone, not waiting for a response.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was just supposed to scare her so she would come running to us. That was the plan.
I throw the phone as far as I can. The sound of it smashing in the distance is the only thing I can hear over the ringing in my ears. I raked my fingers through my hair and started pulling hard. I need to figure out a way to fix this and stay on track with my original plan. This is just a bump in the road,a huge bump, but I can fix this. My plan is still solid, I just need to make a few minor tweaks.
I pace back and forth in front of the door until I can come up with the perfect plan. If I can keep them thinking it’s Dante, that will get me off the hook. Getting the guys to believe it won’t be hard. Serena will be a different story. I know she is starting to have feelings for the bastard, but if she thinks he is behind this, then she will walk away.
Maybe I should just tell her about our past with him. I’ll leave out all the sappy shit and just give her a rundown of the last five years. That should be enough evidence for her to leave him. If that doesn’t work, I can just tell her about Valerie’s little deal with Dante. The day I learnt that little nugget of shit still burns in my brain. That was the day I made the guys pull away from Serena to protect her until I could figure out a plan.
“Midas!” Valerie’s shrill voice yells from down the hall.
The last thing I want to do is deal with her, but I know if I don’t, it will be harder in the long run for all of us. She starts to approach us. Odin and Zeus block Serena from her sight. I give Odin a look, telling him to take her away from this. He nods his head, placing his hand on her back, and walks towards Evie with Zeus in tow.
“What the fuck do you want, Valerie?” I couldn’t keep the annoyance out of my tone even if I wanted to.
“I have a proposition for you,” She starts.
“Not fucking interested.” I cut her off.
“You might want to listen to me. Leave Serena, or I will send Dante Lupo to kill her.” She places her hands on her hips. A smug grin on her face like she thinks she just won something.
I know Dante Lupo well enough to know that he won’t do anything he doesn’t want to do. He also would never take orders from anyone, let alone a bitch like Valerie. But if he knew how attached we have become to her, I wouldn’t put it past him to use her against us. He has had an unknown vendetta against us for the last five years.
There has been more than one occurrence where he has tried to kill us. I don’t know what changed between us, but one day it was like a switch flipped in his brain, and we were the enemy. I get that his dad dying fucked with him, but the hatred towards us feels extreme.
“Your threats don’t work against me. There is no way Dante would go after her.”
“That’s what you think. He owes me a favor, and I was planning on cashing it in. Leave Serena. Come back to me, and the skank lives.” Her eyes dart to Serena. If looks could kill, Serena would be dead in a second. I scoff at her ridiculousness. She turns her attention to me. “My uncle works his Dante. He and I… know each otherverywell. All I have to do is give him a name, and she will be killed.”
I grind my teeth at that information. I never knew that her uncle worked for Lupo. If I had, I never would have stuck my dick into her. For all I know, she could be leaking information to Dante about us. Not that we let her know anything. She is a parasite that leached onto us long ago, against our will.
Odin and Zeus stand beside me. “Everything alright over here?”
“Yeah.” I grind my teeth, not wanting the following words to leave my mouth. But they have to. If there is even the slightest chance that what Valerie said is true, I have to keep Serena safe. “Stay away from Serena. She is off limits.”
I wrap my arm around Valerie and watch my best friend's jaws drop. With certainty, I knew they would follow orders even if they didn’t like it. A winning smile on Valerie’s face makes me want to slap it off. Let her think that she won for now. In the end, I will win. I always do.
They both look over their shoulders at Serena. She is watching us. Sadness coats her face as she sees my arm around Valerie. In that moment, I wanted to push Valerie away and run to Serena. Reassure her that this means nothing, but I can’t. I don’t believe Valerie has the power to get Dante to do anything, but I refuse to take the chance.
I turn on my heel, walking away from the girl who has gotten under my skin. Away from what I truly want and down the path that I may never be able to come back from.
I walked back into the hospital to find Odin in the same place I left him. Emma hasn’t come back, not that I thought she would. She is by her daughter’s side, and nothing would be able to pull her away from that. The two of them have such a close bond between them that is so foreign to me, but they are inseparable.Must be nice to have a parent care about you that much.
I walk over to Odin and clap him on the shoulder to get his attention. He looks up at me with such somber eyes, his cheeks wet with tears. I keep my face stoic, but I am so surprised right now. I have never seen him cry before. Or at least not since we were kids.
“Come on, man, we should head home. It’s two in the morning. We need some sleep. We can come back first thing in the morning.” I grab Odin’s hand and pull him up. He reluctantly gets up and follows me outside.
