Page 99 of Seduced By Contract

"No," they repeat.

They hug me, and I accept it because somehow I know that our pain is the same.

"I want him to suffer. I want him to die the same way our father did." I look at my brothers. "I want to watch him die."

"I can fix this for you," Odin says.

Zeus

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

The meetingwith the board was cancelled. We released the announcement in the press that we are majority partners, and there is nothing they can do about it. If it were my bank, I would never act like this, as it would cause fluctuations in shares, but as the plan to dilute theGordonBankis already in progress, that's the least of my worries.

When he found out that we already owned the majority of the shares and that we would not attend the meeting, the old man called me and said, "I know defeat when I see it. I'm not a bad loser. You beat me at my own game. Congratulations. The bank is yours."

"You haven't been defeated yet, but you will be soon."

I knew when I hung up that a few minutes later Emerson would receive a package at home. Odin anonymously sent him Lyra's statement revealing his entire rotten past.

But not just that. There were instructions on what to do next: go to a warehouse, without security guards or a driver. A place my cousin said no one knew he owned.

A place that, a few years ago, he used to rid the world of the fucking monster who tried to abuse his wife.

I still think it's much less than Gordon deserves, but like my brothers said, no punishment would be enough, so we're here in our cars, outside the warehouse, watching him enter.

I think of the injustices that my mother suffered, the cowardice of our grandparents in caring more about the opinion of the New York high society than about protecting their girl . . . Adrian's failure to fulfill his role as best friend by keeping the truth secret, and finally, the betrayal of the one who knew everything yet chose to lie, tarnishing the image of her murdered cousin for her children and husband out of greed.

Incredibly, now that I know the full story, my hatred is directed solely at Emerson Gordon. As for the others, I feel profound disgust.

And there is something else, a feeling that I have been fighting but which is inevitable. It concerns my father. If this discovery about my mother's past had happened before I met Madison, perhaps I would have been able to understand the despair that led him to take his own life after a mere phone call, firmly believing in the betrayal of his best friend and his dead wife, without even digging into the story.

Today, however, now that I know what it is to love a woman beyond measure, I try to put myself in his place, and I'm sure that I would never, even after living with Madison for only a few months, believe that she would be capable of deceiving me in such a vile way.

That makes me wonder if my father was really sure of her and Adrian's infidelity or if he chose to die because he couldn't bear the idea of continuing to live without her by his side, regardless of the betrayal.

We'll never know the answer.

Another thing I’ve thought about is that for someone with as many skeletons in the closet as Emerson, he took a risk by trying, through a marriage contract with his granddaughter, to give me control of his bank and put his entire fortune in my hands. Perhaps he was so sure of his impunity that, after keeping his crimes covered up for so many years, he believed he would never be caught.

Did he really think I wouldn't go after him to avenge my father for Adrian and Mom's supposed betrayal? Did he believe that money would be more valuable than retaliating for the death of my idol? Because now I know that, no matter how much I said that what motivated me was the promise I made to my grandfather, deep down, what I always wanted was to avenge my father.

Gordon has no idea what a Kostanidis is capable of when he hates. Our resentment has not diminished over time. It has only grown stronger.

“It's time,” Odin says, and we all get out of the car—my cousins and brothers.

My phone vibrates, and I see it's Madison, sending photos of the baby clothes she bought on her outing with Elina and Zoe.

She and our unborn child are the link that keeps me lucid. If it weren't for the two of them, I would be capable of doing something crazy, ending the bastard's life with my own hands.

Hades, my brother, whose vengeful streak runs as deep as mine, grabs my arm. "I know what you're thinking, and I won't let you do it, Zeus. That son of a bitch in there destroyed our family. He raped and murdered—or ordered someone to murder—our mother. He was the indirect cause of our father's death and then our grandfather's. He'll not get the final victory. If you kill him, it won't satisfy our need for revenge."

When we enter the warehouse, there is nothing but a chair in the center of it, where Gordon is sitting. Next to him, there is a table with a gun lying on it.

The same gun with which my father killed himself and which was returned to us by the police when the investigation came to an end.

I kept it in my safe as a kind of motivator, looking at it every now and then to remind myself why I could never give up on my revenge.

We form a semicircle around Emerson, all standing, just close enough to watch.

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