Page 79 of All for her Forgiveness

Although each of us is a partner in our family's businesses, mainly the bank that has been with the Kostanidou for generations, we also have private enterprises, separate from each other.

Ares owns the nightclub SIN. Dionysus mainly works with media, and I own the largest advertising agency in the world. Only Zeus is exclusively dedicated to the bank.

"As soon as King is registered, I will publicly acknowledge him too."

"And we'll need to put a dozen bodyguards on him immediately," Zeus says.

"I’ve already done that. From the moment I left the two at home yesterday, after coming back from the hospital, the bodyguards were already in place."

It's nothing compared to the amount of time I left my son and his mother unprotected. A drop in an ocean of pain.

"When do you plan to return to New York?" Odin asks.

"I don't know. There’s no deadline. Starting tomorrow, I will resume working normally, from here in New Orleans, as I haven’t attended a meeting at my company since I arrived. I won't return to Manhattan until I convince Kennedy to go with me. Their place is by my side."

"And what about the old man who helped her?"

"Ernest is a question mark. He let slip that he has been in prison before, and usually that would be enough to make me send him away from my son, but he took care of King, loved and protected him, for two years. He is absolutely devoted to Kennedy too. I don’t care if he killed someone or was a thief—for her and King, Ernest is family. For me, he is someone to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for protecting my son when I wasn’t around."

"There was no way to know that King was yours, Hades. In fact, you didn’t even know about his existence," Odin says. "Damn, even to me, this story sounds crazy. It’s like life is playing with you and Kennedy in a twisted game of endurance to see how much you can take."

"Not anymore. I will never leave her side until the day I die. No matter how long it takes, I will do everything in my power to gain her forgiveness."

"You love her. You don’t just want or defend her because of King."

"Yes. I love her and I will make her my wife."

"Good luck with that," Ares says, and despite the tension they are feeling, the others laugh.

"Are you staying at Kennedy's house?” Christos asks. “She’s more generous than I would be."

"I have two allies. Ernest is on my side, believing my intention to help Kennedy is sincere. And then there’s my son," I say, unable to hide the pride in my voice.

I send a photo of King to the group, which soon appears on the screen.

"He looks just like you," everyone, even Odin, says.

"Yes, he is mine."

"How did you know for sure?" Christos asks.

"When Kennedy was hospitalized because of the bee sting, Ernest took a while to get to the hospital. King stayed with me. I took him to the bathroom, changed his diaper, and noticed the birthmark that all Kostanidou have, but at that moment, my mind refused to believe it, even though when I saw him for the first time, I noticed something familiar in his features."

"Familiar? King is the type of kid that if the father asked for a DNA test, the judge would laugh," Dionysus says. "He is a miniature copy of you."

"I had to ask for the test because I think Kennedy wouldn’t have given me access to him without concrete proof. She also didn’t remember that we had sex."

"Damn, that’s true. Your story would make one hell of a movie," Ares concludes.

"A nightmare, that’s what it is. I thought I was living in hell while waiting for justice to be served, waiting for Kennedy and Ryan's trial and punishment, but my true hell will start now, with my quest for her forgiveness."

"Make no mistake about that," Dionysus says. "I don’t know Kennedy, but I know that if she made you fall in love with her, she at least has a strong personality. If your woman has even a third of the fiery temperament of any of ours, it will take a while to convince her that you’re sorry."

"There are no excuses capable of fixing my mistake of judgment. It is through actions that I will achieve my redemption."

I not only told them everything, I showed them the videos. However, Odin firmly believes there is more to be discovered about Pam. Maybe Ryan went to my grandfather’s house one day. That would be definitive proof that he and Pam had a relationship, not Kennedy.

My cousin has divided the hours of recordings between me and my brothers. We decided not to let anyone outside the family have access to them yet because we have no idea what we might find.

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