Page 27 of Gilded Gods

Uncle Alexander owns the other half. I’d rather be in business with him than have my father hold my future over my head.

“No,” Dad says without consideration. “You’ll inherit Olympus after I retire and not a minute sooner.”

I have to reason with him.

Losing me is a bad idea.

“If I leave, so will my girls,” I tell him. “I hired them, and they are loyal to me.”

He snorts with laughter. “Whores are a dime a dozen, Ophelia. They can be easily replaced.”

“Notmywhores,” I fire back. “Our customers love them. I hand-selected them myself. If you ever came by Olympus, you would see that our regulars are there forthem. They can go to any other club in the city, but they choose The O Club because of the environment I created. They come to fuck the girls I trained.”

His eyes widen at the last part.

Yep, Dad, I said trained.

Deal with it.

“I’d like to see this training firsthand,” Ares mutters, and I want to slap him.

I know how this sounds.

I swear I’m not a pimp.

The ground floor of Olympus is open to the public. We have top-shelf liquor, VIP seating, and the hottest DJs in the country playing live every night. But downstairs at The O Club, we cater to a wealthy clientele.

The women are there willingly, of course. I’m not in the business of human trafficking. But as their Madam, I show them what men want.

“I have a counterproposal,” Dad says after a long silence. “You have one month to turn around your attitude. That means acting like you’re part of this family and treating Athena and me with respect. You will go dress shopping and pose for photos at our wedding. I don’t want to hear a single complaint from you. And if you have learned to control yourself, I will give you one-quarter of Olympus.”

One month.

I can do this.

I flash a victorious smile. “When do we go dress shopping?”

ChapterSixteen

ATLAS

I like sketchingher.When Ophelia doesn’t know I’m watching, she lowers her guard. She lets me see her worries, frustrations, and insecurities. Apollo picked up on her biggest insecurity, and so did I.

She doesn’t see herself the way I do. I bet she doesn’t like the woman she sees when she looks in the mirror. But what’s not to like about her? She’s classically beautiful in an old movie star kind of way. That’s why I drew her as a pinup girl.

Not to sexualize her.

To empower her.

Apollo gets it. My twin is an empath like me and understands people, while Ares only understandsAres. He’s all about the quick fuck and the easy money. And for that reason, we have to protect Ophelia from him.

I watch her interact with Ares, slapping his arm to push him away. She hates him. But I can also see a burning attraction.

As they go back and forth, pretending they don’t like each other, my charcoal pencil glides across the page of the sketchbook. Ophelia’s big, brown eyes widen as Ares whispers in her ear.

She hits him again.

This time with her elbow.

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