I swipe the tear-soaked hair from her face and brush it behind her ears.“I know, baby.But we’ll get through this.You’ll see.I’m not the man you think I am.”
“No,” she whispers.“You’re worse.”
I hear rustling to my right and spy a nosy neighbor standing on their porch, gazing at us.
“Are you okay over there, Ophelia?”Mr.Barker asks her.
He’s in his sixties and couldn’t handle one of us, let alone all three.The old man is way out of his depth and needs to get back in his house before the cops come here looking for Belen.If they see Ophelia in this sad shape, with her accusations thrown around, the detectives will take all of us down to the station for questioning.
“How about we take this inside?”Mom suggests, keeping her voice low.“We don’t need to involve the neighbors.”
“I’m fine, Mr.Barker,” Ophelia says.
“I just saw the news,” he says.“I hope they find your father.”
“Me too,” she chokes out, sniffing back more tears.“You can go back inside.Sorry to bother you.”
He gives each of us a strange look and then walks back into the house.
I bend down and smash my nose against Ophelia’s neck, breathing her in after missing her for the past two weeks.“Can we talk about this in the house, baby?”
“I’m not your baby anymore,” she fires back.
“Okay, that’s fair.”I kiss her cheek so she knows I still care about her and want her more than oxygen.“But we need to talk.All of us.”
She laughs.“Sure, let’s talk about my dad being too stupid to listen.”Ophelia’s eyes shift to my mom.“You used his grief to control him.And you thought you could do the same to me.”She shakes her head, another sob escaping her chest.“I’m not my dad.You can’t manipulate me.”
“Darling,” Mother lilts as she approaches us, her expensive heels clicking on the flagstones.“You don’t know the real story.It’s time you learned the truth about the real Belen Drakos.”
ChapterForty-Three
OPHELIA
I’m a total mess.Snot drips from my nose.My face is wet with tears.It’s like the floodgates of hell opened, and I can’t stop crying.
The second I saw Ares, I lost it.
He followed me when I wanted him to stay inside with his family.I wanted to walk away and never look back.
Then, I saw him.
And I felteverything.
All my feelings came pouring out of me, leaking onto the ground at my feet.They consume me, and I hate how much I want him.
Needhim.
As we walk into the house, Ares slings his arm over my shoulder.“Baby, I missed you.I’m so glad you’re back.”
My heart aches for him, ripping a little more with his words.How can I be falling for a man who killed my father?He came into my house intending to trick me.
So did Apollo and Atlas.
It was all a game.
I hate them.
“I’m not back.”I shove his arm off me.“You betrayed me, Ares.I will never forgive you for this.”
