You’re the only part that still feels real.
I’m not asking you to wait for me.
I’m not asking you to betray your life for mine.
I’m just telling you the truth.
Everything around me is changing, and I don’t know where I fit in it yet.
You’ve always understood me without me having to explain myself. That’s rare.
I won’t chase you if you walk away.
But I won’t pretend I don’t feel the difference when you’re gone either.
Thank you for last night.
Thank you for seeing me.
— Ares
I folded the letter slowly.
My throat burned.
My chest ached.
This man knew exactly how to keep a piece of me without ever asking for it outright.
And that was the problem.
That had always been the problem.
CHAPTER 20
Ares
“Generational Ego”
Ilanded in France, drunk and irritated.
Not sloppy drunk. Just the kind that sharpens your tongue.
I walked into the estate alone. If I were going to challenge Marcel, I would do it as a man, not as his grandson.
His nurse was adjusting his oxygen when I stepped into the room. Marcel looked smaller in his bed than I remembered. But his eyes were still sharp.
Still calculating.
“What’s up, old man?” I asked, dryly.
He smirked when he saw me.
“Finalmente,” he said. “You finally came to see the man passing you an empire.”
He gestured for the nurse to leave.
The door shut.
