Zeno hesitated, leaving the question hanging in the tense silence between them. Then, he lifted his head and stared directly at me. A strange, warming feeling fluttered in my chest as my heart skipped a beat. It was the first time he had truly looked at me since he arrived.
“She will,” he said.
I gasped, the word catching in my throat. “Me?”
It took a moment for the realization to sink in. He wasn’t talking about Rhea. He looked at me with a terrifying clarity, and in that look, the pieces finally clicked.
“The debt wasn't about the money, Daphne. It never has been. It's about the Ghost. Rhea wants you dead because you're the only one who can track her fund. You aren't the collateral?—
you're the threat.”
I swallowed hard, my mind racing. The silence grew thicker, suffocating, as suspicion spread among us, filling the air with the weight of my secret identity finally coming to light. God, this was torture! What did he expect me to do? Remain under his thumbfor the rest of my life? Was I truly doomed to repay him with my very life?
He glared at me with raw, dark intensity, as if I’d murdered his dog.
But I didn’t flinch. Despite the storm of emotions swirling inside me, I lifted my chin and met his gaze just as fiercely. Thal shifted beside me, inching closer in silent support. I could feel his eyes on me, but I dared not turn to look. His support strengthened my resolve against Zeno.
This wasn’t about discovering a new way. I was taking back the weapon Zeno had dedicated ten years to sharpening. Thal had provided me the catalyst to seize my independence. Looking at Zeno, I didn't feel the old, suffocating weight of my debt. I felt a sharp clarity. I wasn't a shell to be filled or a tool to be used. I was the Ghost of Olympus, and for the first time, I was the one choosing whose name I engraved on the bullets.
And now, he felt as if I needed to be eliminated?
Rage bubbled inside me, threatening to spill out. My decision to leave Zeno was a natural result of how he had treated me over the years. I pushed away the twinge of guilt pulsating within me, my resolve to break free from his controlling grip growing stronger with each passing second.
Clarity burst in my mind like a light bulb turning on.
There was no going back. Not now. Not ever.
I’d made up my mind, and I wasn’t going to be that woman again, ever.
I was free now.
Zeno rose from his seat, walking over to me as he kept my gaze. I waited for the explosion, for the wrath, but he just stopped inches from me.
“You think you’re free, Daphne?” The scent of expensive tobacco and the clinical, cold aroma of the Olympus clung to himlike a shroud. “You think that because he lets you hold a gun and share his bed, you’ve escaped the collar?”
He shot Thal a look of pure, genocidal amusement. “You weren't on a leash with me, little bird. You were an investment. But look at you now, wagging your tail for a man who lies to you to keep you manageable. At least with me, you knew where the steel met your throat. Thalassios just made his leash out of silk, and you’re too blinded by the shine to feel it tighten.”
My heart hammered against my ribs. It was the same thing I’d yelled at Thal hours earlier. Zeno was digging into the crack that was already there.
The anger bubbling to the surface burst out, and I stood, his eyes widening in surprise at my aggressive energy.
I stepped forward, pressing him against his chest. Not hard, but enough to show I was serious and to spark a flicker of recognition in his eyes.
“You’re not allowed to do this. Not after everything.”
I expected his wrath. I prepared for it. I looked for anger in his dark eyes, but there was something else, something I never expected to see.
A quick flash of regret flickered in his eyes for the briefest second. Then, it vanished, buried beneath his usual anger and cold calculation. The old Zeno was back, if he had ever truly left. Zeno would never admit to having any wounds at all.
Regret? Zeno? Never. Not in a million years.
Zeno didn't look angry. It was disappointment that shadowed his face, far worse. He set his glass down on the tactical map, right over the location of Rhea’s marina.
“A debt signed in blood can only be paid in blood, Daphne. You think this alliance is about Rhea? It’s about who gets to keep the currency when she’s dead.” He looked at Thal, his eyes hardening to flint. “Enjoy your time with her, Thalassios. Butremember, I’m the one who knows how to pull the chain if I want her back.”
The heavy steel door thudded shut, and the echo of Zeno’s funeral-march footsteps faded into a suffocating silence. Aidon stayed by the window, a dark silhouette against the Vegas lights, then gave us a curt nod and disappeared into the hallway.
Then it was just us.
