“I do.” He set his glass on the table. “We’ve been divorced for a long time. That’s just how it happens.”
“But you loved me last month.”
He shrugged in response. “We can talk about it all day, but that’s not gonna change anything. We share a son together, and that’s the only thing we should be talking about. I can go visit once a month and stay at the hotel. That’s probably the most practical.”
I couldn’t believe we were having this conversation. “I only moved to Rome because of Maddox. Now that he’s gone, I should come home. I’ve lived in Florence all my life. I’m not gonna stop now.”
“Fine. Then I’ll pick him up every couple weeks, and he can stay here.”
We went from being madly in love to being a divorced couple with a kid. He was treating me like I’d cheated on him, like he hated me. “So, we just move him back and forth? We never spend any time together as a family?”
“We aren’t a family. We stopped being a family when you divorced me.”
I kept my tears back this time, but it was hard. “You know why I did it. And in the end, I fought for you.”
“Six months later…”
“Hades, I was pregnant. You expected me to take on Maddox when I was pregnant?”
It was the first time he didn’t have a rebuttal.
“I’m sorry that I hurt you. I really am. The last thing I wanted to do was leave you. But once I was able to actually do something about it, I did. You can’t be mad at me forever. And you can’t be this unreasonable.”
“Unreasonable?”
I didn’t want to provoke his rage, but I didn’t want to roll over and let him trample me. “It was a complicated situation for everyone. But my decision didn’t mean I stopped loving you. I love you more now than the day I married you.”
“You didn’t love me the day we got married. We both know that happened a long time afterward.”
“It doesn’t matter. In this moment of time, I love you.”
“Well, I don’t love you.”
I felt like I’d been slugged in the stomach again. The tears were hot behind my eyes, but I still didn’t let them fall. “I don’t believe that. Say it as many times as you want, but I still won’t believe you.”
Hades rose to his feet. “Believe whatever you want. I really don’t care.” He walked around me and headed to the door. “I’m not sure why you came here tonight, but you can leave.”
I kept my back to him so I could have a moment to compose my features. He continued to stab me everywhere, continued to make me bleed. I was dying over and over again, losing all my strength. I turned back around and walked toward him. When I was by the door, I faced him once more. “This is how I know you don’t mean it.”
He opened the door and let his hand rest on the handle.
“If you stopped loving me, you would be indifferent to me. But your anger and coldness tell me that I hurt you, tell me that you’re in pain. The only way you could feel that way is if you felt something.”
His eyes narrowed on my face.
“I know you still love me…even if you really believe you don’t.”
When I returned to Rome, I went to Ash’s place straightaway.
He lived in a large apartment close to the Colosseum. It was a three-story building, and he had the top floor to himself. He didn’t own a big mansion like his brother, but I suspected it wasn’t because he couldn’t afford it. I rang the doorbell when I was on his doorstep.
Ash opened the door a moment later, and judging by all the stains on his shirt, he’d had a long day taking care of Andrew. His eyes roamed over me quickly and interpreted my body language before he made his conclusion. “You look tired…mad…and a little sad.”
“Because I am all those things.” I walked past him and stepped inside. In the center of the living room was a large blanket, and Andrew lay on top with plastic keys in his grasp. He shook them gently and listened to the rattle inside. I’d thought all I needed was to see my son and everything would feel better.
But it didn’t work.
I sat on the blanket beside him and placed my hand on his tummy. “How’s my baby?” I picked him up then cradled him in my arms. He focused his eyes on my face before a smile followed. He recognized me…I could see it.
Ash joined us and sat across from me. “He ruined my favorite shirt.”
“How?”
“I was trying to give him a bottle, and he kicked it. Boob juice everywhere.”
“Lesson learned. Don’t wear your favorite clothes while you’re taking care of a baby.”
“Well, I would be naked, but that would be weird.”
“Very weird. Don’t do that.” I grabbed a pillow from beside me and placed it on my lap so I could put Andrew on top of it.
“So, what’s happening? Are you moving back to Florence? Shacking up with my brother? I’m surprised he hasn’t called and yelled at me yet.”
Hades was too busy being angry at me. “We’re moving back to Florence, but I’m not moving in with Hades.”
He cocked an eyebrow.
“I don’t know what happened, but he’s not the same person. Even with Maddox dead, he’s angry at me…said I shouldn’t have left him. Says he doesn’t want to be with me, that he doesn’t love me anymore.” There was no amount of comfort Andrew could give me to chase away the terrible feeling.
Ash turned skeptical. “What? What the hell are you talking about?”
I shrugged. “I really don’t know what happened. He just woke up one day and didn’t feel the same way.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. I just saw him a couple weeks ago, and he felt the same way. Said he would never move on from you.”
It didn’t make any sense. “I don’t know what happened…”
Ash considered it for a long time before he suggested an explanation. “I wonder if Maddox did something to him…like turned him against you. Brainwashed him.”
“Not possible. Hades is too strong to be manipulated like that.”
“Well, he’s been manipulated in some way. How could he feel so drastically different?”
I didn’t have an explanation for that. “You should’ve seen him. I’ve never seen him be so cold, so cruel. I felt like I was talking to a different person.”
“What are you gonna do?”
I looked down at my baby and shrugged. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do. He’s in this mood, and nothing will get him out of it.”
“You want me to talk to him?”
“Actually, yes. If you don’t mind.”
He nodded. “I’ll get to the bottom of it. We’re definitely missing a piece of the puzzle.”
19
Hades
Damien sat across from me at the bar, hatred brewing in his eyes. “So, what do you want to do?”
Maddox was gone, and now I was in charge. I was going to take over the world, take over everything. “Business as usual.”