I nodded. “Yes.”
“Your boys will grow to be men. The women they marry will be daughters to you, not in blood, but in water. Your lifetime will be short, not in duration, but in speed. Happiness and bliss pass much more quickly than sorrow and despair, which you will have very little of. You will outlive your husband in old age, but by only two days…because you will die of a broken heart.”
Tears welled in my eyes because that was exactly what I wanted for the rest of my life, to live a long and happy life with the man I loved, and not to live long without him. I felt Hades place a hand on my shoulder and grip me gently.
The gypsy gathered the cards and returned them to the stack. “Are you satisfied with your fortune?”
My hand rested on his, and I looked up to see him staring down at me. “Yes.”
Next in this series…
Sofia and Hades got their happy ending, but the story is far from over. Now it's Damien's turn to deal with the curse that was bestowed upon him ten years ago. Will Damien and Hades find their way back to each other? Will Damien fall madly in love with a woman the way Hades has?
This next trilogy is so interesting because it has guest appearances by these characters from the same universe:
Conway, Sapphire, Bones, Balto, Bosco, and Heath.
This story takes place shortly after the events in Skull Ruler, when Balto hands over the crown to his twin brother Heath. And now that Heath is in charge, he wants to collect royalties from Damien...and that's probably not going to go over well.
It's the first time I've ever used a supporting character from one story as a main character in a different trilogy...and it was super fun!
I've included the first few chapters to give Damien's story an introduction. Enjoy!
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30
Damien
When I rose from my chair, I buttoned the front of my suit. I held the folder of papers in my hand and left my office to head down the hallway. My footfalls were heavy on the hard wood, and my shoes were stiff because they were new. There was a slight squeak in the air, but since they were hand-picked by my designer, I ignored the sound.
His door was cracked at the end of the hallway, and as I got closer, the old rush of feelings returned.
Rage.
Ferocity.
Bitterness.
Resentment.
I hated that fucking asshole.
I walked inside when he was on the phone, noticing his wedding ring on his left hand and the watch Sofia gave him. I assumed my old birthday gift had disappeared in the bottom of a garbage can a year ago.
The last time we had a real conversation was when I told him to fuck off and have a good life. We were civil as much as possible, communicating at the bare minimum to get shit done. I tossed the folder on his desk. “These are my numbers for the week.”
Hades stared at me with the phone to his ear. “Baby, I’ll be home in an hour.” He put the receiver on the base and stared at me like I was the bad guy who’d interrupted his extremely important conversation. “Alright.”
It was his turn to do the business accounting, but judging by his attitude, he didn’t want to waste time handling that shit. “I did it last time. It’s your problem.”
His eyes showed his annoyance, but he didn’t argue.
I walked out again and didn’t bother closing the door to the position he liked. Just looking at his face made me want to explode like a volcano. I’d never had a breakup so bitter, a falling-out that landed so hard. Sometimes I thought about leaving the bank just to rid myself of him.
But there was too much money on the table.
My assistant caught up with me in the hallway. “Sir, I have a client who needs to see you.”
I held up my arm and looked at my Omega watch. “It’s almost five. I’m leaving.”
“She said it’s urgent.”
I’d had a really shitty day and didn’t want to deal with any more bullshit. I still had a long night ahead of me at my second job. But my clients were big and powerful, and if it was urgent, it was truly urgent. “Fine. Name?”
“Annabella De Luca.”
“Alright. Send her in.” I went to my office and sat in front of my computer. Her name didn’t ring a bell, so I had to look her up in my system to see what kind of funds she had. She couldn’t be that important. Otherwise, I’d recognize her name.
When I finally located her in the system, it was clear that her husband was the one who made all the money.
A shit-ton of money.
I didn’t recognize him either, so he must be a Hades client.
She walked in a second later, wearing a long-sleeved purple dress with over-the-knee black boots. With curled brown hair that reached past her chest and full lips that looked like pillows, she was not at all what I expected.
Sexy.
She was one of those women who spent a great deal of time perfecting her features, wearing the perfect makeup, styling her hair every morning even though she had to get up at the crack of dawn, and clearly hitting the weights to have an ass like that.
Fuck, I needed to focus.
She approached my desk with her black purse hanging in the crook of her elbow. “Damien, Annabella.” She stuck out her hand to shake mine.
It took me a second to process her professionalism because I’d already made an assumption about her character based on how fucking pretty she was. I expected her to be stupid…shame on me.
I got to my feet and took her hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”
She smiled before she dropped my hand and sat down.
After the initial high passed, I sat down again and tried to pretend she was a man. “How can I help you?”
She crossed her legs and set her purse on the table beside her. Her dress rose slightly as she crossed her legs, and the outfit was provocative in those boots. The skin of her thigh was lightly tanned and clearly toned. “An apartment that I love has opened up, and if I want to secure it, I need to wire the money tonight. So, thank you for seeing me at the last minute. I appreciate it.”
Why was she buying an apartment? “I treat my clients like family. I’m happy to help you.” I turned back to my computer. “How much money are we wiring for the transaction?” I found it odd that her husband wasn’t here and that she didn’t mention him, but my clients came here because of our discretion.
“Fifty thousand euros.”
I wanted to raise an eyebrow, but I kept my expression stoic. “Alright.” I looked through her various accounts. “Which account are we using today?” I picked the one with the highest amount of funds, which totaled over a hundred million euros.
“Those accounts aren’t mine.” She spoke in a calm manner, her voice subdued and slightly quiet.
“I see Liam De Luca and Annabella De Luca. That’s you and your husband, correct?”
It was the first time she didn’t seem as in control. She fidgeted slightly and broke eye contact. “No. That’s my ex-husband. I’ve asked him to remove me from the account, and he still hasn’t done it.”
I was never interested in the drama of my clients’ lives, but I was curious about this. And I was a bit intrigued that she was single.