Innocence (Tales of Olympus #1)(82)

For a second, he was completely at a loss.

What was he supposed to—

How could he—

He turned to the hallway wall and banged both fists against it, letting out an enraged roar.

What the fuck had she been thinking?

Throwing her body in front of a bullet for him?

Why would she do that?

Why the fuck would she do something so fucking idiotic?

He’d effectively kidnapped her for gods’ sake. He’d seduced and married her under false pretenses. Put a collar around her neck and chained her to the bed. Who in their right mind would take a bullet for someone like that?

If she wasn’t dying in the other room, he would go and fucking strangle her for her stupidity.

He wanted to strangle someone, that was for damn sure. Someone needed to pay. Blood for blood.

He whipped his phone out of his pocket finally and dialed Angelo before even calling Sharo.

“Yeah boss?”

“You’ve got your war. Hit the vulnerable targets you’ve talked about in Metropolis. I want blood. I want the streets to rain with fucking blood.”





Twenty-Five





The war with the Titans was begun. And Cora was in a coma.

It was a medically-induced coma, the doctors kept reminding Marcus, as if that was supposed to make him feel better.

They said she would wake up any time now. But they’d been saying that for days. And she still hadn’t woken up.

The bullet had entered her chest and gone down into her gut, which was better than if it had traveled toward her heart or lungs, but still—fucking coma.

Marcus sat by her hospital bed, her cold little hand lifeless in his. When he wasn’t conferring with his lieutenants, he was here. Sitting on this hard, plastic chair, holding her hand.

Oh what the great Marcus Ubeli had been reduced to. He squeezed his stinging eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

“The doctor said it’s good to talk to you. That hearing familiar voices might help you, I don’t know.” He shook his head, looking out the window at the cold, dreary rainy day. “Might make you wake up faster. Or that you might still be able to hear my voice or some bullsh—”

“Anyway,” he leaned forward, giving her hand a squeeze. “I’m not sure if my voice is one you’d be excited to wake up for, all things considered… But I’m all you’ve got.”

None of his Shades had been able to get a beat on Demi before she slipped out of the city. Which was probably a good thing. Marcus didn’t trust himself with her if he ever got his hands on the woman. She put Cora in this bed. But not only that.

Tell your sister I send my fondest regards. Mine was the last face she ever saw, too.

If Demi was telling the truth, it hadn’t been Cora’s father after all who’d killed his sister. And why would she lie? She’d thought it was Marcus’s last moment on earth. No, she was telling the truth.

And the more Marcus thought about it, the more it made sense.

The Titans had been a smart outfit back in the day. They hadn’t just been brawn, there’d been brains behind the operation as well.

Except that, after they got kicked out of New Olympus and retreated to Metropolis, they devolved to being just brawn.

Because Demi had taken off with her small daughter. And she’d been the brains all along. It was only because she was back that the Titans were able to do the scheming and machinations it took to even attempt to retake their territory in New Olympus.

It had been right under Marcus’s nose the entire time and he hadn’t seen it. Demi was a woman in a traditionally man’s game and she’d used that fact to make everyone underestimate her. Including Marcus.

It wasn’t a mistake he’d be making again.

So many mistakes.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Marcus let go of Cora’s hand and shoved his chair back, standing up. “None of this was supposed to happen.” He kicked the chair for good measure.

“I had a plan. I had a plan and you weren’t supposed to be— I was never supposed to…”

He shook his head, then he walked back to her bed and put a finger in her face. “I didn’t ask for this. I’m a simple man. I want simple things. To keep a lid on this city when every godsdamned day some new idiot thinks they are gonna try being a big shot and steal somebody else’s territory. I keep the drug running to a minimum, I see that it stays out of the schools, I make sure Santino treats his girls okay, and gods knows no gun goes in or out of the city without my say-so.”

He got further in Cora’s face. “And do I do it for the money?” He laughed, pulling back. “What the hell would I do with more money? You see how I live. Money is only good because it gets you power. That’s the only currency I ever cared about. Without me calling the shots, this whole place would go to shit. I know because I tried once, letting someone else take the lead. But I already told you that.”

Marcus collapsed on the side of Cora’s bed. Her slim body was so small, there was plenty of room. “What I didn’t tell you was that it was me that got my sister killed. I should’ve claimed my birthright the day my mother and father were gunned down. But I didn’t.” His voice almost broke on the last word. His deepest fucking shame.

“I let them down and I let Chiara down.” He bent over Cora’s body and whispered his confession with his forehead to hers. “It’s my fault she died. We hid. For an entire year, we hid away at the Estate. I didn’t continue the work my father had started. I let the Titans run rampant in the city, na?vely thinking they’d leave us alone.”