Chapter 2

Chapter

Two

PHOENIX

I can’t take my eyes off the screen in front of me. It’s a live feed from the guest room below, showing her lying there, asleep. She looks so peaceful, so innocent, but I know the truth. I’ve seen the bruises on her face, the cuts on her arms. Someone did this to her, and I’m going to make them pay.

Ani is prettier than her sister. The same dark hair, but it shines more as it lies on her pale skin. Her eyes are green, so green and intense they remind me of a panther’s. I see strength in them even though she sleeps broken and beaten in a bed. I watch her as her long eyelashes flutter open and see the way she stares into open space—thinking. She’s planning. She’s plotting. Maybe she wants revenge, but she doesn’t have to. I will do it for her.

I know the way I feel is wrong, obsessive, possessive, but I can’t help it. I need to know who did this to her. I need to make them suffer the way she has. And so I sit here, day and night, watching the video. Watching her heal and recover. She doesn’t know I’m here, doesn’t know I’m watching. But it’s the only way I can protect her.

I have intrusive thoughts.

Dangerous thoughts.

Compulsive thoughts.

And I can’t stop them. Even if I wanted to.

My computer screen lights up with an incoming message. I know who it is even before I hit the connect button .

Athena refuses to call me like a normal sister would, but then again, members in my family are far from normal. She claims she wants to see me. She needs to set eyes on me to make sure I’m actually alive. A voice on the other end of a phone isn’t enough for her, and though I have many weaknesses in life, my sister is the ultimate one. I can’t say no to her, even if I tried.

“Athena,” I say as I connect with the message.

She’s sitting in her office at Medusa Enterprises, where she spends most of her time. “Did you hear?”

“What?”

Athena leans closer to her computer, peering at me through the screen. “You look pale.”

“I always look pale,” I say. “What should I have heard?”

“You need vitamin D. You can’t stay cooped up in that attic and not see the sun.” She jots a note to herself. “I’m sending you vitamins. You need to start taking them.”

Athena is the family caretaker. I’m not sure if it’s truly compassion that makes her fulfill this role or the fact that she is a control freak. Regardless, my sister is a general in the army, and I’ve learned to be her obedient soldier unless I want a fully-fledged war—a war she will win.

“When is the last time you’ve been outside?” she asks.

“Today,” I lie.

Her eyes lock with mine, and she gives a deadpan face. “Seriously, when?”

“I’ve been busy working.”

“We have a security department for that. You don’t have to sit in front of all those damn screens day in and day out looking at footage of Medusa.”

“I do. Look what happened the last time I got lax. Apollo got caught killing someone, and our family nearly imploded. Our security team didn’t catch it. I didn’t catch it,” I say.

“Overseeing the security footage of Medusa is not a one-man job,” Athena lectures. “You have a team. Use them. Come into the office and train their asses. Whatever. I don’t care. It’s your department. But get out of the fucking attic, fly to Seattle, and get some goddamn vitamin D.”

Getting frustrated, I ask, “What were you calling about? You asked me if I heard.”

She looks up from her computer, reaches over for a file, and hands it to her secretary, who has just entered the room. Then she returns her attention to me. “Apollo and Daphne. He’s having a baby with that bitch.”

“What?” I say the word on an exhalation. It feels as if my lungs have been punctured, and shock edged with rage is oozing out.

Athena rolls her eyes. “So yeah. Looks like there’s a new heir to the Godwin fortune and empire coming to play.”

“How the fuck did this happen?”

“Did no one ever have the birds and the bees talk with you, brother?” Athena’s getting distracted again, texting something on her phone. It’s rare anyone gets Athena’s full attention. She is the queen of multitask. “A man puts his penis in the va?—”

“Athena…” I’m not finding Athena’s dry humor amusing. I rarely do. “Daphne betrayed this family. Doesn’t Apollo get that? She’s a liar. Nothing is worse than a liar.”

Athena shrugs. “Love.”

I huff. “Apollo is as capable of falling in love as you and I are. Not possible.”

“Then she’s good in bed. I don’t know. But she’s pregnant. That much is for sure.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. Fuck,” Athena agrees. “They bought a house or something, too. A new one.”

“Yeah, I knew that.” I refocus on the monitor where Daphne’s sister sleeps.

Ani is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. It’s not just her physical appearance, although that’s certainly part of it. She has a kind of inner glow, a light that shines from within. It’s like she’s made of magic, of pure goodness.

As I watch her on the screen, something stirs inside me, something I haven’t felt in a lifetime of loneliness. I’ve always been a recluse, a hermit. I’ve never cared about anyone, never let anyone get close. But watching her, seeing the way she moves, the way she smiles, it’s like she’s reaching out to me, pulling me in.

I shouldn’t feel this way. I’m a stalker, a predator. Godwins are bad and can’t be good. She should be my prey and nothing more. But as I sit here in the attic, watching her, I can’t control my raging emotions. I’m drawn to her, irresistibly. No matter what happens, no matter what the consequences, I’ll always be here, watching her, because she’s the one thing in this world that makes me feel alive .

I thought I was dead. Just a ghost. Phoenix Godwin, forever haunting Olympus Manor.

But then she came…

“They left Daphne’s sister here. Alone,” I say.

Athena nods, obviously she already knows that, too.

“What does dear ol’ Dad say about this baby?” I ask. “He wanted Daphne dead. Why does that suddenly change?”

“A Godwin is a Godwin,” Athena says. “If the baby turns out to be a boy, then even better. You know him. He wants a mighty bloodline. Ares is dead, and you and I sure aren’t going to give him grandchildren. So this is his only hope.”

Her reminder of how I have failed my father once again doesn’t sting like it would have when I was younger. I’ve become numb to my inadequacies.

“So, does he plan on having her killed after the baby is born?”

Athena’s eyes darken. “Every child deserves a mother.” A long pause breathes between us as her words sink in. “Godwins deserve the best. No way in hell is our father going to allow another Godwin to go through life without a mother. He won’t allow another mother to leave a child, and I can’t say I blame him. So Daphne was smart. She saved her life by getting knocked up.”

The walls are closing in on me. the air in this attic growing thin, heavy with the stench of lies, deceit, cover-ups, and hatred. This conversation needs to end.

“Ares would be in jail right now if he didn’t die in that accident. Because of her . Because of what she did.”

Athena nods. “You don’t have to tell me, but it is what it is. Besides, why do you care? You hide up in that attic all the time. You don’t have to see her around like I do. So you have nothing to complain about. And Apollo is… different lately. He never seemed to love Daphne before, but now he’s a fucking weak-kneed, pussy-whipped ass. It concerns me in regard to where his head is. Apollo and I haven’t always seen eye to eye in how Medusa is run. And Ares was always on my side in the boardroom. Now that he’s dead… I’m afraid I’m going to get outnumbered in votes.”

I don’t want to talk about business anymore. I most certainly don’t want to talk about Daphne Godwin for another second.

A knock sounds on Athena’s office door, and she motions for whoever did it to enter. “I got to go. But vitamins are coming. And it wouldn’t kill you to take a walk or something. ”

“Or something,” I say as I end the connection.

I scan all the monitors before me, taking in every detail of every office, every hallway, every elevator of my family empire. But I’m constantly drawn to the woman in the room below me. I could stare at that monitor for days without ever coming up for air.

The hours tick by, and I start to feel like the stalker I am again. A predator. But I can’t stop. I can’t tear my eyes away from the screen. I need to know she’s okay. I need to know she’s safe. And so I sit here, in the darkness of the attic, watching her. Waiting for the moment when I can finally have my revenge on whoever hurt her.

Days turned into weeks since she first arrived, and still I sit here, watching her. She’s getting better, the bruises fading, the cuts healing. But I can’t shake the feeling of anger, of desperation. I need to know who did this to her. I need to make them pay.

Before Ani, I lost track of time, of reality. It was just me and the screens.

But now, the sound of her breathing is the only thing keeping me grounded.

I’m losing my mind more and more with every year of my life. It’s like I’m trapped in some sort of twisted reality. I can’t leave, can’t tear myself away from this attic without extreme work and discomfort. I’m trapped here, watching the outside world.

But she’s not on the outside.

She’s here.

And, as the days go by, I think about her more and more. I watch her every move, memorizing every detail of her face, her body. It’s wrong, but I can’t help it. She’s a drug, an addiction, and the more I watch, the more I need.

I get bolder, taking risks I never would have before. I leave the attic, sneaking down to the guest room to watch her from a closer advantage point. It’s dangerous, and I could get caught at any moment, but I can’t stay away. I need to be near her, to feel the heat of her skin, the sound of her breathing close by.

And then, one day, she wakes. She sits up in bed, rubbing her eyes, and for a moment, our eyes meet on the screen. I freeze, feeling like I’d been caught. But she doesn’t seem to notice me, doesn’t seem to realize I am there. She doesn’t see the hidden camera.

Just like now.

She gets out of bed, stretches, and heads to the bathroom.

I release the breath that I have been holding as I watch her every move. But as she’s getting ready, I see something that makes my blood boil. Her phone lights up on the end table, and I know it’s her sister.

The enemy.

The betrayer.

The woman who should be dead.

I hate when she talks with her. I hate it.

Ani is better than her sister. So, so much better.

And what kind of sister just leaves her here by herself? Apollo and Daphne just left to worry about themselves.

Well… Ani has me. I’m here. I’m always going to be here.