Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 149148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
“Look at me,” Helios said quietly, not bothering to ease the pressure, forcing Herod to fight for his life like MJ was fighting for hers. When Herod’s gaze met his, he said coldly, “I need concrete answers. If you say something like you don’t know, I’ll bash your head against the floor. It won’t make you any dumber than you are now, but I guarantee you, it could keep you paralyzed or even stuck in a coma for the rest of your life. Do you want that?”
Helios let his fingers ease around Herod’s neck.
Herod gasped out, “N-no.”
“Excellent. Now, I’ll ask you one more time. And I want you to think very hard. What do you know of Manolito Chavez that can help me?”
The need to survive forced Herod to think furiously. “You could...you could find out where he is through his daughter.” Relief exploded inside him when he saw Helios’ frowning look. “Yes,” he said eagerly, “it’s a secret I accidentally stumbled upon when a business partner slipped about it. Her name is Gracie Langley. She’s into the same business as her father, but they make sure she’s not connected to him in any way. She serves as the face of their legal enterprises.”
Helios slowly rose to his feet. “Anything else I have to know about this woman?”
“I heard...” Herod licked his lips in fear. “I heard people say she’s the opposite of her father. That she’s a masochist. If a man can’t make her cry out in pain, they say she’d have her men kill him instead.”
Chapter Five
“AFXISI,” KELLION MURMURED to him just before he put on his helmet and drove off. One by one, the other officers, Yuri and Andreus, said the same thing to Helios before riding off into the night. The other members of the club followed until Helios was all alone. This was his fight, his honor, his woman at stake, and he did not want his club involved in what would prove to be the darkest days of his life.
For a long moment, Helios remained at the foot of the stairs leading to Greece’s most exclusive secret club, a palatial structure that only welcomed the country’s wealthiest and most evil. Every member of this club spent millions to have their darkest desires slaked, a side of them which they zealously kept hidden from the public. Even members of their own families didn’t know of their depravities, of their hunger to perform acts of heinous evil and see blood spilled for the sake of entertainment.
Afxisi, Helios said to himself as he took a deep breath. It meant ‘rise’ in Greek, and the word served as the cornerstone of their club’s foundation.
Again, he closed his eyes, his mind conjuring an image of MJ, which served to remind him what he was laying his life on the line for. He was halfway to emptying his bank account by now, five hundred million dollars burned to the ground, all of it gone to bribe and hire just about every damn expert in the world – anyone who could help him find out where MJ was before it was too late.
This time, however, he was struck with the change in his imaginary MJ. She was on her feet, dressed in her usual plaid men’s shirt, tank top, and jeans. He blinked furiously, the sight of it so fucking vivid and pure – God, she was so, so pure. How could someone so pure be in the hands of a monster?
His imaginary MJ smiled.
It nearly brought Helios to his knees. Don’t fucking smile at me, brat. I’m the reason you’re gone. I should have been there to help you. I should have known—
But MJ kept smiling, her eyes shining with love for him.
And she whispered, Afxisi.
Rise.
You still have our story to tell. A tragedy to overcome. And a cage to break me free from.
The words his MJ spoke were the oath that every member of the Afxisi took upon joining the club, a promise they made to themselves and to each other. Could the real MJ truly know of the same thing? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But it didn’t matter. Right now, the MJ in his mind told him so, and it gave Helios the strength to do what he had come here to do.
Pulling down the Venetian mask to partially hide his identity, Helios climbed the stairs and knocked on the massive pair of doors, its oak surfaces bearing impressively intricate carvings. They slowly opened, a nymph-like creature standing on each side. They wore leather costumes that bared more than it hid, their garishly red lips forming a smile even as their eyes screamed from the degradation they suffered.
They bowed at the sight of Helios, and as he stepped forward, the doors slammed shut behind him. It was only that time he saw the silent pair of men standing guard, and they moved towards him in unison, giving him a thorough body check for weapons.