Chapter 73

Chapter 73

MADDIE

Hades stood towering over me, his dark eyes ablaze with the raw, volatile fury I knew all too well. For a heart-stopping second, the terrifying man from my past resurfaced—the ruthless, arrogant billionaire who crushed anyone standing in his way and demanded absolute submission.

"Don't test me, Sofia," he growled, the muscles in his jaw clenching so hard a vein throbbed at his temple. His hands balled into fists at his sides, his chest heaving as his notorious temper threatened to consume the entire room. "I have built an empire by taking whatever I want, and I am not about to let a backwoods town or a nobody mechanic keep you from me."

The air in the private dining suite felt suffocating. I braced myself for the explosion, stepping back to prepare for his inevitable wrath.

But then, as his towering shadow fell over me, something shifted.

Hades caught the flash of instinctual defensive posture in my stance—the subtle way my shoulders rounded, my eyes narrowed, and my body went rigid, preparing for a fight. He saw the cold, unyielding barrier I had erected against him, and it hit him like a physical blow.

The dark rage in his eyes flickered, faltered, and suddenly collapsed into something hollow and devastated.

He closed his eyes, taking a long, ragged breath. When he opened them again, the arrogant monster was gone, replaced by a man visibly fighting his own worst impulses. He ran a hand through his dark hair, gripping the back of his neck as he took two slow steps backward, deliberately putting space between us.

"No..." Hades muttered, his voice raspy, almost talking to himself. "No. I promised myself I wouldn't do this again."

He looked at me, his gaze laced with a desperate, painful self-awareness. "I am trying, Sofia. God help me, I am trying so hard not to be that man anymore. The arrogance, the control... it destroyed us. It killed you. I can't... I won't do that to you again."

I stared at him, caught off guard by the sudden shift, but I kept my posture guarded. I wasn't going to let a moment of apparent remorse lower my defenses.

Hades walked over to the mahogany table, pouring himself a fresh splash of scotch, though he didn't drink it. He just held the glass, staring down at the amber liquid as if searching for answers.

"You think I came here just to force you into a car and drag you back to the city?" he asked quietly, his tone stripped of its previous hostility. "If I wanted to do that, you would already be in my jet. But I didn't come here to kidnap you. I came to negotiate."

"Negotiate what?" I asked coldly. "There is nothing to negotiate, Hades."

"There is," he insisted, turning to face me. "Because whether you accept it or not, our lives are still tied together. You want to stay here, living as Sofia Collins, working at that daycare, playing quiet lives in Oakridge. But you can't build a future on a foundation that's about to crumble."

My brows furrowed in suspicion. "What are you talking about?"

Hades set his glass down and pulled a leather-bound file from his inner jacket pocket, tossing it onto the table. It slid across the polished wood, stopping right in front of me.

"Oakridge isn't as safe or peaceful as you think," Hades said calmly, watching my reaction closely. "A major commercial conglomerate has been quietly drawing up development plans with the local government of Oakridge. They're planning a massive commercial highway and industrial complex that will cover the entire district—including the property where your daycare sits and the land Julian's auto shop is built on. The developers haven't even approached the locals yet. It's still a private blueprint waiting for the right moment to strike."

My heart stopped. The blood drained from my face as I stared at the thick document on the table.

"No..." I breathed out, my voice trembling. "That's impossible. Annie, the business owners—no one has heard anything about this—"

"Because they're keeping it quiet until the local government approves the zoning proposal, Sofia," Hades interrupted smoothly, stepping closer again, his eyes locking onto mine with intense focus. "By the time those developers walk into town to 'talk' to the locals, it will already be a done deal. The buyout offers will be forced, the land will be seized, and everything you built here will disappear."

"You're lying," I snapped, glaring up at him with sudden fury. "You're orchestrating this! You set up this entire plan just to corner me!"

"I didn't plan it," Hades countered firmly. "In fact, I'm the only reason that proposal hasn't been signed yet. The moment I found out, I stepped in and bought out forty percent of the development firm's project shares yesterday just to freeze the deal and block them from acquiring the rest of Oakridge."

He took another step forward, his eyes softening as he made his offer, his voice low and persuasive.

"Come back with me, Sofia," he urged. "Come back to the city. Let me take care of you the way I should have from the beginning. In exchange... I will buy out the entire project outright. I will fund a massive renovation for the daycare, upgrade its facilities, and secure its land title forever so Mr. and Mrs. Smith's hard work won't go to waste. I will protect Julian's shop, the town, and every single person you care about." 

The sheer weight of his proposition hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. He was using his ultimate weapon: power. He was offering to save the sanctuary I had come to love, but the price tag was my freedom.

A sharp, violent rejection burst from my chest.

"No!" I shouted, the word echoing off the glass walls of the suite. I slammed my fist against the table, glaring at him with pure, unadulterated defiance. "Don't you dare touch Oakridge! Don't you dare buy their lives just to trap me in another gilded cage!"

"Sofia, be reasonable—"

"I am being reasonable!" I spat, tears of rage stinging the corners of my eyes. "Oakridge doesn't need a savior, and it certainly doesn't need your blood money! If developers are coming, we will fight them ourselves! We don't need you to buy our peace!"

"You can't fight an empire with good intentions, Maddie!" Hades barked, his voice rising again as frustration cracked his composure. "You are choosing pride over their survival!"

"I am choosing my dignity!" I screamed back, taking a final step toward him, my chest heaving. "And my name is SOFIA!"

Hades froze, silenced by the raw, fierce authority in my voice.

Without giving him another second to speak, I grabbed my canvas bag from the chair. I didn't look at the photos on the table, I didn't look at the land acquisition file, and I didn't look back at the man who thought he could buy my soul twice.

"Keep your money, Hades," I said, my voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper. "And stay out of my town."

I turned on my heel and walked out of the private suite. I pushed through the glass grand entrance of the villa and stepped out into the humid night air, my chest heaving as I tried to regain my breath. But before I could even reach the paved driveway, three towering men in sharp black suits stepped out from the shadows of the landscaped gardens, blocking the exit completely.

"Ms. Collins," one of them said, his voice flat, emotionless, and stern. "Mr. Hades hasn't dismissed you yet. Please step back inside."

"Get out of my way," I said, my voice shaking with rage as I took a step forward, trying to push past them.

The lead guard stepped directly into my path, his massive arm rising like a steel barricade. "We have orders, ma'am—"

"Hey! Get your hands off her!"

A familiar, furious roar echoed across the driveway.

I whipped my head around just as a silver pickup truck screeched to a halt right on the villa’s manicured lawn. The door slammed open, and Julian charged out, his face flushed with protective anger. He didn't hesitate for a single second. Ignoring the sheer size and armed presence of the bodyguards, Julian threw himself between me and the guards, shoving the lead man back with both hands.

"Julian!" I gasped, terror spiking in my chest. "I told you to wait—"

"I saw them block you, Sofia," Julian said, his breathing heavy as he kept his body firmly in front of mine, shielding me. He glared at the men in suits with raw hostility. "She said get out of her way. She's leaving with me."

"Stand down, mechanic," the lead guard growled, reaching into his suit jacket. "This doesn't concern you."

"Like hell it doesn't!" Julian snapped, stepping into the guard's space.

It happened in a blur of movement.

Before Julian could raise his fists, the two other guards moved with terrifying, trained precision. One caught Julian’s arm, twisting it behind his back, while the other delivered a brutal blow to his stomach. Julian let out a choked gasp, dropping to his knees on the gravel, but he fought back fiercely, thrashing against their iron grip.

"Stop! Leave him alone! Stop it!" I screamed, lunging forward to pull the guards off him, but the lead man grabbed my wrists, holding me back. "Hades, tell them to stop!"

"Sofia... get in... the truck..." Julian grunted through gritted teeth, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as the two men pinned his arms painfully behind his back, holding him down on his knees.

"Let him go!" I sobbed, struggling helplessly against the guard holding me.

"That's enough."

A single, quiet command sliced through the night, heavy with absolute authority.

The chaos instantly froze. The guards stopped, holding Julian pinned on the ground, as the heavy glass doors of the villa swung open once more.

Hades stepped out into the ambient golden light of the porch.

He moved with slow, deliberate grace, his hands tucked casually into his trouser pockets. He didn't look angry; he looked ice-cold, his dark eyes scanning the scene in front of him with dangerous indifference—until his gaze landed on Julian kneeling in the dirt, and then at my frantic, tear-stained face.

The silence that settled over the driveway was suffocating.

Hades walked down the marble stairs, the heels of his leather shoes clicking against the stone with terrifying rhythm. He stopped a few feet away from where Julian was pinned, looking down at the mechanic as if he were nothing more than an insect.

Then, Hades slowly turned his dark, piercing eyes toward me.

A mocking, bitterly dark smile curved the corner of his lips, though his eyes remained utterly dead.

"Is this the man you replaced me with, Sofia?" Hades asked softly, his voice dripping with condescending arrogance and lethal jealousy. "A dirty mechanic who bleeds on the gravel at the first touch of my men?"