Chapter 138 The Altar
Third Person POV - Gavin
The garden was silent except for the sound of water flowing from ornate fountains.
Gavin stood alone on the stone pathway, with his hands in the pockets of his tuxedo. The fabric was expensive. Custom-made. Delivered to his room that afternoon along with a note from Zeus.
Dress appropriately for your wedding, my son.
He’d burned the note but wore the suit anyway.
The moon hung full and bright overhead. So bright it cast shadows across the manicured grounds. It turned everything silver and black.
It was beautiful. Just like everything else in this godforsaken place.
Beautiful on the surface. Rotten underneath.
Gavin tilted his head back. Closed his eyes. Let the moonlight wash over his face.
Nothing about this family was normal.
It wasn’t even really a family.
It was a cult. A devilish cult that dragged you back no matter how far you ran. No matter how long you stayed away.
And they wanted him to be the king of it.
Zeus’s heir. The next Lord of the Five Families. The position he’d been groomed for since childhood. The destiny he’d spent twenty years running from.
And now here he was.
Back in Colombia. Back in the compound. About to marry a woman he didn’t love to secure an alliance he didn’t want.
All because he’d made one fatal mistake.
He’d fallen in love. Gavin opened his eyes. And started up at that impossibly bright moon.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he’d known this would happen. Known that loving Melissa would lead here.
For years…decades, really…he’d had no weaknesses. Nothing Zeus could use against him.
Even Diana hadn’t been a weakness. That’s why he’d kept pushing the wedding back. Because he’d known she had her own reasons for approaching him. He knew she wasn’t marrying him for love.
It had been almost fun, in a twisted way. Two people using each other. Playing a game where both sides knew the rules.
His mistake was never looking too deeply into what those reasons were.
Never wondering what she was planning.
And then Melissa came along. twenty-two years old, stubborn like a horse and beautiful. With eyes that saw through all his carefully constructed walls.
She’d turned his life upside down.
Made him feel things he’d thought he’d buried with her father two decades ago.
Made him want things…simple things, impossible things…like mornings waking up next to someone who loved him. Like building something real instead of just profitable. Like being someone other than Zeus’s son.
And now he couldn’t exist in a world where he wasn’t loving her.
Couldn’t survive without her by his side.
Even now…especially now…he didn’t want to push her away. Not even for the fact that he’d killed her father. Not even knowing she probably hated him.
He still wanted her.
Would hand her a knife so she could carve her revenge into his body if that’s what it took for her to forgive him.
Would let her destroy him if it meant she’d stay.
But his Melissa was in the hands of monsters now.
His family.
His blood.
The people who’d taught him that love was weakness and loyalty was bought with fear.
And if he wanted to get her back…if he wanted to keep her alive…he had no choice.
He had to become one of them.
Had to put on the suit and the smile and the crown they’d been holding for him all these years.
Had to marry Sophia. Lead the families. Become everything he’d sworn he’d never be.
At least until he found a way to burn it all down from the inside.
Footsteps on the stone path behind him.
“It’s time,” a servant said quietly.
Gavin didn’t turn around.
They walked back toward the main house together. Through gardens that had been transformed into something out of a fairy tale. Lights strung through trees. Flowers everywhere. White fabric draped and flowing.
Zeus had spared no expense.
This wasn’t just a wedding. It was a statement.
Gavin Cross had come home. The prodigal son returned.
The hall was already filled when they arrived. All Five Families. Their associates. Their guards. Hundreds of people dressed in their finest, watching with calculating eyes.
Judging. Assessing. Wondering if Gavin would really go through with it.
He walked down the center aisle without looking at any of them.
Took his place at the altar.
The officiant stood waiting. An older man in formal robes. Probably someone Zeus had paid handsomely to perform this farce.
The classical music started playing in the background. The crowd stood, the place was as silent as a graveyard. There was neither life nor music. Nothing his beautiful Malissa would have wanted.
And Sophia appeared at the entrance.
She looked like a vampire.
Pale skin. Dark red lips. Her wedding dress was white but it seemed to glow in the candlelight, the train flowing behind her like liquid moonlight.
Beautiful.
Terrible.
Her eyes found Gavin’s across the distance. She smiled so brightly. Like it was the happiest she had ever been. Gavin’s expression didn’t change.
She began walking down the aisle.
But she wasn’t alone.
Giovanni Moretti walked beside her. Looking really proud.
Sophia reached the altar. Giovanni placed her hand in Gavin’s with a look that said he knew exactly how much Gavin didn’t want this.
Then he stepped back.
Gavin looked down at Sophia’s hand in his. It was small and cold like a dead lizard. It was not Melissa’s hand.
It would never be Melissa’s hand.
The officiant began speaking. Words about unity and family and binding ties.
Gavin barely heard any of it.
“The families have prepared a traditional binding,” the officiant said.
A servant appeared with a ceremonial knife. For a blood oath. The same shit that bound his mom to Zeus for life.
Zeus wasn’t taking any chances. The servant handed the knife to Gavin first.
He took it. Feeling the weight of it. He could kill half the people in this room with this knife before they even realized what was happening.
Could start with Sophia. End with Zeus. But Melissa would die before he made it ten feet.
So instead, he pressed the blade to his palm and drew it across smoothly. Looking at Sophia straight in the eyes. Blood welled up immediately.
He handed the knife to Sophia. She took it with steady hands. Cut her own palm without flinching.
Then she pressed her bleeding hand to his.
Their blood mixed. Dripped onto a white cloth held beneath by the servant.
“Blood to blood,” the officiant intoned. “Family to family. Bound now and forever.”
Gavin felt nothing, instead his mind drifted to his love.
Was Melissa watching this? Was she somewhere in this compound, forced to witness him binding himself to another woman?
The thought made his chest ache.
He wanted to tell her this meant nothing. That she was the only one who mattered. That he’d burn this whole family to ash if it meant getting her back.
But she couldn’t hear him.
And even if she could, would she believe him?
He’d killed her father. Lied to her. Led her into this nightmare.
Why would she believe anything he said?
“Gavin Cross,” the officiant said. “Do you take Sophia Valdez as your wife? To honor and protect? To bind your families in alliance and blood?”
The hall went silent.
Every eye on him. “I do,” he said.
Hold on, piccola, he thought. This isn’t over. I’m coming for you. I promise.
But promises meant nothing here.Only blood and power and fear.