Chapter 151 CHAPTER 151
Burning bridges
The more they drove, the more the night stretched, the more the weight on Ares’ chest turned into something sharper, determination replacing shock. His breathing steadied. His eyes hardened.
He replayed everything from the past twenty four hours:
Tessa’s face when Marcus placed the ring on her finger.
The way her hands trembled.
The way she looked at him, not with hatred, not with triumph, but with despair.
Ares’ jaw clenched until it hurt.
Julian finally asked the question lingering since the moment Ares stepped out of the station.
“Ares…are you sure Tessa wanted this?”
Ares opened his eyes.
“No,” he whispered. “Something is wrong.”
“How do you know?”
Ares turned his head, staring straight ahead.
“Because Tessa would never choose Marcus. Not willingly. Not in this lifetime. And not in any other.”
Julian didn’t push. He didn’t need to. He understood.
Ares wasn’t simply angry.
He was convinced Tessa was in danger.
And when Ares believed someone he loved was unsafe…
He would burn the world down.
Back at the station parking lot, Julian had seen how wrecked Ares looked. Now, as they drove through the quiet city, he watched a transformation, slow, chilling, deliberate.
Ares straightened his posture.
His breathing evened.
His expression sharpened into something cold and strategic.
Julian’s voice was low. “What’s the plan from here?”
Ares didn’t hesitate.
“We expose Marcus legally.”
“And if that fails?”
Ares looked at Julian with an expression that made Julian’s pulse spike.
“Then I destroy him personally.”
Julian swallowed. “Ares…”
“I’m done,” Ares said, voice a low burn. “He’s taken too much. Manipulated too much. Controlled too much. I’m ending it.”
Julian gripped the steering wheel harder. “This is your father.”
Ares stared out the window again, his reflection sharp in the glass.
“No,” he said softly.
“Tonight, I buried whatever father I thought I had.”
Julian’s chest tightened. There was something tragic about the way Ares said it, like a man acknowledging that a part of him had died too.
“But Tessa…” Julian whispered. “Do you think she’s safe?”
Ares jaw tightened. “I don’t know.”
“You think Marcus forced her?”
“I think Marcus blackmailed everyone he needed to,” Ares replied. “And Tessa was the last piece he needed to secure himself.”
Julian inhaled sharply. “So he’s using her.”
Ares’ voice dropped into something dark. “He’s using her. Controlling her. And if he hurts her…”
He didn’t finish the sentence.
He didn’t need to.
The silence that filled the car afterward was heavy, almost suffocating as if even the air knew that tonight marked the start of something irreversible.
The city lights passed in streaks of gold and white as Julian pulled into a quieter district.
Ares closed his eyes again, but this time not from exhaustion. From planning.
From calculation.
From anger sharpened into strategy.
If Marcus wanted war, then he would get one.
Ares saw the next steps clearly:
Frozen assets.
Board challenges.
Public exposure.
Uncovering every rotten secret Marcus thought he had buried.
He would destroy his father piece by piece.
And then he would get Tessa back.
Whatever it took.
When he finally opened his eyes, Julian almost flinched at how terrifyingly calm Ares looked.
“Ares,” Julian whispered, “what are you going to do first?”
Ares looked straight ahead, voice steady and final.
“I’m going to take everything he ever built.”
His phone buzzed again, but Ares didn’t check it. He already knew tonight had changed everything.
Julian parked the car in an empty lot. Neither of them moved for a long moment.
Ares exhaled slowly.
“Drive,” he murmured. “We’re not done.”
Julian nodded and shifted gears.
As the car pulled back onto the road, Ares stared into the dark horizon with a look that was no longer broken, no longer devastated…
But deadly.
He whispered to himself, barely audible, but sharp enough to cut the night in half:
“He took Tessa. Now I’m taking everything from him.”