Chapter 67 CHAPTER 67
New plans
The screen glowed in the dim study, the only light in Ares’s mansion at that hour. Midnight wrapped itself around the house like a shroud, but Ares sat upright behind his mahogany desk, his sharp eyes fixed on the video call connecting. The signal was strong, crisp.
Then Julian’s face appeared—bronzed, relaxed, the faint murmur of waves rolling from somewhere in the background. He was leaning back on a terrace chair, the twinkling Dubai skyline glittering behind him like a thousand promises.
“Brother,” Julian greeted, his grin casual but edged with the weight of the secret they carried. “Your little angels are asleep. They ate too much ice cream, played in the pool until sunset, and then passed out like kittens. Dubai suits them.”
Ares exhaled slowly, leaning back in his chair. His jaw unclenched slightly at the news. They’re safe. They’re happy. That’s all that matters.
“I trust you’re keeping them away from the cameras,” Ares said, his voice a low command rather than a question.
Julian chuckled, swirling the drink in his glass. “Relax. I’m not careless. We’ve moved apartments twice already. The staff thinks they’re my relatives visiting from abroad. No one suspects a thing.”
“Good,” Ares muttered. “It needs to stay that way.”
There was a beat of silence before Julian leaned closer to the camera, lowering his voice. “But I need to ask, Ares… what’s next? We’ve been doing this dance for weeks now. The kids are comfortable, yes. They think it’s just a holiday. But how long do you plan on keeping them here? You’ve been vague every time I asked. I need clarity.”
Ares’s eyes narrowed. His fingers drummed once against the desk. The shadows under his eyes deepened, evidence of nights with little rest. He leaned forward, the cold light of the laptop catching the steel in his gaze.
“Soon,” he said, his tone deliberate, clipped.
Julian frowned, unsatisfied. “That’s not an answer.”
“It’s all you need for now.” Ares cut him off, then softened, adding, “Trust me, Julian. I wouldn’t involve you in this if I didn’t have a plan. They’re safer with you than with her.”
Julian tilted his head. “You still think Tessa can’t protect them?”
A muscle in Ares’s jaw twitched. Memories of the courtroom, of the judge’s ruling, of Tessa walking out hand in hand with his children while he stood with nothing but empty hands, replayed in his mind like fresh wounds.
“She can’t protect them from herself,” he said finally, his voice like a blade.
Julian’s brows rose, but he didn’t press further. He knew better than to push Ares when his tone dipped that low.
“Fine. I’ll hold the fort here.” Julian raised his glass in mock salute. “But don’t wait too long. Kids are sharp, they’ll start asking questions.”
“They already ask,” Ares admitted, his features softening briefly. “Every time I speak to them, they ask when I’ll come visit.”
Julian smirked. “Then you’d better make good on that promise.”
Ares gave a single nod. “I will.” He ended the call before Julian could press him further.
The silence that followed was deafening. The study seemed larger, emptier. Ares rose from his chair and crossed to the floor-to-ceiling window. Lagos glittered outside, restless and alive, yet he felt miles away.
Soon, he repeated to himself. But soon needed a shape. A structure.
He poured himself a glass of whiskey, the amber liquid catching the moonlight, and walked back to his desk. Pulling open a locked drawer, he retrieved a folder marked with bold red ink: RELOCATION PROJECT.
Inside were maps, property listings, confidential memos, bank transfers. Every page spoke of a future he was carefully building. One far away from the chaos, from the accusations, from Tessa’s watchful eyes.
Japan.
The word itself steadied him. A country of discipline, of silence, of reinvention. He had already begun moving small portions of his assets into discreet accounts there. Shell companies, discreet warehouses, dormant partnerships waiting to come alive.
Tokyo would be the center. Osaka, the backup. Kyoto for leisure. The plan was meticulous, surgical.
Ares sipped his drink, scanning the figures again. He could almost see it, the skyscrapers, the neon lights, the children running through cherry blossom parks with laughter ringing in the air. Safe. Untouchable. His.
His pen scratched across a fresh page of his notebook:
• Step 1: Liquidate dormant holdings quietly.
• Step 2: Transfer 40% of capital into Tokyo based real estate.
• Step 3: Prepare forged identities for children (dual passports, Japanese residency).
• Step 4: Visit Dubai under disguise—personally escort them to Japan.
• Step 5: Cut all traces.
The last step lingered in his mind like smoke. Cut all traces.
He set the pen down, staring at the words. Would that mean cutting Tessa completely? Would that mean erasing the fragile bond she still believed existed between them?
He clenched his fist, wrestling with the surge of emotions. Part of him still remembered her laugh, the way her eyes softened when she held the kids when they were newly born, the rare nights when they were a family. But that image had burned away under betrayal, under court rulings, under Ayisha’s questions, under Chloe’s poisonous whispers.
He couldn’t risk softness now.
Ares shut the folder and locked it again. He finished his drink in one swallow, the burn a reminder of the fire he carried inside. He stood, restless, pacing the room like a caged animal.
The children’s laughter echoed faintly in his memory, a phantom pulled from the earlier video calls. “Daddy, look! Uncle Julian took us to see the tallest building in the world!” “Daddy, we rode camels today!” Their joy was pure, untainted.
They didn’t understand the storm brewing around them. They didn’t know he had stolen them not out of cruelty, but out of love twisted by desperation.
“They’ll thank me one day,” he muttered under his breath. “When they see what I’ve built for them. When they realize I saved them from her chaos.”
But even as he spoke, doubt flickered. Would they thank him or hate him?
The clock ticked past 3 a.m. Still, Ares didn’t sleep. He moved from his study to the balcony, watching the restless city, plotting every move in his head. His empire was shifting beneath his hands, and with it, the fragile thread of his family.
By dawn, he had decided.
Japan wasn’t just an idea anymore. It was the next chapter. And nothing, not Tessa’s tears, not Ayisha’s suspicion, not Chloe’s venom would stand in his way.
In another corner of the city, Tessa sat on the edge of her bed, sleepless as well. Her eyes were swollen from hours of crying. The silence of the house pressed on her chest, suffocating. Every tick of the clock reminded her that her children were gone, stolen into shadows she couldn’t pierce.
She pressed her face into her hands, muffling the sobs. The loneliness of that moment was sharper than any knife. She had trusted Ares, against every warning, every doubt and now she was paying the price.
Her tears fell freely, staining the sheets, her body curling inward like a child’s. She cried for her children, for the family she thought she had, and for the cruel truth that the man she once loved was the very reason her arms were empty.
The night stretched endlessly, and though exhaustion clawed at her, sleep never came.