Chapter 86 CHAPTER 86
Watch the nun
Chloe’s hands trembled as she approached the long table where the quadruplets sat with their plates of cake, their juice glasses clinking against each other. The tray in her hands felt impossibly heavy, though it held nothing more than finger food and bright plastic cups. She kept her hood low, her face bent toward the ground, willing herself invisible.
Just serve the food. Don’t be seen. Walk away.
She set the tray down carefully, her body taut with nerves. One of the children, Pretty looked up with wide curious eyes. She tilted her head, her curls bouncing, and reached forward with tiny fingers.
In one swift, innocent motion, Pretty tugged at the edge of Chloe’s hood.
The fabric slipped back.
Her face was exposed.
Jamal blinked. His fork clattered to the plate, the sound unnaturally loud against the backdrop of music. “Auntie Chloe?” His voice was high pitched, uncertain, but it cut through the air like a blade.
The other three, Kamal, Beauty, and Pretty stared. Recognition dawned, swift and brutal. Their eyes widened in horror, not joy.
“It’s her!” Beauty screamed, her voice breaking into panic. “It’s bad aunty Chloe!”
Pretty shrieked, jumping from her seat and clutching at Ares’s side. Kamal shoved his chair back so hard it toppled. The children’s voices rose in overlapping cries, the sound so raw it shredded through the party’s easy atmosphere.
Gasps spread among the guests. Heads turned. Conversations died.
Julian froze mid laugh, his glass of champagne slipping from his hand and smashing onto the grass. He stared, his mouth falling open, words caught in his throat.
Ares’s eyes snapped toward the hooded server. For a heartbeat, he didn’t believe what he was seeing. His dark gaze narrowed, sharp as a blade, as his mind raced to piece together the impossible truth.
“Chloe?” His voice was low, dangerous, heavy with disbelief.
Chloe’s lips parted, but no sound came. Her chest rose and fell in jagged breaths, her body stiff as though nailed to the earth. Her trembling hands dropped the tray, and it hit the ground with a metallic crash, food scattering across the grass.
Gunfire shattered the air.
The first crack split the afternoon like a thunderclap, followed by another and another. Guests screamed, ducking instinctively. Balloons burst, their pops blending with the sharp sting of bullets. Musicians abandoned their instruments, parents shielded their children, and chaos consumed the carefully constructed celebration.
Men in black stormed the garden, faces covered, rifles raised. They fired into the sky, into walls, into tables, forcing everyone down. “On the ground!” one barked in a guttural voice. “Nobody move!”
Panic rippled like wildfire. Plates smashed, chairs overturned, children wailed in terror.
The quadruplets screamed louder than anyone else. “Papa!” Jamal cried, reaching for Ares, but one of the armed men grabbed him by the collar, yanking him backward. Kamal tried to fight, his tiny fists punching, but he too was seized.
“Let them go!” Ares roared, his body surging forward like a beast unleashed.
Julian lunged, arms wrapping around him in desperation. “Ares, no! They’ll shoot you!”
The gunmen barked orders, hauling the children like sacks of grain. Beauty and Pretty shrieked until their voices cracked, their limbs flailing uselessly.
Ares’s blood boiled, his vision tunneling red. His fists clenched, his muscles straining as he fought against Julian’s hold. Every instinct screamed to charge, to tear the intruders apart, to rip them limb from limb. But the barrels of the guns gleamed mercilessly in the sunlight, trained on him, on the guests, on everything he held dear.
“They’ll kill them!” Julian hissed, his voice breaking as he tightened his grip. “You can’t! Not now!”
The sound of the children’s cries burned into Ares’s soul as the men dragged them toward the gate. Their small hands reached desperately, their voices ragged.
“Papa!”
“Save us!”
“Papa!”
“Please papa!”
Each cry was a dagger twisting deeper into Ares’s chest.
And then they were gone, swept into the waiting vehicles beyond the gate, the screech of tires marking their violent exit.
Silence fell, broken only by the ragged sobs of terrified guests and the ringing echo of gunfire.
In the corner, the Nun collapsed to her knees, clutching her chest as sobs tore through her body. Her covered face tilted skyward, her wail raw, animal, filled with anguish.
Julian turned, his eyes narrowing. Something in her cry struck him as strange, not the grief of a stranger…
Slowly, deliberately, he moved toward her. His hands reached forward, his fingers brushing the edges of her veil.
She flinched, trying to turn away, but Julian was faster.
With one swift tug, the veil fell.
Gasps rippled through the garden.
It was Tessa Monroe.
Her face was pale, streaked with tears, her lips trembling as though each breath was agony. The weight of dozens of stares pressed down on her as silence stretched into disbelief.
Guests whispered frantically. Chloe staggered back, her own shock mirrored in her wide eyes.
Ares’s gaze locked on her. For a long, terrible moment, he didn’t move. His expression was unreadable, carved from stone, but his eyes were dark, blazing and held rage.
Tessa trembled beneath that stare. Her feet shuffled back an inch, her hands twisting as though searching for an escape that didn’t exist.
Julian swallowed hard, his throat dry. He had seen Ares furious before. He had seen him ruthless, merciless, unrelenting. But this was different.
Ares lifted his hand.
“Shut. The gates.” His voice was low, almost calm, but it thundered through the garden with absolute authority. “No one leaves. Not a soul. Lock it down.”
His security team ran, snapping into action. Orders were shouted, radios crackled, the iron gates made noises as they clamped shut. Guards fanned across the property, weapons raised, eyes scanning every shadow.
The guests huddled together, trembling.
Ares step toward Tessa was heavy, echoing, final. His boots crushed the grass, his shoulders squared, his hands loose but lethal at his sides.
Tessa stumbled back, her breath hitching, her eyes darting for escape. But there was none.
Her voice cracked. “Ares… I…”
He kept coming, his face furious, his silence heavier than a thousand threats.
Tessa’s knees knocked together. Her body shook visibly. Every backward step only brought her closer to the wall, to the moment she could no longer retreat. She was cornered.
“Tessa?” Chloe muttered in shock as she stared at Tessa.