Chapter 132 Homecoming
Third Person POV
The heat hit Gavin the moment he stepped off the plane.
Colombia heat was thick and heavy with the scent of tropical flowers and something darker underneath. Blood.
This place had always smelled like blood to him.
His grip tightened on the briefcase he carried. Knuckles white against the black leather. He hadn’t been here in twenty years.
He had spent years creating distance between himself and this place.
And Zeus had dragged him back in a matter of days. Using her.
Using Melissa. His precious Achilles heel.
Gavin’s jaw clenched as he descended the stairs. His feet touched Colombian soil for the first time in two decades.
He felt Kane’s steady presence behind him. “Sir,” Kane said quietly. “Are you…”
“I’m fine.”
He wasn’t fine. He was terrified. Not for himself. He’d stopped being afraid for his own life years ago.
But for Melissa.
Sweet, stubborn, fierce Melissa who was somewhere in Zeus’s compound. Surrounded by monsters who saw her as nothing but a tool. A bargaining chip.
She was strong, though. Stronger than anyone gave her credit for. Stronger than even she knew.
Stronger than him, maybe.
She would survive this. She had to.
But the thought of her in that place…with those people, those monsters, because that’s what they were…filled him with a pain so sharp it was physical.
He needed to set things straight with her. Needed to explain everything. About her father. About the pendant. About the twenty years he’d spent searching for her.
About how falling in love with her had been the most unexpected, most beautiful thing that had ever happened to his miserable life.
But first, he needed to get her out.
A convoy of black SUVs waited on the tarmac. Engines running. Zeus’s men standing at attention beside them.
Of course Zeus had sent a welcoming committee.
Gavin walked toward the lead vehicle without acknowledging any of them.
The drive to the compound took forty minutes. Through the streets he remembered. Past landmarks that hadn’t changed. The city had grown, but the bones of it were the same.
The compound loomed ahead. It was massive and fortified. A castle for a modern-day king.
Or a prison, depending on your perspective.
The gates opened as they approached. Guards were everywhere. Armed and alert.
They were expecting him.
Had probably been expecting him since the moment Melissa’s plane landed.
The vehicles pulled up to the main entrance.
And there they were.
The entire household staff. At least thirty people. Lined up in two perfect rows along the entrance path.
All of them bowed low as Gavin stepped out of the vehicle.
“Welcome back, Master Gavin,” they said in unison.
This was Zeus' way of showing Gavin that everything here still ran according to Zeus’s will. That even after twenty years, this place remembered who Gavin was supposed to be.
The heir. The successor. The prince returned to his kingdom.
It made Gavin’s skin crawl.
He ignored them completely. He didn’t acknowledge even a single person. He just walked through the rows of bowing staff like they were furniture. Kane followed close behind.
The massive doors opened as they approached. More staff inside bowed to him.
Gavin walked past all of them. Through the grand entrance hall with its marble floors and priceless art. Through corridors he’d run through as a child. Past rooms where he’d learned to fight, to shoot, to kill.
This place was full of ghosts.
And he hated every single one of them.
He went straight to Zeus’s office. The heart of the compound. Where the old man had ruled his empire for forty years.
The door was already open.
Zeus sat behind his massive desk. Looking smaller than Gavin remembered. Frailer. The cancer eating him from the inside out was visible now in ways it hadn’t been even a few months ago.
But his eyes were still sharp. Still alert and very dangerous.
Zeus stood slowly as Gavin entered.
He walked around the desk. Studying Gavin. Looking him up and down like he was inspecting something he wanted to purchase.
“You grew up to be a fine man,” Zeus said finally. His voice was still strong despite his failing body. “Fit for my empire.”
Gavin’s expression didn’t change. “Where is she, Father?”
The word ‘father’ came out cold. Mocking.
“I’m not here to play games,” Gavin continued. His voice was deadly calm. “I’ll destroy every room in this place if you don’t bring her out. Right now.”
Zeus’s eyebrows rose. “Such passion. Such fire.”
“I’m serious.”
“I can see that.” Zeus smiled. “I feel sorry for the fool who came up with this plan. Oh wait…that was me.”
He started laughing. The laugh turned into a cough. Then a coughing fit that bent him over. When he straightened, there was blood on his lips.
He wiped it away casually.
“For my son who was a man of very few words,” Zeus said, walking back toward his chair, “you sure talk a lot now, don’t you?”
“Where. Is. She.”
Zeus lowered himself into his chair with a pained grunt. “Relax, my son. You’ll see her this evening.”
“I want to see her now.”
“You’ll see her when I say you’ll see her.” Zeus’s voice hardened. “Misbehave, and I’ll bring you her body to bury instead. Is that clear?”
Gavin’s hands clenched into fists at his sides. Every muscle in his body was screaming at him to lunge across that desk. To wrap his hands around Zeus’s throat and squeeze until…
But he couldn’t.Not yet.
“I pray for you and your men's father, not one of you will survive this I promise you.” Gavin said through clenched teeth.
“Good.” Zeus leaned back in his chair. “Now get out. I’ll see you this evening. And Gavin?”
Gavin stopped at the door. He didn’t turn around.
“Welcome back home, son.” The words hit like a blow. Home.
This place had never been home.
It had been a prison. A training ground. A place where childhood ended and violence began.
But he didn’t say any of that. Kane was waiting in the hallway.
“Sir?” he asked quietly.
“She’s here. Alive.” Gavin’s voice was tight. “But Zeus won’t let me see her until tonight.”
They walked through the corridors. Staff bowed as they passed. Gavin ignored all of them.
“Where are we going?” Kane asked.
“My old room.” Gavin’s voice was bitter.
They climbed the stairs and went down another hallway.
They stopped at a door that Gavin hadn’t seen in twenty years.
He opened it.
The room beyond was exactly as he remembered. Bed. Desk. Bookshelf. Even his old clothes were still in the closet.
Nothing had changed.
Nothing except him.
He was a different person now. Had built a different life. Become someone Zeus hadn’t made him.
But being back here…in this room, in this compound, in this country…it felt like those twenty years had never happened.
Like he was twenty-two again. Trapped. Desperate to escape.
“Sir,” Kane said carefully. “
“What are you going to do?”
Gavin was quiet for a long moment.
“I’m going to burn this place to the ground,” he said finally. “But first, I need to see her. Need to make sure she’s okay.”
Kane nodded. “I’m with you. Whatever you need.”
“I know.” Gavin looked back out the window.
“Just hold on, piccola,” he whispered. “I’m here. I’m going to get you out.”
Even if it meant giving Zeus exactly what he wanted.
Even if it meant sacrificing everything.
She was worth it.
She’d always been worth it.
From the moment a dying man had pressed a pendant into his bloody hands and begged him to find his daughter.
From the moment he’d fallen in love with a girl who didn’t know she was that daughter.
From the moment he’d realized that everything he’d built, everything he was…it all meant nothing if she wasn’t safe.
He’d come home.
Not because Zeus had won.
But because Melissa needed him.
And he’d walk through hell itself to get to her.
Starting tonight.