Chapter 63 The fool's crown
Melissa’s POV
I made my way back to the gala on shaking legs.
The corridor felt longer than before. Each step was an effort. My lip throbbed. My neck ached. Everything hurt and I wanted nothing more than to go home.
When I pushed through the doors, the party was still in full swing. Music played. People laughed and danced like nothing had happened. Like the world hadn’t just tilted sideways.
I scanned the crowd, searching for Aria.
I found her near the bar with Kane, her burgundy dress was like a beacon. She was pale, her arms wrapped around herself, looking small and lost.
I pushed through the crowd toward her.
“Melissa!” She turned when she saw me, relief flooding her face. Then her expression changed. “Oh my God, what happened to your face?”
Her hands came up to cup my cheeks, her eyes scanning the split in my lip, the smudged makeup, the marks I knew were forming on my neck.
“I’m okay,” I said, trying to force a smile.
“You’re not okay.” Her voice was firm. “Who did this? Was it…”
“Please.” I grabbed her hands, squeezing tight. “Can we just go? I need to leave. Right now.”
She studied my face for a long moment. Then nodded.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Kane stepped forward. “I’ll make sure you both get out safely.”
We started toward the exit, but I paused. “My mom. I need to find my mom.”
“I’ll get her,” Kane said. “Wait by the entrance.”
He disappeared into the crowd.
Aria and I stood there, holding hands, both of us barely holding it together.
“What happened?” she whispered.
“I don’t know.” My voice cracked. “I fell down but I’m okay, I promise.”
A few minutes later, Kane returned with my mother. She took one look at me and her face went white.
“Melissa, what…”
“I’m fine, Mom. I just want to go home.”
She looked like she wanted to argue, to demand answers. But something in my expression made her stop.
“Okay,” she said softly. “Okay, let’s go home.”
The four of us walked out together…me, Aria, my mother, and Kane keeping watch.
In the parking garage, Mom pulled out her keys. “I’ll drive.”
“Can Aria come with us?” I asked. “Please?”
Mom looked at Aria, who was still trembling, her eyes haunted.
“Of course, sweetheart.”
We got into the car in silence. Mom drove. I sat in the back with Aria, our hands clasped together, neither of us speaking.
Kane had his own car and followed us at a distance. I’ll have to ask about him later.The city lights blurred past the windows. I rested my head against Aria’s shoulder, and she rested hers against mine.
When we finally pulled into the penthouse garage, I felt like I could breathe for the first time in hours.
Inside, Mom turned to us. “Are you both okay? Do you need anything?”
“Just sleep,” I said. “We just need to sleep.”
She nodded, though worry was written all over her face. “Alright. I’ll be in my room if you need me.”
She hugged me tight, kissed my forehead and then Aria’s cheek, then disappeared down the hallway.
Aria and I went to my room. We didn’t bother changing. Just kicked off our heels and crawled into bed fully dressed…her in burgundy, me in emerald green.
We lay there in the darkness, holding hands.
“Thank you,” Aria whispered. “For everything tonight.”
“Always,” I whispered back.
Silence.
Then: “Mel?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t think I want to get married to Christian.”
I squeezed her hand tighter. “I know.”
And we lay there in the dark, wondering if there was any way out.
…………
Jason’s POV
I watched him walk out. My father. He was walking away from the beautiful chaos I had just created.
The crowd was still chanting behind me. “Blood is thicker than water! To Lord Zeus!”
But I didn’t care about them anymore.I followed him down the corridor. Around corners. Until I found him standing in his office, staring out the window at the city below.
I stepped inside and closed the door.For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he turned, and his voice was quiet.
“So you’re still in contact with my father.”It was not a question but a statement.
“Jason.” He said my name like it hurt. “What did he promise you?”
I met his eyes. “Nothing you will understand.”
“I always wondered how you launched your racing career so fast.” His jaw tightened. “The funding. The sponsors. The connections. So it was him?”
I smiled. “Does it matter?”
“It matters.” His voice dropped. “What did you have to do?”
“Nothing,” I said, but it came out defensive. Like a teenage boy caught lying.
We stared at each other.
“Father,” I said finally, “I think you’re a fool.”
Something flickered in his eyes.
“We have an empire.” My voice rose. “You’re a king. A KING. And you abandoned it for what? For hockey?”
I grabbed the trophy from his desk and threw it.
It hit his face. Blood bloomed across his cheek.But he didn’t flinch.
He just stood there, bleeding, looking at me with something that made my chest tighten.
Sadness.
“You’ll destroy yourself,” he said quietly. “I took you far away from him. Raised you away from all of this. And his influence still found you.”
“I’m not…”
“I don’t want you to lose yourself, son.” His voice cracked slightly. “I don’t want that for you. Stop this. Walk away. Or I’ll burn you to the ground with him.”
The threat hung in the air.But it was the word “son” that made me pause.
The way he said it. Like it still mattered to him.Despite my betrayal…I was still his son.
My throat tightened.
Before I could think about it, before I could talk myself out of it, I crossed the space between us.
And I hugged him.
Wrapped my arms around him like I used to when I was small and he was my entire world. Before Grandfather. Before the cartel. Before I understood what we really were.
For a moment, he was rigid as though surprised.Then his arms came up slowly. Hesitantly. Like he’d forgotten how to do this.
He held me.
And I felt something crack in my chest.
“I miss you,” I whispered against his shoulder. “I miss who we used to be.”
His hand came up to the back of my head. And just rested there.
“I’m still here,” he said quietly. “I never left.”
“Yes, you did.” I pulled back enough to look at him. Blood was still running down his face from where the trophy had hit. “You left all of us. You left him. You left what we are.”
“Jason…”
“Come back.” The words tumbled out desperately. “Come back to the family. To Grandfather. To where you belong. It’s not too late. He’ll forgive you. He wants you back. We all do.”
Something in his expression shifted.
“I can’t do that.”
“You can.” I gripped his shoulders. “You just won’t. Because of what? Pride? Some misguided sense of morality? You think you’re better than us now? You think this…” I gestured at his office, his empire, “…makes you clean?”
“It’s not about being clean…”
“Then what? What’s worth more than family? What’s worth more than blood?”
He looked at me for a long moment. And in his eyes, I saw something that made my stomach drop.
Resolution.
“Her,” he said simply.
I stepped back. “What?”
“There are things worth more than blood, Jason. People worth protecting. Worth changing for.” His jaw tightened. “And I’ll burn the world before I let any of you touch them.”
“The girl.” I shook my head, understanding flooding in.
He said nothing. But his silence was answer enough.
“You’re willing to lose everything for her?” I stared at him in disbelief. “Your family. Your legacy. Your throne. Everything Grandfather built. Everything you are. For some girl?”
“Yes.”
The single word was final. Absolute.
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
“I’ll dismantle my father’s empire piece by piece. I’ll hunt down every ally, every soldier, every person who’s ever sworn loyalty to him. And I’ll destroy them all.”
He took a step toward me. Then another.
“You think I went soft? You think I forgot what I’m capable of?” His voice was deadly quiet. “I didn’t forget, Jason. I just found better reasons to use it.”
We stood there, father and son, separated by choices and loyalties and blood that both bound us and tore us apart.
“Three months,” I repeated, my voice not quite as steady as I’d like. “Clock’s ticking, Father.”
I left.