Chapter 153 CHAPTER 153
Sadness and defeat
The courthouse was overlooking a downtown plaza filled with people, fountains, pigeons, and the usual noise of a busy weekday. But when Ares stepped off the last stair, it was as if the entire city shrunk into a single point of pressure inside his chest.
Julian was waiting by the SUV at the curb, leaning against the passenger door with anxious tension all over his face.
When he saw Ares, he straightened. “Well? Speak to me.”
Ares didn’t speak until they were both inside the car and the door shut behind him.
“The injunction was denied,” Ares said quietly.
Julian froze. “Denied? On what grounds?”
Ares turned his head slowly.
“On the grounds that it never reached the judge.”
Julian’s eyes widened with anger. “He tampered with it.”
“He sabotaged it,” Ares corrected, voice steady, controlled, lethal. “Before we even filed.”
Julian let out a low, furious exhale. “He’s scared.”
“No,” Ares murmured. “He’s hiding something.”
Julian frowned. “What do you think he’s planning?”
Ares closed his eyes briefly, feeling the tension coil through him like wire. “Something deeper than marrying Tessa. Something bigger than this entire feud.”
“And you think it involves her?”
Ares opened his eyes again, gaze sharp. “Everything he’s doing now involves her.”
Julian watched him for a long moment. “So what do we do next?”
Ares inhaled slowly.
Then he said the words as if carving them into stone.
“We find out what Marcus is trying so hard to bury.”
The Drive Back Into the City Was Killing.
Julian pulled away from the courthouse curb, merging into traffic. The city passed by in streak, busy sidewalks, honking horns, shining windows and yet every piece of it felt strangely distant to Ares. He sat back, one hand pressed to his forehead, reassembling everything in his mind.
The rush wedding.
The forced silence.
The arrest.
The sabotage.
The panic in Marcus’ eyes when Ares had crashed the ceremony.
Marcus wasn’t celebrating.
Marcus was covering something.
Ares finally spoke. “Julian.”
“Yeah?”
“Call Hawthorne. Tell him to move faster.”
Julian nodded immediately.
But Ares wasn’t finished.
“And tell him to look into more than finances. Look into everything. Every deal. Every secret. Every person Marcus has met in the last two years.”
Julian swallowed. “You think this goes that far?”
Ares didn’t look away from the passing buildings. “Marcus has never acted out of emotion. Not once in his life. The fact that he is acting so unpredictably now means he’s hiding something that terrifies him.”
Julian gripped the wheel. “You think Tessa is part of it.”
Ares whispered, “She has to be.”
The words came out soft, but they shook him from the inside.
Tessa wouldn’t have done this willingly. Not to him. Not to herself. Not to her future.
Someone had cornered her.
Someone had taken her choice away.
And Ares was going to tear down every wall until he found out who.
The Weight of Realization Came Faster.
Traffic slowed near an intersection, and Ares watched a couple walking arm-in-arm along the sidewalk, laughing about something, wearing wedding bands that caught the sunlight.
His jaw tightened.
He had imagined a future once.
A quiet one.
A private one.
A life where Tessa smiled the way she used to. Where she didn’t look frightened. Where she didn’t stand in front of him wearing a wedding dress that didn’t belong to her story.
He exhaled harshly and looked away.
He didn’t get to dream right now.
Dreams were for people who weren’t fighting for someone.
Ares was fighting for Tessa.
Whether she knew it or not.
The Phone Call From Weston Came In.
Ares’ phone buzzed. He glanced down. Weston.
He answered.
“What is it?”
Weston’s voice came fast. “Ares. I checked something. You’re not going to like this.”
Ares’ grip on the phone tightened. “Say it.”
“The clerk who intercepted your filing… vanished from the building twenty minutes ago. No one can reach her.”
Julian’s head whipped to the side. “She fled?”
Weston continued. “Security footage has already been restricted. I was told I don’t have clearance to view it.”
“Restricted by who?” Ares asked.
“By someone above my pay grade,” Weston said quietly. “Ares… this isn’t just corruption. This is coordinated.”
Ares closed his eyes.
There it was.
Confirmation.
Marcus wasn’t just playing defense.
He was running a covert operation.
And he had the influence to erase evidence within minutes.
“Thank you, Weston,” Ares said. His voice remained terrifyingly calm. “Keep digging.”
He hung up.
Julian whispered, “Ares…”
Ares finally looked at him.
“Marcus didn’t marry Tessa for love. He married her to protect something. To gain something. Or to hide something.”
Julian swallowed. “And now?”
Ares looked forward again, eyes cold and clear.
“Now I know for certain. This isn’t about the wedding.”
He leaned back into the seat, jaw set like iron.
“This is about the war he’s preparing for.”
They turned down another street, the day bright, the city loud, the world moving like nothing monumental had just happened.
But inside Ares, everything shifted.
He wasn’t just angry.
He wasn’t just hurt.
He wasn’t even devastated.
He was absolutely sure now.
Marcus Langford was planning something that reached far beyond a forced marriage, far beyond business, far beyond family.
And Ares had just felt the first tremor of it.
He opened his eyes and murmured th
e only thing he knew was true:
“This isn’t over. I am not giving up this time. I am not letting anyone win.” He said. “I love Tessa and I am going all out for them. Damn the consequences.”