Kidnapped

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

-ARES SEIDON >

"No way." 

This was the reaction of my siblings when I arrived at the family event. My parents have been planning for months, practically begging me to attend these ridiculous events. I'm stuck in Greece for the next two months, attending parties hosted by the Seidon name. If I didn't show up, I would have my body chopped up and fed to their piranhas. 

My parents are sinister, much like the Don. 

I've ignored their calls for months un-end and on a generous day, I decided to answer. Their desperation was suffocating, I gave in.

Now that I've stepped foot in their territory, I can't leave. It feels like a trap now. I'm practically held hostage.

I'm in the center of this formal party, leaning against a table with an alcoholic glass in my grasp while being tormented by my three siblings. 

I'm not in any mood to party. I just got a call from Angel and I couldn't say anything. I didn't know what I could say. I haven't heard her soft voice in a long time and I never knew I'd been longing to hear it. 

She's the first woman that could leave me speechless countless times in a day. Any woman could try to get my attention with their body or desperately throw pick-up lines at me and miserably fail, but her? 

It only takes a single glance of her mismatched green and hazel eyes to get my chest to contract. I fucking hate it. I'm so fucking engrossed in everything she does, I can't think of anything or anyone else. I can't even fuck another woman with her constantly on my mind. 

I've never felt this before. 

I feel sick. It's like an illness. It comes with actual symptoms too. When I think about her, my heart races and I can't breathe. I'm constantly reminded that I can't see her anymore, and the thought sends a long sharp blade straight into my chest.

"God, who broke your heart?" My sister Artemis, teased with a taunting pout. She was two years younger than me, and she's never failed at complaining about that fact. 

I ignore her.

"Can you at least pretend like you're having a good time? Smile a little, won't you?" 

I hear a snort on my left. "Come on, Arte. Don't diss him like that, that is how he smiles." My youngest sibling, Alexander, says concurrently hiding his laugh behind his fist. 

I sigh. "Where the hell are your parents? Go bother them." I lowly grumble, my patience wearing thin. "We do that every day. Our long-lost brother has finally returned, and we don't know for long we can annoy you." Alexander says, feigning sorrow. "Come on, Lighten up."

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with that idiot, but he's right, Ares." Athena, our eldest at twenty-six added. "You left home too early. I was worried. It . . . felt like mom and dad finally drove you out of the house." For the first time during this conversation, I lift my gaze from my vodka and look at her. Her deep blue eyes displayed longing. 

They drove me out and as soon as they figured out where I was, they took advantage of me and the Don's vulnerability. My mom got a job as a doctor there, and my father made many business deals which he benefited from.

Athena snaps her fingers in front of my face. "Are you listening? We missed you, jerk." 

I silently scoff, leaving her eyes and looking at the glass in my tatted hand. Since when could she say those three words without being bribed with money. I've been gone for eight years, and I haven't seen them since. They've been stuck to me this entire time, it was beyond annoying. 

"You're acting like we've all been some happy family that has nostalgic memories together for the past two decades. Besides, what was there to miss? I never had much of a presence anyway."

A hand slams down on the table, and I don't move nor leave my focus on the glass. "Yes, it did!" Alexander exclaims, "Even if it was dark and horrifying, we could feel your aura in the mansion. It didn't matter how far you were in your room. Even now, I could feel your evil aura, all the way from your room to mine."

My eyebrows join. "While you were high out of your mind?" I notice the way his body tenses through the corner of my eye. "How'd you . . . nevermind."  

I shake my head. I knew what they were all up to. I'm not exactly proud of it, but I'm not in a position to judge. I'm a hacktivist that breaches government/military networks.

Alexander became a drug trafficker for the Velentzas Organization. He began selling and consuming drugs at the tender age of sixteen, and now he illegally smuggles drugs into Greece with a sizable network not big enough for any feds to get suspicious. Artemis became an assassin in high demand, and Athena owns multiple underground clubs in Greece and New York with the help of her American husband.

Our parents should know by now, but they haven't said anything about it. I can't tell if that is supposed to relieve me or not.

"It's okay Alex, you're not the only sinner here." Artemis ruffles his dark wavy hair, and she then gives me a pointed look. "Ares, have a little fun before mother and father find you looking all gloomy and shit. I'm not in the mood to listen to their 'show the public what a happy family we are' speech."

I roll my eyes. "If they decide to throw me with grenades just because I wasn't having fun, I wouldn't be surprised." 

Athena huffs a laugh. "Trust. They wouldn't want to kill their money-makers." The spite rolling of her tongue doesn't go unnoticed. 

We all have mutual pain caused by our parents. I just don't hide my misery. Intuitively, my siblings are affected just as I was. They just choose to hide or ignore the desolation our family has. Or maybe it isn't as hollow as I think it is. Besides me being filled with solitude all the time and leaving home early, the three of them always got along well and stuck close. 

And as much as I pulled away, they always found some way to include me in everything they did together. 

I solely blame my parents.

Their love for money led them to obsession. They became incredibly indulgent in what we could've been busy with growing up. For all they know, we're already strung out on drugs and criminal behavior. Making bank was better than spending time with us, completely failing to provide us with the affection and presence they were supposed to raise their kids. 

Sometimes I hate the society I was born in. Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like to be born in a normal household. Having parents that work in normal jobs like law or medicine. 

Having us go to college and follow their footsteps. Experience thin e closeness of a whole family, and find out what my personality would be like. Would I be different?

Believe me, I don't hate my parents. Hate is a strong word. I merely resent them. My siblings will always mean more than the world. My parents are who I resent.

Money means nothing to me. I see past it. I only see the world and its blatant difference in equality. I don't believe in a lot of things. Mainly the law system. They have criminals like my parents roaming the streets. 

In the underworld, things such as murder aren't justified, and I don't know if they ever will. Honestly, it may just get worse from here.

For now, I'll just focus on those close to me. I might not know how to show affection but just as my brother said, my dark and horrifying aura has been enough.

"Are there still handguns hidden behind the portraits at the main mansion?" I find myself asking. "Of course," Artemis rolls her eyes. "In every portrait in every room there is. It's not like we get any break-ins. Mom and dad are just extra." 

I sigh. "That they are."

~~~

 Thanks for reading. <3

Question of the day;

-Is your personality affected by the way you're brought up?