My Mafia King

37 | Fixing Things

so um hi guys:))

ATHENA RUSSO:

I nervously tap my fingers on my lap as I keep my eyes forward. God, what am I doing? Out of all days, I decided to do this Today.

I start to frown when I realize all the things I have to do today.

When am I ever going to get a break?

"Do you think Artemis will be happy to see me?" I ask Noah, looking at him.

He puts his sunglasses on the top of his head and looks at me. "Don't worry, she will be happy to see you."

I sigh and nod. I haven't felt so uneasy for a while until today. I think I need to fix everything so I won't need to think about it anymore and I'll go back to normal.

Ivan looks at me in the rearview mirror. He gives me a worried look and I give him a nod to tell him that I'm fine.

He focuses back on the road and I keep my eyes on the time. I'll need to do this quickly. I don't have much free time at all today.

After ten minutes we make it to the mansion that I practically abandoned.

We all get out of the car and I walk up to the door and it suddenly opens for me. I cautiously enter and so does Ivan while Noah casually walks in like it's nothing.

I look at the man in a suit who opened the door. Maids walk by bowing their heads and greeting me like I'm some sort of Queen.

What the hell have they done to my place?

I slowly walk around the mansion. More maids smiling brightly at me while they greet me.

I quickly noticed that there were more decorations and furniture. It looks so much more alive than before. It looks more like a home.

"I don't recall all of this before," Ivan says beside me as we both look around. Slowly, I nod, still trying to process all of this. "Yeah. I don't know what happened," I mutter.

"I decided to change a few things while you were gone."

I turn around and see Artemis standing at the entrance of the living room. She gives me this cold blank stare.

"I like it. A lot," I tell her as I notice a few changes in her. "Your hair has gotten long," I mumble.

The atmosphere turns tense.

After a few seconds, she gives me these puppy eyes and runs to me, wrapping her arms around me.

I stumble back a bit as I look at her in shock.

"I've missed you," she mutters, tightening her arms around me.

I turn stiff as a rock but deep down a wave of relief crashes right into me. She doesn't seem to care though, her arms tighten even more around me.

I glance at Ivan who quickly walks out of the room to give us some privacy. Then Artemis pulls away with a stern look, "You need to explain everything."

✮ ✮ ✮

"But yeah that's pretty much it," I finish as I fix my hair.

Artemis gives me a confused look. "Wait, I don't get it. If he announced you guys were betrothed and getting married soon in front of everyone then why is he making you pretend the marriage is real?"

Wait what?

I stare at her for a moment and realize she's not wrong. How the hell did I forget about that?

I try to say something but I can't.

I ignore it for now but I make a mental note to bring it up to Hades when I next see him.

"There's also a few other things," I mumble.

She grabs a pillow and places it on her lap, getting comfortable.

"You know that book you found when we were in Paris?" I ask with a sigh.

She gives me a small nod, "What about it?"

"It was my grandfathers who had information about a lot of people. Especially Yavok. He had his son but apparently, there's another one."

"What?"

"Yeah. But there's no information on the second son. Yavok hid him so well that no one ever knew him except for my grandfather. I don't know how he knew though."

She leans forward, "Do you think we might know him?"

Shaking my head, I say, "I doubt it. He's probably somewhere far away."

I haven't even managed to even speak to Yavok after the fifth ball. He's still chained to a wall in one of my torture rooms.

Artemis shrugs and leans back, taking in everything I just told her. Her lips purse as she tilts her head, lost in thought.

Noah strolls into the room and sits down in between us. He looks at both of us and sighs. "I thought when we would reunite it would've been a bit more fun than whatever this is."

Artemis rolls her eyes. "She's just telling everything that's been going on, calm down."

My phone buzzes and I check it. It's a text from Ivan saying that I have fifteen minutes left until I have to go see my brothers.

Noah grabs my left hand and holds it up to his face. "A ring," he states, amazed.

"A ring?!" Artemis moves closer, sees the ring on my finger, and gasps. "He got you a ring?"

I slowly nod.

To be honest, I don't know why I'm wearing it. But I guess it helps remind me that I'm marrying an asshole in a few days which I keep forgetting.

"Oh, and Artemis you're my maid of honor," I tell her.

Her eyes widen, "What?!"

"You're both coming. I've got a suit and a dress for you both. Everything is sorted out for you," I say, slowly taking my hand back and putting my phone in my pocket.

They both look at me, surprise in their eyes.

Noah suddenly grins. "Even though this is all so sudden, I'm excited for this wedding."

Excited? What the hell? This wedding is a literal trap. I'm going to turn into a depressed person after this.

Artemis nods, "Same. I don't know why but I have a feeling that things are going to get better after this wedding."

I softly smile.

Artemis smiles at me and crawls over to me and hugs me. Noah scoffs and pushes her to the floor. He lays on my chest and wraps his arm around my torso.

Artemis stands up from the floor and glares at Noah. "You little shit. You can't just do that!"

Noah sighs comfortably, "But I just did."

Hm. This doesn't feel bad. It actually feels nice. I gesture for Artemis to come beside me. She huffs but then she sits down next to me and lays her head on my shoulder.

We stay like that for a few minutes in a comfortable silence.

Until Ivan walks in, telling me I have to go.