Thalia

Just when I thought Caesar couldn't get more annoying and narcissistic, he led us into what seemed to be a throne room. A portrait of him sat on a wall above a rather plush looking chair.

I scoffed at the sight of it.

"What?" He asked innocently. "You don't like my throne room?"

So it was a throne room. Great.

"We don't actually. It sucks ass." I smiled sarcastically.

Caesar chuckled, but there was a dark and evil glint in his eye. "Wow you two never shut up with the snappy comments, do you?" He asked.

"It's a party trick reserved for assholes and kidnappers. You happen to be both." Corey grinned. I snickered at his comment.

"Oh, joy." Caesar stated as we continued walking to his throne. The guards who were holding Corey lead him to the right side of the throne and forced him to his knees where his wrists were chained to the floor.

Caesar sat down on his throne and crossed his legs. I stood to his left. He turned to look at me and pointed to the ground with his free hand. "Kneel." He said with a smirk.

I scoffed. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." He gave one hard tug on my chain and I hissed as the cold metal rubbed against the abrasions that already resided on my skin. "I don't like to repeat myself." He growled, all the previous teasing in his voice melting away to show a cold, rage.

Against my better judgment, I glared at Caesar, slowly lowering myself to my knees so that I was kneeling beside his throne like some sort of pet.

He smiled in satisfaction before turning his attention to the doors at the end of the room. "And just in time too. Your friends just got here, if my guards are competent enough to be believed." He waved his hand at the door. "Let them in."

At the sound of his command, the guards stationed beside the double doors pushed them open to make way for two men leading a group of five people, all wearing burlap bags over their heads. I couldn't even see their faces, but I knew who they were.

"Ronans," Caesar began, propping up his face with his arm. "Welcome to the meeting."

_ _ _ _

Peter

Light flooded my vision as soon as the bag was ripped from over my head. I blinked a few times and looked around. Were we in a...throne room?

"Mr. Vindicci." Leo said coldly. I turned my attention back to the front of the room and my eyes widened. Caesar lounged on his throne with him arm lazily propping up his face and his legs crossed. To his right, Corey was chained to the flor by his arms, yet he didn't seem to be putting up a fight. His head was bandaged, and he wore a suit.

To Caesar's left sat Thalia. She too was chained at the wrists, but instead of her chain keeping her to the floor, it rested in Caesar's hand. She wore a red dress and matching bold lipstick. Thalia hated red lipstick. They'd even styled her hair differently.

I silently growled. How dare he? Who in the fuck did he think he was chaining up my girl like some animal and playing dress up with her? When we get out of here, if I ever see Caesar Vindicci again, it would be too soon.

"Ronans, welcome to the meeting." He smirked. I bit my tongue. We all agreed it would be best if Leo did all the talking, seeing as he was the most likely to keep a cool head.

"Pleasure to be here." Leo said straight faced. "I see you've taken good care of our friends."

"I am a man of my word." Caesar yanked on Thalia's chain and she hissed as she was drawn closer to him. "But I can't say they've given me the same courtesy. I'll I've heard from Thalia here are snide little remarks about how 'dead' I am." Caesar's eyes flicked to mine and he smirked at my angered expression. "I was hoping you all at least knew how to tame her properly before suggesting to initiate her. But don't worry." Caesar stroked Thaila's cheek, his eyes never breaking contact with me. "Now you have me for that."

I dug my nails into my palm as my hands started shaking. If only I could knock that smug grin off his face. He wouldn't be so high and mighty then. Without all his guards, I could have ended his pathetic little life right here and now.

A warm hand grasped my own and I turned to see Fiona shaking her head lightly, her eyes still facing Caesar's throne.

"Nonetheless," Caesar continued. "You all are serious about initiating her, correct? This isn't just some last-minute ploy to spare her life?"

Leo shook his head, his face a blank slate. "No sir. We've been talking it over for a while, now anyways. You just forced us to move things along a bit faster. We were only postponing because of fear of cultural shock. We wanted Thalia to get used to life in our mob before actually letting her into it."

Caesar's eyes narrowed before he sighed. "Fine." He stood from his throne and dropped Thalia's chain, snaping his fingers and motioning for Corey to be released. Thalia wasted no time in running down the stairs and into my arms. I held her tightly, not trusting myself to say a single word as she tightly clutched onto the fabric of my shirt, burying her face in my chest and silently crying in relief. I simply rubbed comforting circles into her back.

Corey came to stand beside our group, not saying anything either.

"You want to initiate her, fine by me. Everything checks out, I suppose." Caesar shrugged.

I felt relief swell in my heart. Truth be told, we weren't going to initiate Thalia at all. Perhaps give her the tattoo of he Ronan Mob signa, but that was it. This whole plan was honestly a gamble, but now that it was paying off, I couldn't help but feel happy.

"But," Caesar continued, "I feel as though I owe Thalia an apology."

"For what?" Thalia demanded whipping around and glaring at Caesar. Crashing the car I was riding home in, kidnapping me, or putting me in this godforsaken dress and makeup and forcing me to parade around this mansion on a chain like a dog?"

I held Thalia tighter in a silent plea to quiet down. Caesar smirked in return. "All of the above." He said. "Which is why, we're going to give you a special ceremony, spearheaded by me."

Hiseyes glided across our group. "That way, we can all be sure that there aren't any...hardfeelings."