April 28, 2023 (Present)

Syn

I walked out of the car and stepped into the busy streets of New York City. The honking of cars made me want to snap my fingers until it was all quiet, but a warning look from Hades reminded me of the repercussions of exposing ourselves to the human world. Zeus, my driver placed our suitcases onto the sidewalk and I stretched as I looked around the city in disgust.

"Are you sure coming to New York had nothing to do with Queen?" Hades questioned again suspiciously. It had almost every reason to do with her, but I wasn't keen on letting him know just yet. He'd probably leave and I needed him for what I had planned.

"I've told you three times, Hades. I'm here on business. I wasn't even aware Queen was here until you mentioned it."

"But now that you do know, you're going to stay away from her right? You're not going to try to find her and rekindle shit are you?"

"Of course not," I lied. "I'm over her, Hades. It's been almost two years." The number of lies I had told him in the past twenty-four hours was becoming baffling to me.  I hated having to do it considering how loyal he's been to me for the past couple of years, but he was the only one who knew where Queen lived and was still actively speaking to her. I needed him here to get that information.

"Okay, Syn. Just remember that you're also here to explore your relationship with Stella. She's flying out here in a few days."

I held back the scoff that I wanted to let out and grabbed the suitcases to put them onto the luggage cart. Stella and I had been out on a couple of dates and I made it clear to her that I wasn't interested in dating so it became sex. Just sex. That's all there was between the both of us, but to the public, it may have seemed like more.

"I remember."

"She likes you, Syn," he reminded me. I shrugged and ignored his comment as I walked into the building. I'd been here plenty of times over the years for business, not knowing Queen was here. I stayed in this condo in the epicenter of NYC and I wondered how many times Queen passed it. Had we ever been so close without me being aware?

"Is there a room for her in the condo?" He asked.

Huh?

I stopped walking and turned around to look at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"For Stella. Is there a room for her? It's only the gentlemanly thing to make sure your girlfriend has a place to stay."

"Stella? Gentleman? Girlfriend?!...what are you going on about Hades? I'm single." I didn't like Stella enough to even sit through a full dinner with her let alone be with her. If sex meant that we were exclusive, then I had more girlfriends than I could count.

"Syn, I'm going to tell you this because no one else will." He sighed. I nodded and he shook his head slightly. "You're a man-whore and a heartbreaker."

"Harsh," I muttered before letting lobby attendant push our things into the building.

"I'm just being honest, man. You've been seeing Stella for the past nine months. You practically just made a baby together."

"Never say that shit again."

"Think about it." I rolled my eyes as I waved at the driver and walked towards the building. I knew Hades was about to piss me off with whatever he said so I took a deep breath and prepared myself. "Stella has been the only steady relationship you've been in." I glared in his direction but he held a finger up. "Seriously think about it. All of you and Queen's time added up together is truly just four, maybe five months tops in the six years you've known one another."

"Why must you always bring up Queen?" I said lowly. "I've told you that I want nothing to do with her. Me not wanting to be with Stella has nothing to do with Queen and everything to do with me being as you said...a man-whore."

"Okay, whore." My jaw clenched and he raised a brow at my reaction. I was beginning to get more and more convinced by the day that D and Hades concocted plans to say things that drove me nuts. I hated it, but over the past years, they'd become an additional couple of people that I allowed to disrespect me without me lashing out.

"Hades, you're not a nun yourself you realize." I pushed the button of the elevator and Hades crossed his arms beside me.

"Well, I'm not breaking hearts."

"No one's except your own." His playfulness dropped at my words and I shrugged. "What? It's the truth. If I remember correctly...you and Dimitri are 'just friends'."

"Well...dickhead, if you remember correctly," he mocked. "That's not up to me. It wouldn't have even been an option if I was making the choice."

"Why didn't she want to date you again? Is it because you're annoying?" The elevator doors opened and I stepped in and turned to the door to see him glaring at me.

"I'm not annoying," he clarified. "She just thinks I want to be with her because I feel like I owe her something for all those years of not knowing she was being possessed. She also said and I quote...'I'm not selfish enough to date you when you're attracted to a completely different gender'."

"She makes a valid point, Hades. You're into men."

"Correction: I'm into Dimitri." He sighed as he leaned onto the wall and I looked at the increasing numbers on the panel above the doors. "I just wish she was selfish. Like be selfish with ME, you know?" I nodded in understanding and he sighed. "It just makes me feel like there's someone else."

"Well I hope the both of you figure it out," I said sincerely.

"Thanks, I do too."

"Make a call to Adam and let him know we've landed safely. Adam was another person who didn't know my true intentions of coming to New York. If he knew I was going to see his daughter that I had hurt in the past...he'd murder me. We'd gotten close over the years and he was almost like a father to me in some respects. His reaction was the only thing that mattered to me, which was why he could never know.

"Will do, boss." He mumbled. "Remember, you seriously need to respond to Kincaid. You don't want to piss him off."

I hit my head gently against the back wall and closed my eyes. Kincaid's obsession with getting me to speak to him was one I'd never understand. After what he tried to pull at the Halloween party a couple of years ago completely made me shut down any potential business prospects with him.

I cut back on vampire annual funds because of him and he retaliated by attempting to start petitions to dethrone me. Of course, hardly any people signed it, and the ones that did were dealt with by me and my people. I didn't have time to deal with people that partook in uprisings.

"What does he want from me?"

"Well...you bashed him in the press."

"Because he's a weirdo." The elevator doors opened and I stride into the large living area. I took a breath as it felt somewhat refreshing to be out of the Underworld and I threw myself onto the couch.

"That 'weirdo' holds a lot of influence over your people. We can't just kill everyone, Syn? Where will you be without any supporters?"

"Hmm probably somewhere cold. Where I can—"

"Rhetorical. Fucking. Question," he said through gritted teeth. "You wouldn't be king."

"Hades, look at me right now and tell me that you think I'll be overthrown. I have more support than my father ever did and I've made plenty more progress when it comes to peace than he has."

"But at what cost? Forced peace isn't peace, Syn. It's submission."

"And I am fine with that. Peace is peace, Hades. If they are submitting to my will as they're king—who has their best interest at heart...then I'm fine with that."

He sighed in defeat and I looked up at the chandelier in the high ceiling. "Where is my room?" He asked.

"Any room," I waved in dismissal. "Preferably one far from me." I heard him scoff as he prepared to walk away and I sat up. "Wait!" He turned back around and I sighed. "My phone died. Can I use yours for a few minutes to make a couple of calls?"

He set his suitcase down and tossed me his phone before walking away. "The password is 'thekingofhellisadick'." I scoffed and waited for him to tell me the actual password, but when he didn't, I looked back at the phone screen with a frown. I was faced to face with a keypad and a locked phone...but one 'password' in my mind."

Seeing no other options, I typed in what he has said. My eyes rolled far to the back of my head when his phone opened and I shook my head. I wasn't even that bad. I glanced into the corridor he had disappeared to and went directly towards his email. This was a big invasion of privacy but it'd truly only be bad if I was caught.

I searched for Queen's name in his email since I was aware that he sent things to her over the years. When emails from post offices and confirmation letters popped up, I cheered victoriously in my head and clicked on a random one. When I saw the address where it was being sent, I read it a couple of times before sending it to my number from his phone.

After finishing up, I deleted the evidence of having visiting anywhere on his phone beside the call app. I proceeded to make the calls I needed to even though my phone was charged, and when I was done, I turned off the phone and stood up to take it back to him.

Mission accomplished.

꧁꧂

Author's Note
Hmmm...🤔

Lmk your thoughts ✨