\u00a0<\/p>\n
3\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
The man they all went out, betongs to you\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
The man they all want already belongs to you\u00a0<\/p>\n
Violet\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t understand what was going on, but if Sierra was the way to some of the answers I\u2019d been desperately searching for, then I was going to take it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She looked at me like I was already caught in her mousetra, a little toy trapped in her cage, and she intended to have all the fun she wanted before letting me out. Her smile was wicked, and it made my palms damp.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I swallowed hard. \u201cYou said you and Hades were cousins, but then you said it was complicated.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a moment, her expression froze, then melted into a grim. \u201cAh. That was not what I expected as your first question,\u201d she murmured, amused, \u201cbut still not bad.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She crossed her arms, shifting her weight in a way that made her look both intimidating and effortlessly beautiful. \u201cTo answer your question, I am his cousin but from his mother\u2019s side. Our family is a pretty complicated family. My mother is his mother\u2019s sister. Technically, that makes her my aunt, and him my cousin.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
(( >>\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut,\u201d Sierra continued, \u201cwhen my grandfather disowned his mother, we were told not to call her aunt anymore, and to have nothing to do with her or her sons. They wanted us to pretend they didn\u2019t exist.\u201d She shrugged as if it were nothing. \u201cBut I\u2019m not the type to follow rules like that. So even though our families aren\u2019t close, I still call him cousin. To me, he\u2019s like an older brother.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My head spun. There was so much packed into that one answer that I didn\u2019t even know what to digest first.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The fact that Hades was really her cousin, or the fact that his own family had cut off his mother?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something inside me twisted at the thought. What must his mother have gone through, being rejected by her own family like that? And what must Hades have felt, growing up knowing that the other side of his family hated both him and his mother?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look like you feel bad for them,\u201d Sierra said suddenly pulling me from my spiraling thoughts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I glanced up at her, startled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She tilted her head. \u201cHow unexpected, you must be a kind person, very different from most women I\u2019ve seen him with. Her lips twitched into something that wasn\u2019t quite a smile. \u201cHe\u2019s insane, you know. So he mostly surrounds himself with people like him. No wonder he\u2019s obsessed with you. Men like him tend to become addicted to things that are pure and out of reach.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her words echoed in my ears, and I wasn\u2019t sure whether to feel flattered, or uneasy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, her answer only made me more curious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I licked my lips and asked another question. \u201cThen\u2026 what words would you use to describe Hades?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was a question I\u2019d asked Alec once before, and he\u2019d told me that Hades could be many things, it all depended on who the person was to him. Now, I wondered what his cousin saw when she looked at him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sierra\u2019s brow lifted, and for the first time, she looked as though she had been expecting a different question entirely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She tilted her head, her sharp blue eyes studying me like I was some kind of puzzle she was trying to solve. Then, with a shrug, she said, \u201cWell, it depends on who you are to him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They were the exact same words Alec had used. But I could see it in her expression, there was a but coming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The man they all wont already belongs to you\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I was right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut,\u201d she continued, \u201ca lot of people call him a devil. Even my grandfather, the same one who disowned his mother, used to call him that. And yet\u2026\u201d she smirked, \u201cI think some part of him regretted it. Because a devil with a mind like Hades? That\u2019s the kind of devil who could bring in profits even kings would kneel for.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I leaned in, listening carefully. Her words hooked me, pulling me in deeper. I didn\u2019t know why, but I wanted to know. Maybe because, except for the very first time we met when Hades humiliated Matthew and put him in his place, I had rarely seen the side of him that others feared. Around me, he was always playful, and flirty. But what was he really like when he showed the side of himself?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sierra must\u2019ve seen the interest burning in my eyes, because she kept going.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHades is the only man I know who would put his entire company on the line, just for the thrill of it, and if it was something he wanted badly enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My eyes widened. \u201cHe\u2019d actually do that?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her lips curled, clearly enjoying my reaction. \u201cOh, the funniest part is, he always wins every single time. And all those so\u2013called powerful people you read about? Half of them owe him one thing or another. They know he\u2019s not the type of man you make deals with.\u201d She leaned in slightly, lowering her voice. \u201cAnd yet they still do. Because he can give them something no one else can. That\u2019s how he is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I realized she was saying more than I\u2019d asked for, but I didn\u2019t dare interrupt her. I just listened, letting every word sink in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, Sierra caught herself, a chuckle escaping her lips. \u201cOh dear, I was talking too much again. You asked me who Hades was, right?\u201d Her eyes gleamed as she straightened, arms crossing loosely over her chest. \u201cWell, I\u2019ll say this, I agree with them. Hades is a devil. A man everyone should be careful with.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A small shiver ran through me, but she added, \u201cBut only the devil would burn the world for one person.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why was Sierra looking at me like that when she spoke?\u00a0<\/p>\n
She waved her hand dismissively, as if brushing away both my thoughts and her own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSince I\u2019ve spoken too much already, that\u2019ll be all the questions I\u2019ll answer for now, besides, Hades would kill me if I made you late.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As if on cue, the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before I could react, Sierra reached out and took my hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCome on, dear,\u201d she said, tugging me forward. \u201cWe have to make you stunning for the party. A lot of people will have their eyes on you, and you need to let them know that the man they all want already belongs to you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
COIN BUNDLE: get more free bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nights Burn With Regret \u2014 by Nathan Perez 49 \u00a0 3\/3\u00a0 The man they all went out, betongs to you\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-craving-the-guardian-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}