One hundred and forty billion reasons

Shadows in Athens

Armitage studied him for a long moment. “You’re learning fast.”

The rooftop terrace overlooked the Aegean like a throne room over a kingdom. Marble floors, linen canopies billowing in the breeze, the sea stretching endless and blue below. Rohen stood at the edge, hands in his pockets, watching sailboats drift across the water like white birds.

Behind him, voices murmured in multiple languages—French, German, Italian, English. Lucien’s trusted advisors, CEOs of Europe’s most prestigious hotel groups, all gathered for one purpose.

To merge their empires with his.

“Mr. Ashtekar.” A woman in an immaculate gray suit approached, extending her hand. “Margaux Beaumont, CEO of Luxe Européen Hotels. We’re honored by this partnership.”

Rohen shook her hand, noting the deference in her eyes. She ran a company worth $30 billion, and she was honored to work with him.

The meeting lasted two hours. Documents signed, champagne poured, hands shaken. A merger worth $70 billion, completed over canapés and sparkling wine on a terrace that felt like the top of the world.

When it was done, Lucien approached with a satisfied smile. “Well executed. Your father would have been proud.”

Rohen looked down at the papers—his signature repeated over and over, each one binding billions of dollars to his name. “It still doesn’t feel real.”

“It will. Give it time.”

Rohen glanced at his watch—the Patek Philippe Lucien had given him, worth more than most people earned in a lifetime. “I need casual clothes. Jeans, a regular shirt. Something that doesn’t scream billionaire.”

Lucien raised an eyebrow. “Planning to go incognito?”

“Something like that.” Rohen hesitated. “And I want you to arrange something else. Designer outfits for Lira and Mira. Elegant but understated. Make it look like they came from a distant benefactor. Someone who knew our family and wanted to help.”

“Anonymously.”

“Exactly.”

Lucien studied him. “You’re protecting them.”

“They don’t need to know yet. Not until I’m ready.”

“And when will that be?”

Rohen looked out at the sea, at the horizon where water met sky. “When I’ve dismantled every piece of the puzzle. When I know exactly who’s guilty and who’s just complicit. When I can protect them from the fallout.”

Lucien nodded slowly. “I’ll arrange it. The gifts will arrive tomorrow.”

Athens sprawled beneath them, ancient and chaotic, as the Bentley wound through narrow streets toward the old quarter. Rohen had changed into jeans and a simple button-down shirt, designer but subtle enough to pass as normal. He’d left the watches behind, worn his old sneakers.

Back to being nobody.

“He’s staying at a boutique hotel near the Acropolis,” Lucien said from the driver’s seat. He’d insisted on driving himself, keeping this meeting off the official radar. “Arrived three days ago. Alone.”

“Does he know I’m coming?”

“No. You wanted the element of surprise.”

Rohen nodded, his jaw tight. Robert Castellane—Lira’s father, a man who’d watched his daughter marry in shame and said nothing. Who’d stood by while Isolde Veymar humiliated his son-in-law and let his granddaughter suffer.

Now Rohen wanted to know why.

The hotel was small, charming, tucked between buildings painted in faded ochre and cream. Lucien waited in the car while Rohen went inside.

He found Robert on the terrace restaurant, sitting alone with a newspaper and a Greek coffee. The older man looked up as Rohen approached, and his expression cycled through confusion, recognition, and suspicion in rapid succession.

“Rohen?” Robert set down his coffee. “What are you doing here?”

“Visiting.” Rohen pulled out a chair without waiting for an invitation. “Thought I’d check in on my father-in-law.”

Robert’s eyes narrowed. “In Greece. You—a valet who can barely afford rent, flew to Greece?”

“Surprised?”

“Suspicious.” Robert leaned back, studying him. “How did you pay for this?”

Rohen had prepared the lie, practiced it until it felt smooth. “Lucien Armitage. The man who helped Mira at the hospital. Turns out he knew my father. Mistook me for someone else at first—some family his late friend helped years ago. When he realized the mix-up, he felt guilty. Offered to cover some expenses as an apology.”

It was close enough to the truth to be believable. Vague enough to discourage questions.

Robert’s expression remained skeptical. “And he paid for you to vacation in Athens?”

“He had business here. Offered me a ride. I accepted.” Rohen signaled the waiter, ordered coffee. “It’s not a crime to accept help when it’s offered.”

“No,” Robert said slowly. “But it’s unlike you to take handouts.”

“Mira’s alive because of him. I’ll accept whatever he offers.”

That, at least, softened Robert’s suspicion. The older man sighed, folding his newspaper. “How is she? Mira?”

“Better. Much better. The treatment’s working.”

“That’s good.” Robert sounded genuine, which surprised Rohen. “She’s a sweet girl. Doesn’t deserve what she’s going through.”

“No one deserves it.” Rohen’s coffee arrived. He took a sip, letting the silence stretch. “But Isolde didn’t seem to care about that.”

Robert’s face tightened. “Isolde does what she thinks is best for the family.”

“Does she? Or does she just enjoy cruelty?”

“Rohen—”

“You stood there,” Rohen said quietly, his voice hard. “At the gala. You watched her auction off my dignity like it was entertainment. Watched Dante offer money to tear me from your daughter. And you said nothing.”

Robert looked away, jaw working. “It’s complicated.”

“Complicated how?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

Robert was silent for a long moment, staring at the Acropolis rising in the distance. When he finally spoke, his voice was tired. “Isolde controls everything. The family business, the inheritance, who gets what when she dies. If you’re in her favor, you’re secure. If you’re not…” He trailed off. “She’s made examples of people who crossed her. Family members who lost everything.”

“So you stay quiet to protect yourself.”

“To protect Lira,” Robert snapped. “Do you think I enjoy watching my daughter suffer? Watching you get torn apart at every family dinner? But if I speak up, Isolde cuts us off completely. Lira loses her position in the company. Her inheritance. Everything.”

Rohen set down his cup carefully. “So you sacrifice me to keep the peace.”

“I sacrifice my pride to keep my daughter fed,” Robert shot back. “You think that’s easy? You think I sleep well at night?”

“I think you made a choice. And you chose wrong.”

Robert’s face flushed with anger. “You don’t know what it’s like—”

“I know exactly what it’s like.” Rohen leaned forward. “I’ve spent two years being treated like garbage. Taking abuse from people who wouldn’t last a day in my shoes. And I never once threw someone else under the bus to save myself.”

“That’s because you have nothing to lose.” The words hung between them.

Rohen stood, dropping cash on the table for the coffee. “You’re wrong. I have everything to lose. But I won’t compromise who I am to keep it.”

He walked away before Robert could respond, his heart pounding with controlled fury.

Rohen made a quiet vow to himself.

He would tear down everything the Veymars had built on cruelty and fear. Not with violence. Not with public spectacle, but with precision, with patience. With the kind of power they’d never see coming.

And by the time they realized who he was, it would already be too late.