"Hades!!!" Casadin shouted into the intercom outside the penthouse door. "I know you're in there, you piece of shit! Your car is in the parking lot!"
He was nearly breaking the doorbell from pressing it repeatedly, but there was still no response.
Evadne hadn't answered a single one of his calls.
At first, he decided to give her space. He knew her mind must be in turmoil. But when he tried again that Saturday afternoon, still no answer. She was reading his messages… but not replying. So he went to the Monteverde mansion, only to be blocked by the guards and told she wasn't accepting visitors because she was unwell.
He even pleaded. They knew him. They knew his parents. The guards even called inside the house to let Evadne know he was at the gate, but she declined to see him.
And now here he was, burning with fury outside the penthouse of the man he blamed for all of this.
"Hades!"
Casadin gritted his teeth. Hades used to set all his six-digit PINs to birthdays. He tried their shared code from years ago, birth month and day.
Error.
Cieryl's birthday.
Error.
Hades's own.
Error.
His hands trembled as he entered Evadne's birthday.
Still an error.
But then he stopped.
"Don't tell me…" he muttered, jaw clenching tighter.
He entered Hades's birthday plus Evadne's birthday. The lock clicked.
The door slid open.
Casadin's blood boiled.
That was the password?
That?
He stormed inside, slamming the door shut so hard it echoed like a warning shot.
"HADES!!!" he barked stomping into the penthouse. Still no answer. But he knew he was in there. He stormed toward the first door that caught his eye, and flung it open.
"You fucking shit!"
There he was.
Hades, casually seated on a leather sofa, head tilted toward the ceiling as Selena knelt between his legs, giving him a blowjob. He didn't even look surprised. Just hollow. Detached.
"Ahhh!" Selena yelped, startled. "Cas?"
"Casadin, brother!" Hades said with a smirk, finally looking at him. "You want to watch… or join?"
His voice was lazy, but his eyes were empty.
"You bastard!"
Casadin charged forward and punched Hades square in the jaw.
"Oh my god, Casadin!" Selena shouted, scrambling up and trying to grab his arm despite being half-naked.
Hades calmly zipped up his pants and wiped the blood from his lip like it didn't bother him. His smirk remained.
"Why so violent?" he said mockingly. "You could've just said no."
Casadin's glare was pure fire. "Let go of me," he growled at Selena, eyes filled with disgust.
"Let her go, Selena," Hades cut in with a laugh. "You're not the reason his blood's boiling anyway. Don't flatter yourself."
The words hit Selena like a slap. She froze.
Casadin gave her a slight shove, more from shock than force, and she stumbled to the floor. But he didn't even spare her a glance. His attention was fully on Hades.
"You son of a bitch!" he roared and punched Hades again, this time harder.
"How dare you?! You confess to her, mess with her head, and then, just one day later, here you are, letting some random bitch give you a blowjob?!"
He was practically shaking with fury.
"What the hell are you planning, huh?! What is this?! Who the fuck do you think you are?!"
That time, Hades fought back.
With a snarl, he punched Casadin in the gut, sending him reeling back against the wall.
"I already told you my plan!" Hades shouted, his eyes now burning with rage. "I'm going to take back what belongs to me!"
Another punch.
"Especially Evadne." His voice dropped to a snarl. "She's mine."
"She's not yours!!!" Casadin roared as he kicked Hades hard in the ribs. "You hated her, remember?! You hated being Hades Falcon because of her!"
The fight escalated, fists, kicks, curses. They slammed into furniture, knocking over lamps, vases, and shattering glass. The living room was in chaos, shards scattered across the floor, but neither of them cared. They just kept hitting, kept bleeding, pushing each other to their limits until both were bruised, bloodied, breathless, eyes burning with tears and rage.
"Cas?" Selena's voice trembled as she rushed to his side, kneeling down next to where he was slumped on the floor.
"Don't touch me," he snapped, his voice low and venomous. Selena froze, hurt flickering in her eyes.
She looked at Hades, who was sitting slouched against the other side of the room, blood trailing from his mouth, but smiling.
"Why are you still here?" he suddenly barked at her. "You're not part of this conversation. So get the fuck out!" His voice cracked with fury. "Out of my house. Or do you want your whole family sleeping in the streets tonight?!"
Selena gasped softly, shame and humiliation rising in her eyes. Though her heart ached, she stood and quietly walked out of the penthouse. Casadin didn't even spare her a glance.
Silence fell. Heavy, suffocating.
For a moment, it felt like the world had stopped spinning.
Then Casadin finally spoke, voice tired and broken. "You had a deal, Hades." He looked up at him with dead eyes. "I swallowed my pride and accepted that deal, because I was so sure you hated her. I thought you'd drag it out until you walked away on your own."
He gave a bitter laugh, shaking his head.
"Why? Why the fuck did you cross the line?" His eyes burned. "How many times are you going to betray me?!"
Hades leaned forward, resting his bruised arms on his knees. His voice was raw, trembling with regret and desperation.
"Do you think I wanted this?!" he shouted. "I regretted what I did to you! Losing my best friend, my only true friend, my brother, it was the biggest mistake of my life."
His eyes glistened, but he didn't let them fall. "But you were right. I am a bastard. I was my birth parents' bastard. A bastard to Mom and Dad. And now to you. That's what I am."
"But she... she never judged me. She made fun of me, insulted me, got me into trouble, but she never expected me to be more than who I am. Just to choose what I want. For the first time, someone looked at me and said, 'Decide for yourself.' And I did. I chose her."
His voice cracked. "Do you think I planned to fall for her? I did not. I tried to stop it, Cas... but I can't. I don't want to. And I didn't want to go behind your back again. That's why I told you. Face-to-face."
He looked at him, eyes full of pain. "I need her, Cas. Please... let me have her. I swear I'll take care of her."
Casadin laughed, a bitter, broken sound.
"Fuck you." His smile was twisted in disbelief. "You really think I'd just give her up?"
"Why not?!" Hades's voice cracked into a shout. He was desperate now, almost pleading. "You've done it before! You gave up on Cieryl! You let me have her! You could've fought for her, but you didn't!"
Casadin's expression darkened. His voice turned to ice.
"Because she wasn't worth fighting for."
His voice cut like a blade. "So yes, I let you have her. But just because I did that once, you expect me to do it again?"
He stood shakily, glaring down at Hades.
"How fucking selfish can you be?"
Hades slowly approached, the weight of shame heavy in every step. And then, he dropped to his knees in front of Casadin.
"One last time," Hades said, voice trembling. "Please... give way for me, just one last time. You're stronger than me, Cas. You've always been stronger. You have real friends. Loyal ones. I don't. I have no one."
"I need her." He bowed his head, defeated. "I need her."
"You have your puppets!" Casadin spat, his voice seething with fury, refusing to back down. "You have the Falcon name! Just dangle it in front of them and they'll lick your boots, inside and out! I will never let her go!"
His eyes burned with contempt. "And the audacity, the fucking nerve, for you to promise you'll take care of her when your dick was just down another woman's throat! You son of a bitch! What's your plan, huh? Hide the fact you're screwing Selena after confessing your feelings to her?! You gonna do to her what Cieryl is doing to you?!"
Hades suddenly let out a wild, unhinged laugh, like something inside him had finally cracked.
"So you knew?" His voice dropped, dark and bitter. "You knew Cieryl was cheating on me?"
"Of course I knew," Casadin hissed, fists clenched. "Everyone in school knew. You were the only one too fucking blind to see it. Even when I shoved the truth in your face a hundred times, you still refused to believe it." His voice trembled with both rage and pity. "I'll never let you hurt Evadne. So stay in your fucking line!!!"
Casadin turned to walk away, limping slightly from the fight.
"She knows."
Hades's voice stopped him cold. Casadin turned sharply, brows furrowed. "What?"
"She knows about me and Selena."
Casadin stared, stunned.
"I lost you because of them," Hades said, voice softer now, pain bleeding through each word. "All they wanted was the Falcon name. Not my friendship. Not even me. Just what I represented." He smiled bitterly. "When you told them Dad disowned me… they panicked. Evadne was the one who told me. She gave me the choice to see the truth, and I finally did. But I couldn't face it. I was a coward. Still am."
He laughed, self-deprecating. "They wanted the Falcon name. So fine. I'll show them what the Falcon name can do. I started with Selena because of that disgusting video she leaked. Vee knew. And she didn't even judge me." His eyes grew distant, as if reliving the moment. "She didn't tell me revenge was wrong. She didn't say I should forgive them. She said she understood."
"She told me not to corner them too much, because even a docile dog bites when it's trapped with no way out." He looked back at Casadin, eyes glassy but steady. "So you see, Cas? I need her more than you do. You're strong. I'm weak. I'm drowning. I need her. I need her to survive. I need her to live."
Casadin opened his mouth to reply when his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, "Princess."
He quickly answered. "Princess?"
"Can we talk?" Her voice was serious. Calm. But something in her tone made his chest tighten. "If you're not busy. There's something important I need to tell you."
He paused, breath caught in his throat. He knew. Whatever this was, whatever she was about to say, was going to change everything.
"Can it wait?" he asked quietly, almost stalling. "I'm on my way to the hospital."
"What? What happened? Were you in an accident? Where are you right now?!"
Her panicked voice shot through the line, making his chest ache, and smile.
She still cared. That much was clear.
"Not exactly an accident," he chuckled weakly. "I'm at Hades's penthouse. I think he cracked two of my ribs… but I broke three of his."
"Are you two crazy?! Why would you even, ugh!" Evadne's voice cracked with disbelief and rising frustration. "I'm on my way."
She hung up without a goodbye. No demand to call an ambulance. No lectures. Just coming.
Casadin leaned back against the wall, exhaling slowly, body aching but somehow lighter. He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them with a tired grin.
He sent her a message:
"Penthouse PIN is 724215. Don't make me regret this."
That was his birthday. But also hers.
And the fact that that was the code?
It still pissed him off.
But he wasn't done fighting. Not yet.