Page 35 of Ungodly Rich

“You didn’t bring a suitcase,” Julia pointed out, and Harry just shrugged.

“I can buy T-shirts and sandals wherever we go.”

The prospect of running away with him was so very tempting. Then Julia thought of his family, who would be spending several moredays at the island, eating and gossiping and judging one another. They would all whisper that Julia couldn’t hack it—especially Harry’s mother, Tara, who had treated her with cool disinterest at best.

If Julia had any hope of winning over her future mother-in-law, she couldn’t start things off byrunning.

“I think we should go back to Olympus,” she declared.

Harry’s brows drew together. “Don’t you want to take some time away, just the two of us? Far from my family and all their meddling?”

“But that’s just it. They’re yourfamily,” Julia repeated. “And we’re engaged, so for better or worse, they’re going to be my family, too. If we’re really getting married, then we need to do things the right way. We should go back and see this reunion through.”

Harry nodded slowly. “If you’re sure,” he said, pulling out his phone and starting toward the front of the plane. “Let me call us a helicopter to the port.”

Julia started to follow, only to pause before a middle-aged couple who were sitting together.

“I think I saw you two filming the proposal,” she began. The couple looked embarrassed at being caught, and she smiled, trying to put them at ease. “I was wondering—would you AirDrop the video to me?” Julia held out her phone, showing her home screen: a scanned photo of her and her mom, from the summer Julia was seven.

“Oh, of course!” The woman pressed play, then frowned down at her phone. “Wait—what did I do? Jerry?” She held out her phone to her husband, who chuckled.

“You recorded in selfie mode, Hannah. This is a video of your face.”

Hannah winced. “But you got one, didn’t you?”

Jerry was already pulling out his own phone, winking at Julia. “Luckily for you, I’m not as technically challenged as my wife….” He trailed off, then laughed. “Or maybe I am.”

His phone revealed a series of blurry gray photos, documenting the carpet that ran down the aisle.

At the front of the plane, Harry looked back expectantly. “Jules? What’s going on?”

“Coming!” she called out, then turned back to the couple, amused. “Thank you for trying.”

It would have been fun, showing the video to her aunt and uncle and especially to Abby, but maybe it was better that Harry’s proposal remain undocumented. It would become the sort of story that was told and retold for years, embellished each time, until Julia and Harry were old someday and bickered cheerfully about the details.

Julia pulled her phone from her pocket and typed out a quick text to Abby.Change of plans, I’m staying in Greece with Harry. Will call you later.

She could do this—could go back to Olympus and show the Ellenes she was stronger than they realized. That she belonged in their world, even if she hadn’t grown up with a trust fund.

They had better get used to her, because she wasn’t going anywhere.

Chapter Fourteen

Hades

Hades smiled to himself as he approached the pool, a grand turquoise teardrop on the lawn near the main house. Sunlight shimmered over its surface, yet he had no intention of actually swimming. He knew better than to get in water that might be enchanted.

He was here to watch the show.

Dozens of figures were already in the pool or lounging around it, sprawled on lemon-yellow chaises that matched the striped umbrellas. Human staff walked about with trays of delicacies: Popsicles, glasses of cucumber water, and to Hades’s amusement, gel eye masks that they applied beneath the gods’ eyes like spa attendants. Trees laced over the lower half of the pool, casting it in dappled shade.

As he strode past their lounge chairs, the other gods blinked at him in shock. Hades had surprised them already, simply by showing up at Olympus; everyone knew that he rarely came to family events. And when he did attend, he certainly didn’t join their efforts at socializing or tanning. Yet here he was, wearing a navy swimsuit that emphasized his pale skin and dark hair.

Amused, Hades held their gazes, and the other gods all quickly looked away. No matter. He didn’t care what any of them thought.

He took an empty lounge chair and listened to the various snatches of conversation. A few of the other gods were whispering about him, but most were discussing Ares and his mortal woman. The two of them had fled the island this morning, abruptly and without permission. It was delightfully shocking, especially since Ares was already the subject of much speculation.

Hades glanced around the pool, his gaze hidden by enormous Ferragamo sunglasses. Apollo lay on a watermelon-shaped floatie with one hand flung over his eyes, a beer clutched in his other hand. Two naiads—or were they dryads? Hades never could tell them apart—splashed around in the shallow end. Aphrodite drifted near the steps with Eros, who was treading water with the competency of a human adult, snatching at little whirlpools with his chubby toddler fingers. When Eros laughed in delight, water droplets would spray up out of the pool to rain upon his head. Typical Poseidon, Hades thought, showing off for Aphrodite.