Chapter 37

37

“What the hell is taking so long?” Hades barked into his phone.

Charon’s cool voice responded back. “The fans are mobbing the bottom of the building. Security and cops are trying to hold them back from the lobby. I’ve arranged with Marco, Stan, and Lorenzo to head the team guiding Mrs. Ubeli into the building from the southeast entrance. We are approaching now.”

“I’ll meet you there,” Hades said, thumbing the phone closed and jamming it in his pocket. His jaw clenched. How did the fucking vultures even learn Orpheus was here? But no, he knew the answer the second he asked it.

Ajax. He was trying to put pressure on them and see how they’d react. Force their connections out into the open. The sooner that bastard was six feet under, the better. But keeping Orpheus playing shows was important, too, and not just because of ticket sales. Mobs needed appeasement. Even the ancient Romans knew that.

It was the off-season for the Spartans, the New Olympians favorite sports team, and Hades needed the people distracted.

Look over here at the shiny, sparkling attraction—instead of seeing what I’m actually doing under the table in the dark. Keeping the people amused and happy was one of the first lessons Hades had learned as unofficial king. He could keep them safe and drugs mostly off their streets and the gambling halls and prostitution rings regulated.

But it was a mistake to forget that people always wanted a little bit of sin.

Try to clean up the drugs completely and the city became combustible. The one and only time he’d tried, he’d nearly lost his crown to an upstart gang who took it as an opportunity to try to usurp him. He’d taken the little shit down easily enough and learned the lesson. He eased up on the drug trade, deciding it was enough to keep it out of schools. Consenting adults could do whatever the fuck they wanted.

But with Orpheus had come Ajax, and that was one nasty surprise Hades could do without. He was handling the situation, but he didn’t like it. Not one damn bit.

The elevator opened to chaos on the lobby floor. Cops were everywhere, questioning people and checking their IDs before letting them up to their hotel rooms. Outside, the blues and reds of police lights flashed. And the roar of the crowd outside. Hades’s hands unconsciously closed into fists.

Ajax had set the mob on his home by moving Orpheus here, to a private floor. The fans found out, no doubt tipped off by Ajax himself. And now he and his wife would be stuck in this mess any time they wanted to come or go.

Hades turned on his heel and headed for the Southeast entrance. It was around the back of the building, near the gym and should be less crowded. By the time he got there, Lorenzo and Stan were already ushering Persephone through the doors. She looked harried but not scared. His strong, beautiful wife. For a moment, all he could see was her. So fucking beautiful even after working with smelly animals all day.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Her question immediately brought back Hades’s sour mood. “Orpheus moved in,” he snapped.

“He’s here? Don’t they have to ask you before they do that sort of thing? Move in such a high-profile client?”

Hades’s eyebrows went up. “I’m flattered you think my sway extends so far, but no.” He glared as they rounded the corner to the main lobby. “If I had any say, this debacle would never have happened.”

Persephone looked confused. “But don’t you own the hotel?”

Hades laughed out loud at that. “What gave you that idea?”

Her mouth dropped open. “I don’t know, I just assumed… Since you live in the penthouse suite permanently. After a while I guess I thought this was just another of your businesses.”

“No, I don’t own the Crown.”

Her brow furrowed. “Then why do you live here? You own so much real estate in the city.”

Hades smiled at that because this was one of his favorite triumphs. “A man owed my father a favor; I called it in. He owns the hotel, but the penthouse is mine for as long as I want. And as long as I live here, he’ll never forget what he owed my family.”

He chuckled grimly. “He hates me. Wishes he could throw me out, but he can’t without everyone knowing he went back on his word. But whenever he thinks of his pride and joy of a hotel, he grinds his teeth because he thinks of me, living in the penthouse he designed for himself.”

Persephone looked appalled but Hades would never apologize for who he was. Like everything in his life, Hades’s residence sent a message.

And now his castle was under siege. His bad mood came thundering back. Especially when two police officers came toward him like they intended to question his credentials.

Hades immediately locked eyes with his man, who came forward and cut the other two off at the pass. Good.

When he looked back to Persephone, he saw her watching the whole exchange with curious eyes.

“Upstairs,” he commanded her. He’d intended another long, slow night of reminding his wife exactly where her place was in their marriage—underneath him—but dammit, he was letting her get underneath his skin again.

He’d been spending time with her when he needed to be focused on the business at hand.

The shipment.

Nothing could go wrong this time. The mob would be appeased for only so long by side shows. If everything went as planned, then he would have the monopoly on the next hottest commodity the crowd would be slathering over. Which meant crushing the Titans and bleeding them dry of every tyrant’s greatest source of power—money.

“Lorenzo will keep watch outside the door while I’m gone until they get this mess settled. I have to go out.” Hades’s features hardened as he looked around. No more distractions, not until the shipment had been delivered and distribution was going smoothly.

He turned away from his wife. “I’ve got business to attend to tonight.”