Chapter 44

44

Persephone rounded the corner to arrive at the shelter and saw Charon standing on the curb, glaring at the door. She halted in her tracks. Well crap.

Persephone eyed her husband’s second in command. Well, no point putting off the inevitable. She straightened and moved forward towards Charon, who had spotted her.

“Where have you been?” Charon asked as she approached. She didn’t answer, but stepped through the door he opened for her.

Inside Hecate came forward, hands outstretched apologetically. “Persephone, I’m sorry, I told him you were just on a quick walk…”

“It’s ok.” Persephone turned back to Charon, who was still by the door.

“Get in the car.”

Shrugging her purse higher on her arm, she obeyed.

“Where’s Hades?” she asked, once they both had slid in, her in the back, Charon up with the driver.

“Mr. Ubeli has been tied up in a business deal. It’s important. He sent me to check on you when you didn’t return his message.”

Persephone pulled out her phone and checked her voicemail. A new one was there. She sighed.

“I didn’t hear it ring. It was an accident.” She’d put it on silent before entering the club earlier. She put it away, shaking her head. “You don’t have to babysit me, Charon. I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself.”

“Stop the car,” Charon told the driver. Persephone’s heart thumped faster as the car slowed to a stop and the big man turned around in his seat to address her.

“You were out walking the streets. Alone. You don’t need Hades to tell you how fucking stupid that is.”

Persephone cringed. Usually Hades and his men kept the language clean around her.

“There’s trouble coming and we’ve been dealing with it.” From Persephone’s family. Charon didn’t have to say it. “But until it’s blown over, you’re going to need to act like a fucking adult and use some common sense.”

Something flared inside Persephone, a little spark of anger. She was sick of people talking to her like she was a little girl.

“Charon, I was fine, I was just walking?—”

“It’s fine until one of our enemies pulls up, kidnaps you, and rapes you with a knife until you bleed out for us to find you. You think being a Titan will save you?” He gave an ugly scoff. “I’ve seen what these animals can do. In their minds, you’ve chosen the enemy’s bed. They won’t take mercy on you.”

Persephone’s breath left her. Her spine pressed deep to the car seat as she met Charon’s angry gaze. How many men had seen this face just before dying?

“If you don’t want to be treated like a na?ve little girl, stop acting like one,” Charon growled. “I’m going to get you to the penthouse, and you’re going to sit tight until Hades comes home and takes you to dinner. Because he’s been neck deep in shit all week and he wants a nice night out with his wife.”

Unable to find her voice, Persephone jerked her head yes.

Stone-faced, Charon turned around and the car moved on.

Persephone sat quiet, but somewhere, deep inside, her anger started to boil. Stay on the farm, Persephone. Don’t talk back. Mother knows best. Then Hades. Now even Charon. Meanwhile the Eurydices and Ashleys of the world were disposable. Throw them out with last week’s trash. Who would fight for them if not another woman? Who would even fucking care?

She got it, okay? The world was ugly and dark and people were only looking to use one another. But she wanted to believe in something more. She wanted to believe in a world where love meant something and good was real, even if it didn’t always triumph like the storybooks said. It was still worth fighting for.

It was still worth fighting for, dammit.

Hours later, Persephone stepped off the elevator, dressed for dinner. Her bodyguard stood off to her left, a constant shadow. Hades was in a meeting already at the restaurant and was sending his car to pick her up. Following orders, she was to wait for his driver in the lobby.

“Can I wait at the bar?” she asked her bodyguard. He nodded and she stalked towards it. Two guys in designer polo shirts watched her pass, taking in her long legs, put on display perfectly by her short peach-colored cocktail dress. She’d let her hair down and curled the ends so it bounced around her face like a movie star’s. Her makeup played up both her blue eyes and red, red lips.

Charon wanted her to grow up, she’d show him. Hades, too.

She paused as she entered the posh hotel restaurant and pulled out her phone to check it.

Any luck? she texted Athena.

No answer. She’d called Aphrodite and Hermes back too, but gotten only voicemail. The phone would turn up something. It had to.

“White wine, please,” she ordered at the bar. She was about to hop on the bar stool when a familiar snigger caught her ear.

She turned to see a couple sitting at the bar. And her breath caught.

There was Ajax in his long fur coat, gulping down oysters. One of his thugs stood nearby. The man and her own bodyguard exchanged nods.

Persephone felt cold chills up and down her spine as she stared at the mobster. He sat there, so smug and carefree while he caused all this misery.

Persephone’s chest went hot with sudden rage. Probably in part because when she’d seen him earlier today, she’d been so terrified. She hated that he had that power over her, over any of them. She put her hand to her chest to steady herself.

“Ah, Mrs. Ubeli. Looking lovely tonight.” The bastard raised his drink to toast her. His eyes glittered. “Going out? Your husband’s a lucky man.”

Persephone ignored his gold-toothed grin. “Say, Persephone, have you met my little friend? She’s about your age.” He turned and touched the arm of a woman who sat beside him, very straight and stiff, staring ahead.

Her face was hidden behind her brunette hair but her red dress left little to the imagination, cut short on her thighs and even then, open on one side almost up to her waist.

Persephone recognized that tight dancer’s body poured into an hourglass shape. But no. No, it can’t be. Please?—

Ajax turned to grab the woman’s arm and she turned, her hair swinging back from her sculpted face.

Aphrodite.

Before she could stop herself, Persephone was up and moving in their direction. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her bodyguard following and halted. “Where’s the ladies’ room?” she asked a passing server.

By the time Persephone had gotten directions, she was sure Aphrodite would notice her trajectory towards the back of the room and follow. Her mind was racing. What the hell was Aphrodite doing there with Ajax?

Persephone paced for several minutes in the fancy bathroom seating area, waiting for her new friend. Had Ajax figured out they’d been snooping around at the strip club? How much did he know?

Persephone whirled around as the doors opened and Aphrodite finally walked in.

“Aphrodite, what’s going on? Why are you here with Ajax?” Persephone’s voice cut off when she saw the furious look on Aphrodite’s face.

“How dare you,” Aphrodite said. “Like you even care.”

Whatever words Persephone had been about to say died on her lips.

“Persephone Ubeli,” Aphrodite ground out her last name. “You think I wouldn’t find out? Your husband is the biggest mobster in Olympus.”

Under all her makeup, Aphrodite looked tired, but her brown eyes flashed. Persephone wasn’t the only one who was fed up. “I should’ve guessed it when you showed up at The Orchid House. You weren’t there to help. You just needed more soldiers in your war.”

“Aphrodite, no, I?—”

“Don’t.” Aphrodite held up her hand. “I trusted you. I needed to get away from Ajax, not sucked into a vendetta between him and his biggest enemy—your husband.”

Gods, no, that was the last thing Persephone wanted. But how could she even begin to explain?—

“Don’t worry, he didn’t recognize you. It was your friend you brought with you—the designer. You think Ajax doesn’t know his whole business is a front for your husband’s drug trade?”

Persephone drew in a shocked breath. That was why Hermes and Hades were so close?

Persephone shook her head. “Aphrodite, I swear I didn’t know Ajax would recognize Hermes. You have to believe me.”

“Ajax hates your husband,” Aphrodite hissed. “He knows everything about him. And now he thinks I have an in with Hermes somehow. He’s looking for weakness. I should point him straight to you.”

All of Persephone’s air left her lungs.

“Don’t worry,” Aphrodite said bitterly. “I won’t sell you out. I have standards.”

“Gods, Aphrodite, I never wanted to drag you into this. I’m sorry. I’ll get you out of it, I swear?—”

“You’ve done enough.” Then Aphrodite’s face fell, her expression going bleak. “You should know, Ajax will do whatever it takes to hurt your husband. We’re both just collateral damage.” Aphrodite took a step back. “Ajax says he’ll be taking me back to Metropolis to star in some movies. He owns me now.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll figure something out,” Persephone babbled. She didn’t know how, but she had to fix this. “I’ll come for you.”

Tears glistening in her eyes, Aphrodite shook her head. “They call me a whore. But you spread your legs for a monster. I never want to see you again.” And with that, she left.

Persephone let herself sag into a chair. Aphrodite’s words had hurt, but worse than the accusation of betrayal was the look of terror in her eyes.

He owns me now.

Lowering her head into her hands, Persephone tried to think it through. Had she just made everything worse?

The question was, was Ajax still working for the Titans (aka her mom)? Or was he branching out on his own now that there was unrest among the power players?

Either way, it amounted to the same thing. Ajax was just a power-hungry pimp. And he wanted to expand his borders beyond Metropolis. He’d needed an in to New Olympus.

Her mind worked through it, clinging to the facts and trying to work out the bigger picture now that she had even more puzzle pieces.

Ajax was looking for Hades’s weaknesses when he came to town, that was for sure.

He found Orpheus and Orpheus’s weakness—Eurydice. So he kidnapped her to control Orpheus. Then he could use Orpheus to dick around with Hades. But what did that really get Ajax besides giving Hades a headache and a publicity hit when Orpheus refused to play Hades’s club?

No, it had to be about something bigger.

What about that mysterious shipment she kept hearing about? The way people whispered about it, it sounded like a game changer.

It was drugs. It had to be. And now that she knew that Hermes’s businesses were a front for Hades... Ajax wanted a way to get access, so he took Aphrodite.

So what now?

“Come on, think,” she whispered furiously. Pretty, stupid slut.

At least all this meant Hades couldn’t be behind Eurydice’s disappearance. Ajax had thrown that out there to manipulate her, just like he was using Eurydice, and now Aphrodite.

What would he do when Aphrodite and Eurydice no longer helped him get what he wanted?

Persephone felt cold, very cold inside.

A rap on the door startled her. “You okay in there, Mrs. Ubeli?” Persephone’s bodyguard called.

“Coming,” she said, rising.

Enough was enough. The cops wouldn’t help. She couldn’t tail Ajax; she’d only get herself hurt.

No matter the consequences to herself, Hades was Eurydice’s and now Aphrodite’s only hope. He had the resources to take on someone like Ajax. His Shades could find out where Ajax was holding Eurydice.

Persephone checked the mirror and straightened her dress, making sure she looked perfect.

Yes, it was time to talk to her husband.

He would hear her out or he wouldn’t. He’d lock her up again for breaking his rules and going out on her own or he wouldn’t. He’d either help Eurydice and Aphrodite or…

She turned for the door.

Looked like she was still a stupid girl after all because even after everything, hope pulsed in her heart like a beacon that Hades would listen, that Hades would care, and that Hades would be willing to help.

Otherwise, she didn’t know what options Aphrodite or Eurydice might have left.