Chapter 46

46

Hades wrenched Persephone to the floor. She moved in slow motion, in shock, not realizing what was going on. As glass smashed and people screamed over the deafening reports, they hunkered down under the table, his body sheltering hers as the gunfire continued.

Persephone didn’t know when the sharp racket stopped. Her ears rang.

Hades already had his phone out and was speaking into it. “Shots fired at Giuseppe’s. Tony should’ve been out front. We need backup.” He crouched beside the table, barely a hair out of place.

Persephone pushed up from the floor as her husband pocketed his cellphone. His other hand was fitted around a gun.

The weapon brought the world into focus.

“You ok?” he was asking. She read his lips and nodded. A minute ago they’d been sitting at the table. He was about to kiss her and then— And then?—

“Sit tight. I’ll be right back.”

Slowly, she started to hear the sounds in the restaurant: the dazed, pained din of shocked patrons. Some crying, a few screams.

Weirdly, Persephone’s teeth started chattering, but her body became light and loose, untethered from the moment.

Her thoughts swirled. I’ve never been shot at before. No, wait, that wasn’t right. Her mom had shot at her. Well, at Hades, but the bullet had hit her. Still, she didn’t remember that gunshot being as loud as these were. So loud. Was this what Hades’s life was usually like? But… It would be his enemies shooting. So that meant… Her own family, right? Did her mom know she was here? Did they want her dead, too?

Before the whole world started to crash down again, Hades returned. “Come on.” His face was cold and chiseled even as he held out his left hand to help her up.

They left through the back kitchen, hurrying past a shrieking Giuseppe and his panicking workers to escape into an alley. A black sedan rolled up and Hades opened the door, climbing in behind Persephone.

“What do we know?” he barked at the driver.

“All other Shades were out of range but Tony’s on their tail. He saw them pull in and called for backup. They took off right after firing the warning shots.”

“Firing into a restaurant where I’m eating with my wife—that’s more than a warning. That’s asking for war,” Hades bit out. “Get Charon on the phone.”

War. She’d known somewhere in the back of her head that things were escalating between her family and Hades. But war? She was being na?ve and stupid again. Really, it was shocking that it had been put off for this long.

It had been easier to dig her head in the sand, though, and fight for something tangible. To fight for Eurydice.

But here it was. Her husband sat across from her, calling out orders with a gun in his hand. Rocco, Santonio, Joey and Andy DePetri—they weren’t just rough-looking men who were nice to her when Hades met with them at the Chariot. They were warriors and her husband was their general.

People died at their hands. Just like people had probably died tonight, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time: standing between the gunmen and their target: Hades and her, the Ubelis, rulers of the Underworld.

We’re just collateral damage.

The adrenaline hit Persephone’s stomach. She doubled over and retched onto the car floor.

And then Hades’s hands were there, holding back her hair and offering her his handkerchief to wipe her mouth.

“You’re ok, baby,” his voice was clipped but his hand was soothing on her back.

The driver talked over his shoulder. “Charon’s online, says Tony lost the trail. But it’s looking like it isn’t Poseidon.”

She heard all the words but barely registered them. The voices sounded muted and far away, like she was underwater and separate from everything that was happening.

“Put him on,” Hades ordered, sitting forward, one hand still on Persephone’s back even as she curled up into the car seat, trying to make herself as small as possible.

“Where the fuck is Poseidon?”

“Back to the ship,” came Charon’s voice over the speakers. “He’s not coming back.”

“If he crossed us, I swear to the gods?—”

“Not him. I was with him the whole time. You think this is Metropolis?”

Hades breathed hard out his nose. “Has to be. And they know about the shipment. Must be an inside man.”

“Ajax.” Even over the phone, Charon’s menace was clear, a tangible hate. Persephone couldn’t believe she’d ever thought for a minute Ajax was their associate.

“We move on him now, it’s all-out war,” Hades said. “The Titans will move in to protect him. We’ll lose Poseidon, the shipment, the deal, everything.”

“What do you want to do?” Charon asked.

Persephone watched her husband control himself and take his emotions in hand, shutting them down. Always so controlled. How did he do that? She wanted it so desperately right now, to not be able to feel anything.

“Ignore Ajax,” Hades fired orders into the phone. “We’ll deal with him later. Meet can’t happen tonight. We prep the street, tell Poseidon we need more time.”

“Needs to be soon,” Charon answered. “Poseidon wants the deal, but he’s not a patient man.”

“Tomorrow then. I’ll tell our man with the force and he’ll keep the docks swept.”

“We get this done and then we start making plans to visit our friends in Metropolis.” Her husband’s voice hardened, and Persephone could feel cold rage rolling off him.

“Any word from Tony on the scum who did this?”

“He lost them. But they fired on sacred ground. We’ll make them pay.”

Oh gods. Persephone leaned forward then, whispering, “Giuseppe and the people there—are they ok?”

Hades’s eyes cut to her.

“Yeah, Charon, you hear that? Make sure the Shades are standing by to see how we can help these people, ok?”

Persephone sagged back. She didn’t have anything left. Nothing left. She was used up. Wrung dry. Collateral damage.

Hades hung up the phone.

“Never again,” he said, staring at the road in front of them. “Never again.”

“Where to, Mr. Ubeli?” the driver asked quietly.

“Take us to the Estate,” Hades ordered.