Chapter 51

51

The docks looked like a black extension of the street until Ajax’s thugs pulled Persephone out of the car. Then she could see the pier drop off into the water, a pit of blackness. She shivered in the chilly night air, wearing nothing but jeans and a soft sweater, now spattered with blood. One of the thugs kept his grip tight on her arm as they walked forward.

Persephone felt…blank. The whole drive here she’d tried to think of what she’d say to Hades, how she’d try to explain it. But then all she could see was Eurydice’s face. Her eyes and that second when the life went out of them. Persephone had watched her go. One second she was there and the next she was just…gone.

It didn’t make sense. It wasn’t fair. Good was supposed to win in the end. Even Hades, eventually, he loved her. At least he had before he’d known what she’d done.

“See, what’d I tell you,” Ajax said to his driver, a tall man with a gold earring. “They’re using a smaller ship to bring in the goods. Nothing fancy. Poseidon always was smart.”

Persephone let them lead her down the sidewalk, into a warehouse where a bunch of crates were piled on a vast stretch of concrete floor.

Three men waited for them in the moonlight, three to match Ajax’s three. Persephone’s chest clenched. Hades, Charon, and another Shade. Ajax approached them confidently.

The thug who held Persephone twisted her arm up behind her as he jammed the gun into her back and she couldn’t help whimpering.

Even in the moonlight she could see the cold fury in Hades’s face.

Oh, Hades. Forgive me.

“Let me check this out first,” Ajax said. He nodded to Gold Earring guy, who took out a crowbar and headed for a crate. After prying it open the man held up a nondescript bottle. “Metamorphoses Spa,” the thug read, then looked up at his leader, confused. “It’s hair gunk.”

“Give it here,” Ajax ordered. He unscrewed the cap, and shook out a small white pill. He held it up, sniffed it. “Pure,” he said with triumphant satisfaction. “The Brothers are going to love this.”

“Let’s get this over with,” Hades ordered from the shadows.

“Oh, no, Ubeli. You don’t get to make demands anymore.” Ajax waved a hand and Persephone was pushed forward, forced to walk to Ajax so he could hook her under his arm. His other hand raised the gun to her temple.

“You know why I only shot up the front of that restaurant even though I knew you were in the back? Because I want to see the look on Ivan Titan’s face when I tell him Hades Ubeli’s legs are cut from under him, he’s got no goods, and his own men are turning on him.”

Ajax’s gold tooth flashed as he grinned. “What are your guys going to do when the shipment’s gone and they ain’t got nothing to push, no way of getting paid? We’ll sell it back to them in Metropolis. And Poseidon, what’s he going to think?”

“Hand over my wife.” The vein in Hades’s temple pulsed; Persephone could see it from twelve feet away.

“Let me tell you how this goes,” Ajax continued as if Hades hadn’t spoken. “You get out of here, all of your men, all of you. Then I turn the girl loose and you leave, forever. This is mine.”

Persephone couldn’t stop her trembling anymore. Ajax wrapped his arm tighter around her body and rammed the gun into the side of her head. She kept her eyes on Hades, letting her body go limp. She became a ragdoll. A weak thing. A victim.

But while everyone was watching Charon and her husband, Persephone’s fingers slipped between the folds of Ajax’s coat and found his pocket.

And her phone.

“Stand down,” Ajax was saying. “I’m not a patient man.”

Jerking suddenly in his arms, Persephone reached up and stuck the edge of her phone—along with the Wasp that Athena had attached all those weeks ago—right into Ajax’s neck.

The voltage hit him a second later, jolting through him with enough force to knock him back. He bellowed in surprise and pain, stumbling backwards and almost falling to the pavement.

Persephone staggered too, letting the phone drop. She’d barely regained her feet before someone hit her and brought her down to the concrete, cradling her body against his.

“I got you,” Charon rumbled, and spread his large body over hers. She cringed as she heard bullets flying past them.

Then they were both up and Charon was running, carrying her out of the warehouse and into the cold night.

Persephone couldn’t see anything, could barely hear anything, but she clung to Charon’s shoulders. Then they were in an alleyway and the sound of bullets seemed farther away.

A black car pulled in front of them and the door opened. Charon ducked inside, sliding Persephone in before him.

Charon barely had tucked his feet into the car before he barked to the driver. “Go.”

“Wait! Hades—” Persephone shrieked, before she was thrown back into the seat by the car’s sudden acceleration. It pulled out of the alley and around to the front of the warehouse, where the Shades were fighting Ajax’s men.

A dark figure burst out of the warehouse and Charon threw open the door. Hades. He dove into the car and the driver screeched off from the curb, letting the door slam shut on its own.

“Got ‘em,” Hades reported, and checked his gun before turning and taking Persephone from Charon. She threw her arms around Hades.

A second later, though, he was pulling back from her.

“You ok?” He touched her cheeks and gripped her arms, grabbing her wrists and turning them frantically to inspect her hands.

Oh gods, he must think— “It’s not my blood,” she said hurriedly.

He pulled her to him, hugging her close.

“Never again,” he muttered. “Never again.”

Persephone sagged into her husband, letting her shaking subside in his strong arms. He was here. He was safe. They were both safe and Ajax was gone. It was going to be okay. It was all going to be okay.

That was when she heard the police sirens.

Close.

Too close.

Hades’s muscles tensed. “What the—” he started. Persephone looked up to see him glaring at Charon over her head.

Charon was already taking a headpiece from the driver and tuning in.

“Police band says an unmarked beige car was followed to the docks. Shots fired.”

Hades cursed. “Ajax. Stupid to the last. He must’ve been tailed here.”

Oh. Shit.

It hit her all at once. There hadn’t been any interference with her mic or the button camera. Pete had seen and heard every single thing that had gone on in Ajax’s safe house.

And he’d decided he wanted a bigger bust after overhearing Ajax talk about the drug shipment. No matter that Persephone had said the safe word and tried to get her and Eurydice out before?—

Persephone squeezed her eyes shut. The cops had betrayed her. And Eurydice had died because of it.

Blue and red police lights were already washing over the brick walls as the car slunk away down a back alley.

Persephone nestled closer to Hades, feeling sick even as she did it. Because Pete’s wasn’t the only betrayal of the night.

She’d betrayed Hades. She lied to him. Conspired with his enemies. Brought the cops to his very doorstep.

“Sir, another report. This one from the club, Elysium,” the driver spoke up.

At Hades’s nod, the man continued. “Rioting started right after intermission. Orpheus came on and told everyone he was only going to play one more song. A song for the dead.”

The man paused, touching his headpiece as if he wasn’t sure if what he was hearing was true. “Cops tried to settle everybody but they revolted, rushed the stage. The cops were overwhelmed. They got the mayor out first, and helped the people who were getting trampled.”

The man grimaced. “But they didn’t get to the stage on time. Orpheus was…torn apart. They say there’s no other word for it… He’s dead.”

Persephone jerked then, feeling horror jolt through her just when she’d been sure she didn’t have any more capacity for grief.

Hades’s arms flexed briefly, as if he was trying to comfort her. Her. When she was the one who’d brought this all down on their heads.