Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Jafar

“She’s gone.”

After last night, I spent all day waiting for this call. Knowing what we shared wasn’t enough to keep Jasmine at my side.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Keep a man on her for the time being.” As tempting as it is to track Jasmine down and haul her ass back to the penthouse, if I do that, I’ll break something between us. Something new and fragile and infinitely rarer than I could have dreamed.

I love her.

The truth should be cause for celebration. She loves me, too. She might not have said it aloud, but it’s there in the trust she places in me every time we interact. Relationships have been started on less, and ours has a whole hell of a lot of foundation—and baggage. It’s the latter that we have to work through, and right now that means Jasmine needs her space. When I put her in the penthouse, I wondered how long it would take her to figure out how to override the elevators. Her father tried to lock her up, too, but she always managed to slip free of the barriers he put in place. A locked door had nothing on that woman.

Yes, I love her, and that means I have to let her go.

Jeremiah clears his throat. “Sorry, Jafar, I wasn’t clear. Someone outside hacked the elevators to take her down to the parking garage. I have her getting into a car I’ve traced back to The Underworld.”

I go still. “Did she make a deal?” It’s more rhetorical question than anything, but Jeremiah answers me all the same.

“I don’t think so. It took us a few minutes before we realized she’d left the building, but they didn’t go straight back to the club. They took a detour to a hotel around the corner.” A hesitation, the only warning I get before he delivers unwelcome news. “They dropped her there. With Ali.”

My vision goes white for several seconds and it’s all I can do to breathe through the fury. “Then Ali is the one who made the deal.”

“That’s my bet.”

I turn and head for the exit. It’s one thing for my woman to decide she needs some fucking space and take it. This isn’t that. Jasmine would never go to Ali, not willingly. If that was even an option, she wouldn’t have begged me to save her that first night. She wouldn’t have vomited after her encounter with him in The Underworld. To think of her in his hands right now …

I can’t afford to think about it. “Find him, Jeremiah. If he was in that hotel, then he left record. Find him right fucking now.”

“Yes, sir.”

I hang up and stare at the phone clenched in my hand. As satisfying as it would be to shatter it, it’s not worth the outward expulsion of anger. I close my eyes and count to ten, and then I do it a second time. My fury hasn’t retreated, the sharp edge of fear driving it on, but I can think clearer now. Jeremiah might be able to track Ali down now that we have an active starting point, but I know someone who will have that information at hand.

Hades was never one to leave anything up to chance.

I almost order my men to the car, but if my arrival appears like I’m launching an attack, that’s exactly how Hades will respond. The Underworld has only been under siege once before. It was before my time, but word has it that it lasted over a month before some sort of agreement was put in place. Jasmine doesn’t have thirty days.

She might not have even one.

It takes me twenty minutes to reach the club. I can barely hold myself still as I take the elevators up. I have never had a problem containing my emotions when my goal was at hand. Emotion is something to manipulate in other people. Letting it get the best of me? Unacceptable.

That’s not an option right now.

I keep thinking of the fear on Jasmine’s face that morning at The Underworld. The way she was willing to move to violence the night her father sold her in marriage to Ali. He will break her. I wasn’t lying when I told her that. I’m a monster, but at least I admit as much from the start. Ali plays the part of a hero, a good guy, and saves his dark deeds for private.

Meg meets me at the second set of elevators. She holds up her hands. “You do not want to go up there looking like that.”

I plant my feet because I don’t trust myself to get close to her, not with Jasmine’s life and safety on the line. “You were there last night. You’re the one who put this into motion.”

She narrows her eyes. “Don’t try the white hat card, Jafar. Not with me. We’re all playing our own games right now. I’m sorry Jasmine got caught up in them, but it changes nothing.”

I glance up, as if I can concentrate hard enough to see through the floor to where Hades is no doubt holed up. “He took that deal knowing it would cross me.”

“He takes a lot of deals knowing they will cross a lot of people. Don’t act like you’re special.”

“She considered you a friend.”

“Did she?” Meg raises her brows. “Then you should thank me for removing her from your care because she’s a goddamn liability.”

I hate her in that moment. Meg pretends she’s above us baser creatures, but the truth is that she’s right down in the muck with us. If she wanted out, she could have pulled it off years ago. “If something happens to her because of his deal, I’ll personally burn this place to the ground.”

“You’ll try.” She gives me a long look. “You care about her.”

“No shit I care about her. Fuck, Meg, did you think this was all about power?”

“Power and sex.” She shrugs and toys with her long brown hair. “It always was for you.”

“It’s not so simple. Not with her.” I lose my cool and rake my fingers through my hair. This was a wasted trip. Once Hades makes a deal, he never goes back on it. He could give me the information I need if he’s feeling generous, but Meg standing here, playing the part of gatekeeper means that’s not the case. “Where is she?”

“Jafar.” She shakes her head slowly. “You know better. The deal was made. We’ve washed our hands of the situation until it’s time to collect payment.”

I bite back my snarl at last minute. “Then I’m wasting my time.”

“Yes, you are.” She turns and walks to the elevators. She doesn’t look back.

I misplayed this from the beginning. I was so determined not to owe anyone anything that I didn’t even consider taking one of Hades’s deals. The second I realized Ali was gunning for Jasmine, I should have done whatever it took to remove him. Now she’s paying for my arrogance.

Fuck.

There’s nothing to do but leave. I take the elevators back down to the ground floor. I’m pulling out my phone as I catch a flash of green from the corner of my eye. I look up as Tink approaches, her expression just as irritated as ever. She shoves a piece of paper at me. “Get her back, asshole.” And then she’s gone, striding into the elevator and jamming the button to close it.

I carefully unfold the paper and hiss out a breath. I recognize Hades’s artful handwriting. That shit is almost calligraphy. The note is short and to the point.

Balthazar’s house.

This balances the scales.

-H

Balances the scales. I take a slow breath. If Ali hadn’t trespassed in The Underworld and pissed Hades off, I’d be shit out of luck right now. I can’t think about that too closely, can’t consider how narrowly this edged in my favor.

I dial Jeremiah. “Stop what you’re doing and get all the men. I know where they are.”

It was time to get my woman.