Chapter 9

Chapter

Nine

P ersephone

The car ride is one of silence, interrupted only by the soft purr of the engine. The tires glide over the road, the car moving fast. Hades takes a bend at a speed that has butterflies soaring in my belly, mixing uncomfortably with the tightness I’ve felt inside since Hades’ conversation with Herman.

The car straightens on a long stretch of road, golden headlights beaming into darkness. My hands knot in my lap, and I flinch when Hades drops his big palm to my thigh, fingers caressing my flesh.

I’ve never flinched under his touch before. Not like this.

I want to weep even as my body warms. My body doesn’t seem to care that I look like his late wife.

My body doesn’t seem to mind that the man my poor heart is falling for is attracted to me out of a twisted longing for a woman who is no more.

I wish I could melt into the seat. To turn invisible.

This hurts more than it should.

“You’ve been quiet.” Hades breaks the silence.

I don’t reply, closing my eyes against the sting of hot tears when he slides his thumb over my thigh. His touch is so gentle, and yet it breaks through all my walls, determined to break me apart for an invasion I have no hope of fighting.

“Persephone,” he calls my name. It’s rough in the soft dark, illuminated only by the glow of the dash and the headlights that spill into the night. “Talk to me.”

I can’t make myself look at him. “Is it true?”

“Is what true?”

The words feel like acid on my tongue. “That I look like her.”

He curses. “Persephone.”

“Do I?”

There is a moment of silence followed by a soft, “Yes.”

It cuts through my aching heart. “I want you to drop me off at the house.”

“No.”

“Hades…” My hands are twisting in my lap now. Shaking. “I need some space. ”

“No.”

“If you take me back to the penthouse, I’ll leave. I will leave, and you’ll never see me again.”

“Don’t threaten me, Persephone. Don’t ever threaten me with you.” There is a vicious current of danger riding the waves of charged electricity that pulses between us. I sense that I should back down, but I can’t.

“I’m serious, Hades. This is wrong—you and me. We’re wrong.” I brush his hand from my thigh. “I don’t want to do this.” My voice cracks. “I can’t do this.”

“I advise you to listen to me now, and listen to me well, Persephone. If you try to leave me, I will stop you. If you manage to flee, I will hunt you, and I will find you.” Dark destruction radiates from the embers of his words, the ashes of all that we could have been going up in flames as he threatens my freedom.

I don’t know what is happening right now. I don’t know this man.

Tears burn my eyes. “How can you not see how wrong this is?”

“Because you’re wrong.” His hands tighten on the steering wheel.

“I look like your dead wife!” I scream. My voice breaks as I sob. “I didn’t even know you were married.”

“I told you about her.”

“You told me about your life partner.” I’m crying now. I don’t know why. He is my boss. A fling. This was always meant to end, so why does it hurt so much?

“Look at me.” When I don’t comply, I feel his hand on my thigh again. The weight is like a shackle I wish I could be bound to even as I ache to escape. “Look at me. Now.”

I am unable to stop myself. Unable to refuse him this. Quietly, I whisper, “This hurts.”

“I can’t lie and tell you that you don’t resemble her. You do.” He curses again when a hot tear escapes from my eye. “But I crave you for the soul you hold inside your body, not for the physical similarities you share with her.”

I shake my head. “This is wrong.”

“My soul recognizes yours.” His hand is impossibly heavy on my thigh now. “I know you feel it. Don’t lie and tell me you don’t. I won’t believe you.”

“Please take me to the house.”

He shakes his head again, and then, with a long sigh, he casts his eyes to the road and drives.

My heart cracks apart, my very life feeling as though it is leaking from the deep of me. Because the very first man I’ve ever loved—the only man I suspect I will ever love—has given up on me.

He’s doing as I asked. He’s taking me to the house I share with the others.

He’s letting me go.