“Listen to me, little girl. When I say don’t speak to Trevor Wilcox, I mean just that, Persephone. You don’t want to test me, not with this.”

  “And what’s this?”

  He ground his molars. “With me keeping you close. Not listening to me is going to get somebody killed.”

  He put the car in drive, and we were pulling away from the school, the silence heavy and thick, his words rolling through my mind like a broken record.

  I had no idea what he meant, and I didn’t think I wanted to know.

  Chapter 12

  Persephone

  The next few weeks passed in almost a blur, with me focusing on getting acquainted with my classes and focusing on schoolwork and college prep.

  Late at night was the worst. When I was alone in my bed, memories of my parents laughing and smiling ran through my mind. I’d hear my father’s voice tell me everything would be okay even when I wouldn’t ask, even when I wouldn’t be worried.

  But somehow, those words eased me, made me know that, yes, everything would be okay because he said so.

  I’d cry nightly, soft tears over the things I didn’t have anymore, but as the days passed, those tears became less frequent until I’d drift off to sleep without a stuffy nose or swollen eyes.

  And every night I dreamt about Hades, ones where he sat on a throne, flames lashing all around him as if he were the king of the underworld, as if he were the devil himself.

  I hardly saw him except the occasional time we shared dinner together. He was cold and aloof. Distant.

  I didn’t understand why he changed so drastically, and I should’ve been happy that I didn’t have to see him as often, but I felt this weird ache deep within my chest that made no sense.

  And I even became anxious and excited when I knew I’d have dinner with him. But tonight wasn’t one of those nights.

  Hades was no longer taking me or picking me up from school. It had surprised me to see a hulking beast of a man waiting to drive me that first morning without Hades. He’d grunted his name like a caveman, his accent thick. Russian maybe?

  Bruno.

  He sat in the front seat, brooding and silent, only giving harsh answers when I asked him something directly.

  “No speaking with Wilcox boy,” he’d remind me every morning before I climbed out of the car. I just glared and went about my day. His harsh accent made his words seem angry when he would stare at me impassively.

  Although I was still friendly with Trevor at school, I’d been so busy and preoccupied with everything else that there hadn’t been time for me to do anything more than say hello to him in passing.

  It was probably for the best, anyway. This was my last year, and I wanted to focus on getting good grades. Not only that, I had enough drama in my life that I didn’t need to add to by causing the raging bull that was Hades detonating like a damn bomb because I wasn’t “obeying his commands.”

  I made a few friends, and one of them had even talked me into going to a party tonight. With Hades hardly around, I didn’t feel the need to ask him for his permission. Not that I would have, even if he was here. He couldn’t expect me to just stay cooped up in this house and not socialize.

  But a part of me wanted to ask him because it would give me some interaction with the man who was slowly consuming my thoughts over the last few weeks.

  I couldn’t stop picturing him working out in his basement gym, his tattooed body sweaty and bulging with muscles. I imagined those enormous hands sliding over my skin. It would be such a stark contrast. His tanned, ink flesh against my unmarred, pale skin.

  I even slipped my fingers between my thighs and touched myself as I envisioned that before quickly realizing it was sick and twisted and stopped myself.

  My phone beeped with an incoming text. I picked it up off my vanity and looked at the screen. It was from Sophia, one of the girls I had classes with. She’d befriended me shortly after I started school, and over the last few weeks we’d become closer.

  She told me her parents were Italian immigrants and that her father was in the import and export business.

  Be there in five.

  I grabbed my clutch off the vanity and walked downstairs. Although Hades wasn’t here, there was always staff around.

  I could see Bruno sitting on a chair in the cigar room. As soon as he saw me, he set the newspaper down and stood, strutting over to me with a scowl on his face.

  I rolled my eyes as he looked me up and down. I could see the judgment on his face, even though I was fully clothed. A pair of skinny jeans and a formfitting shirt wasn’t me trying to proposition people for sex, but the look on his face said otherwise.

  “Mr. Cronus has instructed that you stay inside unless with a chaperone.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and cocked my eyebrow. Bruno was an intimidating man at six-foot-five and built like a tank. But I noticed he always stayed five feet from me, as if sharing the same airspace would somehow offend his boss.

  “Well, Mr. Cronus isn’t here, and I am an adult. I can come and go as I please, Bruno.” I emphasized his name, and turned, gripping the handle and opening the door just as I saw Sophia’s headlights pulling up the driveway.

  “He won’t like this,” Bruno said from behind me, and I looked over my shoulder.

  “No, I suspect he won’t.” And then I shut the door and climbed into Sophia’s car, feeling a surge of pleasure at the fact that I was pissing Hades off.

  Why did getting under his skin make me feel so good?

  Chapter 13

  Hades

  Listening to Markov drone on and on about what he didn’t enjoy regarding the recent development was grating on my fucking nerves.

  But I sat there with my stoic expression in place, acted like I was paying attention, and tried not to curl my lip in disgust that he conducted this business meeting at a fucking strip club, of all places.

  We were in one of the back VIP rooms at the salacious strip joint Markov owned. I’d had to tell the women to get out because none of the other men were paying attention with all the half-naked asses on display.

  These men might be criminals, using this recent development to launder their money, but this was still business. And business made money, so I let Markov call the shots… to an extent.

  We should do this in a fucking office, not with tits and ass being shoved in our faces. I looked at Markov and Ivan as they kept talking about why they didn’t like a particular aspect of the building.

  The third Russian was too busy staring out the floor-to-ceiling wall of glass that overlooked the main floor of the strip club. It was clear the only thing on his mind was pussy.

  Cronus Enterprises was the legitimate side of the business. That was what Zachariah and Michael had handled. The legal shit that had them front and center in the public eye. Me? I was just the piece-of-shit fake brother and son who had never been good enough to help run the “family business”.

  I had been given the seedy side of work. Money laundering, drug and illicit gun trafficking, and a host of other despicable things that no one else in our circles would have the stomach for.

  And so I made a shell company. Cerberus Corp.

  But things were different now. With Zachariah rotting in the ground, and Michael on his deathbed, I was in charge. I was Cronus Enterprise’s.

  I scrubbed a hand over my jaw, done with this shit. “Markov, does it really matter how big the square footage is for each room?” I finally said, unable to keep my annoyance down.

  The three of them turned their attention to me. I knew who these men were—and not just because they were linked to the Bratva.

  They were the type of males who were used to getting their way, and if they didn’t, they shot bullets through skulls.

  They were the type of people I worked with. The twisted underworld of humanity that I was most comfortable with. Because I’m just as dark and deprived as they are.

  “Excuse me?” Ivan was the one to speak as he looked between me and his boss.

  Markov slowly grinned, but it was far from pleasant.

  I’d been working directly and only with Markov for months now, going over every detail of the development, discussing the illegal aspects. This project was nothing more than a shell company.

  The other men that came with Markov? His lap dogs.

  So I didn’t even bother addressing or acknowledging Ivan. I stared at Markov and lifted an eyebrow, waiting for him to respond.

  “Even if it’s a hole in the fucking wall, you know we’ll take care of your assets. And isn’t that the entire point? Making more money and ensuring you don’t lose any?”

  That was all Markov cared about. That was all his bosses were worried about.

  I wanted out of this fucking meeting. I wanted to get home to see Persephone.

  Over the last few weeks, I’d been so busy with work I’d hardly seen my girl. I wasn’t even counting sneaking into her room at night and watching her sleep.

  But it wasn’t just that reason that kept me away. She was messing with my head, making me second-guess what I really had planned for her. The more I saw her, thought about her, and listened to her sweet, sassy mouth snap back at me, the more I realized I didn’t want to hurt her. Not like that. Not like I’d planned.

  Breaking her until there was nothing left now made my gut wrench and my heart race.

  And it fucking pissed me off.

  So I made myself busy by taking these fucking meetings. I should have passed this bullshit off to someone beneath me. I thought it would have helped clear my head, but she was always on my mind. Being away from her made me think of Bunny even more.

  All I could think about was when she talked back to me the last time I’d picked her up from school.

  I’d wanted to bend her over the hood of my car, flip up the little, plaid skirt of her uniform, pull those cotton panties aside, and fuck her in front of everybody.

  She’d be so tight, so snug, around my thick cock. I’d feel like she’d be strangling me. I nearly groaned at that image.

  Markov was silent, watching me. He was used to people doing what he said with no questions. But my ass, my business, was on the line as well.

  He knew I was the right man for this or he wouldn’t have come to me. So I leaned back, grabbed my whiskey, and brought it to my mouth as I continued to stare at him. The room became tense as the men sitting on either side of him shifted uneasily.

  Maybe they expected him to pull out that gun he had in the inner pocket of his suit jacket. Let him. I had one as well.

  And then he tossed his head back and chuckled at the same time he slapped his knee, like what I’d just said was the funniest thing.

  The men on either side of him relaxed slightly, but they still watched their Pakhan uneasily, waiting for a bomb to drop.

  “You’re right, Hades. You know best about these matters.” He leaned back and held his hands out, palms up. “I like things to be aesthetically pleasing. What can I say…” He glanced at his two soldiers, grinning. “I like things my way.” He laughed again.

  No shit, motherfucker.

  He started speaking to his soldiers in Russian as he leaned over the table again and looked at the blueprints I’d spread out.

  Although I understood what he said perfectly, I didn’t pay him any attention as he spoke to his men. The feeling of my phone vibrating in my pocket had me reaching in and grabbing it.

  I saw Bruno’s number flash across the screen, and instantly, I straightened. I had him on watch duty for my girl.

  I didn’t trust her safety one hundred percent with anyone but myself, but because I couldn’t be there at all times, Bruno was the next best thing to protect her.

  “Yeah.”

  “Boss. I just wanted to check in. She’s left the house and went to a house party.”

  The beautiful brat. “Who’s house party?” Although, I knew the answer even before I asked. Even if she’d done well to stay away from Trevor Wilcox, they were bound to run into each other.

  I had enough people working for me in that school to let me know that she’d been focused on assignments and making new friends with some of the other girls there.

  Her phone records also showed she hadn’t been texting or calling him.

  She probably thought I was being an overbearing asshole, and yeah, that stab of jealousy was bright and hot inside of me. But this was about more than that. Persephone didn’t know the people who made up this world… the people who were closest to her.

  If she knew the type of man Trevor’s father was and the shit that I knew Trevor had done himself, she’d stay far away from him.

  Scaring the hell out of her wasn’t my intention. But maybe I should have just told her that Trevor Wilcox had a record an arm’s length long for sexual misconduct and harassment and even a rape accusation that had gotten pushed under the rug thanks to Daddy Dearest.

  Money and connections bought you a brand-new life and a clean slate.

  “The little asshole’s house. One of her girlfriends picked her up. I’m sitting in front of the house now. It’s pretty packed, and I can’t see her since she’s gone inside. Do you want me to go in and bring her out?”

  I rubbed my eyes and exhaled. It would be easy to have Bruno go in and haul that pretty ass of hers out, take her back to the house, and lock her in her room.

  Nah. I wanted to be the one to do that. If she was going to get punished, I was, again, going to be the one to do it.

  My cock jerked the very thought.

  My little Bunny had this push and pull with me. It was a power struggle. Didn’t she know I was at the top?

  Didn’t she understand, when it came to who was the dominant one, she’d never top me?

  If not… she’d find out soon enough.

  Persephone needed a good dose of discipline.

  “No. I’m forty-five minutes away. I’m coming now. Stay there and watch her. If anything changes, call me right away.”

  I disconnected the phone and slipped it back in my pocket as I stood. Markov and his men glanced up.

  “I have to cut the meeting short.”

  Markov pushed the blueprints away. “Fine with me. I was tiring of looking at these.”

  His accent grew thicker as he snapped his fingers. A second later, the VIP door opened, and three women sauntered in.

  They turned the music on. Markov leaned back again, threw his arms over the back of the couch, spread his legs slightly, and grinned as one girl came over to him and started giving him a lap dance.

  And that was my cue to get the fuck out of here and go get my girl.

  Chapter 14

  Persephone

  I knew as soon as Sophia pulled to a stop in front of Trevor’s house that this had been a bad idea. But I was tired of being alone at the house. I was exhausted from thinking of Hades constantly.

  I wanted to see and feel something that didn’t revolve around him.

  People overflowed out of the three-story mansion.

  I leaned forward and looked out the windshield, seeing a drunk guy stumbling across the landscaped front yard, girls running topless as guys chased them, and a group of dudes singing as loud as they could while holding their plastic cups high in the air.

  “This one’s wild tonight,” Sophia said with almost this excitement in her voice.

  “I thought these were low-key?” That was what Trevor had said, anyway. Clearly, that wasn’t the case.

  “Low-key?” She started laughing and shook her head. “These get so out of hand. Normally, the cops are called a few hours into it. But Trevor’s dad is friends with them, so the police just give everyone a warning and tell us to keep it down.”

  I looked over at her just as she pulled her phone out. She started typing out a text, her fingers working furiously over the screen.

  “Jacqueline and Ariel are already inside. They snagged us a couple of drinks.” She tucked her phone into her clutch and looked at me, grinning. “Come on. It’s time we pop that party cherry of yours.”

  I internally groaned but followed her into the house.

  Guys started throwing out lewd comments our way, and Sophia just lifted her hand and flipped them off as we kept walking.

  There were a few more catcalls in the distance, the sound of girls talking in slurred tones, and then giggling, even some excited screams piercing through the air.

  It wasn’t as if I’d never been to a party before, but the ones I’d gone to had never been like this. Wild and reckless.

  Once inside the mansion, we weaved around the bodies, shoulder-to-shoulder. We made it into the kitchen just as Ariel and Jacqueline came out, swinging their hips as they danced to the music, arms above their head, and two bottles gripped in each of their hands.

  I didn’t know Jacqueline and Ariel very well, and I was pretty sure they didn’t care about being friends with me. But I had a feeling they tolerated me because Sophia was clearly the head of their group.

  They were grinning at Sophia before giving sloppy hugs to her and shoving a bottle against our chests.

  “Bottoms up, bitches,” Ariel shouted and lifted her drink, which ignited a roar from the surrounding crowd.

  After popping the top off my beer, I took a small drink, the flavor bitter as it washed across my tongue and down my throat.

  I wrinkled my nose. I’d just milk it for the time I was here.

  Half an hour later, I felt more like a piece of furniture than someone enjoying the party.

  I stayed back as Sophia and the other girls flirted with some guys, danced, and tossed back more drinks. I kept pressed to the wall, the same beer in my hand. It was warm and completely full.

  I found an artificial plant, edged my way toward it before stealthily dumping the beer into the pot. Not something I would normally do, but I didn’t want anyone giving me a hard time for a “party foul.”

  “Persephone.”

  I heard my name shouted and glanced around the crowded room. I couldn’t see much of anything. All I saw were bodies packed together like sardines.