Page 11 of Winning Back Persephone

"Well, yes. But what about expansion? What about moving on to the next thing and conquering the next business challenge?" I asked, putting more of my moussaka onto my fork.

Nyx raised an eyebrow. "Hades does all of those things with the club," she pointed out. "Most people don't need to start fifty businesses."

"Five," I corrected. "I have five."

"Mmhmm. And no doubt you're doing something big for all of them this month."

"Just for the newest," I said. "I have a handbag launch." I looked over to where I'd put all of the plans and details about it. There was still a lot to organise for the day, including a launch event. I had the space booked, but I was running out of time to pull everything together.

"And how are you managing with it all?"

"Do you know an event planner?" I mumbled. It was hard for me to accept that I needed help, but sometimes there really was no getting around it.

"Only Aphrodite."

I sighed. "I guess I could ask her." She'd never been big on sisterly affection, but there wasn't really any bad blood between us, unless I counted the Adonis thing, which I didn't. It was so long ago, and they'd both moved on. "That would make things easier."

"It's okay to ask for help," she responded.

"I know." While I didn't want to admit it to anyone, I'd taken on more than I should have. Hades was the one who usually talked me down from addingone more thingto my plate, andI hadn't heard his voice of reason in my head for the past two years. If anything, I'd been purposefully doing everything I could to avoid having Hades on my mind. It didn't really work.

"Maybe you can ask Jinx to sponsor your event or something," Nyx suggested. "That way, you'd have access to their events team."

I snorted. "Right now, I'm not happy with them. I was planning on emailing Aine to make sure none of her team set me up on another date with Hades." Though there was also a part of me that wanted to leave it be and hope that theydidset me up with Hades again. "I hardly want to help them by using my business to push Jinx."

Nyx shrugged. "It was just an idea. They seem to have their hands in everything at the moment. I even heard that Aine was in the process of buying a hotel."

"She's certainly done well for herself with all of the membership fees." I could appreciate that. She was clearly an astute businesswoman even if she was a love goddess, and some of them were lacking in good sense

"She has. Maybe you could ask her about her events team as compensation for ending up having dinner with Hades."

"I don't think it warrants any compensation. We had a nice time."

"Oh, Persephone."

"What?" I set down my fork, content with the food and how good it was to eat something fresh.

"You know you're still in love with him, right?"

"Well, yes. Of course I know that, I'm not an idiot. That's why I can't keep going on dates with him," I pointed out. "Otherwise, we're just going to end up right back where we started." Though, as more time passed, I was starting to question whether that wasn't where I wanted to be.

I pushed the thought to the side. It didn't matter what I thought. Hades was dating again, which must mean that he didn't want to be with me anymore and wasn't struggling with any of these thoughts or feelings. It was better for me if I just avoided him as much as possible and didn't dwell on what could have been, even if there was a part of me that desperately wanted to see him again.

Chapter 7

HADES

I wasn't sure why I'd agreed to come to Jinx's Valentine's Day party. Not only had I never celebrated the day before, but the party was being hosted byCupid. I was sure he was perfectly pleasant to those who weren't Greek gods, but there was still tension between us and them for the fall of the Greek Empire. And then there was the fact that he was the head of Jinx's matchmaking department, and they'd decided that sending me and Persephone on a date was a good idea.

It had been perfect, which was the precise problem. I didn't need anything to remind me of my former wife and what I lost when she decided to walk away from our marriage. I understood why she'd done it, but that didn't make it any easier to watch her live her life away from me. If there was anything I could do to win her back, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But I also knew Persephone, and there was no way she would admit that was even a possibility.

I headed to the bar to get myself a drink, nodding to several of the other gods who were in attendance this evening. I still hadn't managed to get to many of the Jinx events, and if this washow many people there would be at them, then I wouldn't be coming to many more.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Hades," a familiar voice said.

I looked up, only half-surprised to find Aphrodite leaning against the bar with her long blonde hair perfectly styled. "I can't say the same for you."

"Well, my boyfriend did assist Cupid with the planning," she said.

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