Page 73 of Flowers Near Me

Persephone rolled her shoulders, meeting his gaze with defiance. “It’s irrelevant.”

“My brother’s errand boy came into the building, then checked one of the key developer’s phones.” His voice rose in volume with each word. “It’s very relevant given that we had a breach that threatened the existence of the app.”

She made a breathy noise from the back of her throat. “It has no relevance to that or the app itself.”

“You won’t tell me?”

“If Charon or Hecate asked you to keep a secret, and you promised, would you keep your word or betray their trust?”

“What aboutmytrust?” Pain and anger filled every syllable. The glass windows creaked as frost spread over the panes, catching Persephone’s attention. Her slender neck flexed before she met his eyes again.

When no reply came from her, he scoffed. “It doesn’t matter what you promised him. You gave him access to a member of our team’s phone and then tried to hide it.”

“He’s Zeus’ messenger… orerrand boy,as you said. He’s free to come and go as he pleases.” She wasn’t yelling, but her voice was starting to match the volume of his.

He bent forward at eye level with Persephone. “He’s free to move at the behest of the gods and goddesses. Tell me, little goddess, didyousend him off on a task? And if not, whose business was it? Because he didn’t come to deliver a message. He snuck in to spy.”

She stiffened. “I don’t have any information that is of value to you. You can either take that at face value and trust me, or take whatever recompense you need in order to satisfy your security protocols. If you’re not going to do either one of those things, then I think it’s a good time for me to finish my lunch elsewhere.” She packed the remaining half of her sandwich into the box then rested her interlocked her hands on top of it.

Hades’ mouth twisted into a sneer. “Get out.” He gestured with his chin towards the door, straightened his back, then unlocked his computer.

Without a sound, Persephone stood up and left while Hades kept his eyes on his screen. At the sound of his office door shutting, he held his head in his hands and swallowed hard.

A throbbing pulse banged his temple and disappointment stabbed his chest. He sat up again and grabbed his phone, determined to deal with his anger later. Why wouldn’t she tell him the truth?

He texted Hecate.

Hades

Bring Hermes to my office.

Both the young messenger and the Goddess of Sorcery appeared before him in a flash.

“Take a seat, Hermes,” he said. Hermes promptly dropped into the seat.

Eyes locked on his computer, Hades pulled up the lobby’s security feed and rewound to the moment Persephone and Hermes had started talking.

Sweating and shivering, Hermes squirmed in the chair. “Hades, I didn’t mean any harm! I just wanted to check Sophia’s text from an old ex of mine?—”

Hades held out his palm. Wisps of his power leaked from his hand and squeezed Hermes until he released a pain-filled cry. “Don’t lie to me. Why were you in my building?”

“Do you know Sophia? On Eurydice’s team?”

He gave a single nod but didn’t loosen the strangling grip his power kept on Hermes’ torso.

Gasping for air, Hermes managed to say, “W—we’ve been seeing each other then, one night, I saw my ex had texted her.”

Hades scowled. “Hermes, are you telling me you had Persephone help you into a secure area so you could check your lover’s text messages? Because if so, then it’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard all year. And think about that because your boss is my brother and by now you know what an idiot he can be.”

Hermes released a weak groan. “I know it’s dumb, but I needed to know what my ex said.” Hermes sucked in a long breath as Hades loosened his power’s grip.

“And that was reason enough for Persephone to let you in and compromise the app she’s promoting?”

Hands shaking, Hermes waved and shook his head. “Shit! No, it’s not like that. I asked her because I knew she’d help me. I just wanted to read the text.”

Hades rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was a tempting story to believe because it exonerated Sephy from any major wrongdoing. Sure, she shouldn’t have just let Hermes in, but if she was simply covering for a friend, insecure in his relationship, then Hades’ rising fears of her possible treachery may not be true.

“What did you see on Sophia’s phone?” Hades picked up his phone.

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