Page 1 of Artemis

CHAPTER1

Theclick-clackof Artemis Chase’s four-inch spiked slingback heels echoed through the marble halls of Purgatory’s only bank. The shuffle of sneakers followed, her assistant, Luna, right behind her.

“And Charon wants to open a branch on his flagship casino cruise ship. He’s sent you a proposal.”

“At least he knows how to do things properly,” Artemis said. “Put the report on my desk and I’ll look at the numbers this afternoon.”

“Yes, Miss Chase.”

“Any word from the jackass?” Artemis felt her stomach flip just thinking about the man.

“No, I still haven’t been able to reach Mister Blanca,” Luna replied apologetically. “I’ll keep trying. There’s still a couple weeks until the party.”

Artemis sighed and rubbed her temples, lifting the arms of her glasses with her motion. “It shouldn’t be this difficult to invite a man to his own son’s birthday party.”

“To be perfectly honest—” Luna stopped abruptly.

“Go on.” Artemis raised an eyebrow at her assistant.

Luna swallowed hard and looked at a spot just above Artemis’s left ear. “He hasn’t even met your son. Why bother reaching out at all?”

“Valid question.” Artemis continued on the way to the secondary meeting room. “Trust me, I don’t do it for me. If it was just me, I would never contact that bastard again. But Alexander may want to know his father. Maybe he’s happy now, but in the future...” Artemis paused in front of a mirrored wall, checking her appearance for any flaws.

“You have a wisp of hair coming out of your French braid,” Luna said, shifting her clipboard onto one hip and reaching into the bag swinging at her side. “I’ve got it, hang on...” She pulled out a comb and a travel-sized bottle of hairspray before working her magic to get the midnight-black hair to lay flat again. “And you’ve half chewed off your lipstick.” Luna handed her boss a wipe to remove the rest while she searched in her bag for the small tubes. “Pink, nude, or red?”

Artemis studied herself in the mirror. Today, she was wearing a pencil skirt suit, high-waisted with a flared jacket. Underneath the jacket was her favorite sheer white blouse with small red cherries scattered across it. “Red, if it matches the cherries.”

Luna popped the cap of the tube of lipstick and offered it to her boss, who swiped it over the back of her hand. “Perfect match,” Luna decided.

Quickly applying the lipstick, Artemis blotted her lips, checked her teeth, and cleaned off her hand. “All good?”

“Couldn’t be better,” Luna said.

“There’s no way I could do this without you. The amount of care I have to take in my appearance when a man can show up to a meeting with their shirt untucked and tie undone...” Artemis seethed for a minute.

“Did you catch a glimpse of Mister Mercury when he arrived?” Luna asked, surprised.

“I didn’t need to. I know his type.” Artemis rolled her shoulders back and continued on her way to the meeting room.

“He seemed pretty pissed when I instructed security to bring him here rather than your office.” Luna trotted along beside her. She checked her clipboard. “And you have a board meeting in thirty minutes.”

Artemis paused, one elegantly manicured hand resting on the handle of the door to the meeting room. She took the file regarding Mercury from Luna and opened the door. “No, I have a board meeting in ten minutes.”

Ignoring Luna’s gasp as the door closed between them, Artemis tapped the file into the palm of one hand as she examined the man who had come to meet with her.

Mercury was dressed exactly as she had predicted, shirt one size too large, untucked, with his tie loose around his neck. He hadn’t even bothered to bring a jacket, as far as she could see. His hair was slicked back with so much product that she could smell it from across the room, although perhaps that was his cologne.

The guy didn’t stand up to greet her, which...

Come on. Rude!

She tossed the file on the table between them and it slid toward him.

He put his hand on it, but didn’t open it. “I hear you might be expanding your business.”

Artemis raised a perfect eyebrow. “I have a few proposals I’m looking at,” she said, not wanting to commit to anything. She hadn’t looked at Charon’s paperwork yet, afterall.

How does Mercury know about that?

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