Page 31 of Hades

“You know the media and the police are comparing the Obsidian Riders to the Ellway boys,” Lucifer said, ignoring their father’s grunts of pain.

“Yes, and I’m disappointed to have such disgraceful sons ruining my good name.”

“Your good name?” Hades asked, taking a threatening step forward.

“Hades, chill,” Lucifer warned.

Hades held his hand up to his brother and continued speaking. “You don’t have a good name,Henry. All this shit is fake. You think beating me and my mother for years isgood? You think because you fooled these people into making you mayor for a second term means you’regood? Lil nigga, ain’t shit good about you. You gave us names of the devil, knowing you came straight from a demon’s nut sack. You made us who we are, so if we’re a disgrace, lil bitch ass nigga, it’s because of you.”

“Don’t speak about Ashley,” Henry said, his voice sounding small and tired. “You don’t know what you’re talking about?—”

“No, you don’t talk about my mother!” Hades roared, causing Lucifer to stand up and walk around the desk. He placed a hand on Hades’s chest in case he needed to hold him back. Their mother was a really touchy subject for him. “You’re the reason she’s dead! And if in any sick or twisted way you fuckin’ loved her, then you need to help us!”

The pain in his voice was tangible, and his erratic breathing threatened to send him straight into a cardiac arrest. As bad as he wanted to beat his father until he was no longer amongst the living, he refrained. He thought about Eris, Dante, and Lucifer, who whispered calming words to him now. He thought about Harley. Hades used every bit of self-control he had, which wasn’t much, to stay on the opposite side of the desk from his father.

Henry dropped his head. “What do you need?”

“We need you to start by firing the police chief and any other crooked cop in the city,” Lucifer replied. “A man named Drew is the one responsible for all the crime in the city, not the Obsidian Riders. Drew has the police in his back pocket, and they’re coming down hard on us. Drew has started threatening us and the people close to us, and we just want it to end. We ain’t outhere causing trouble, man. All we want to do is go back to living in peace.”

“How do I know you’re being honest?” Henry asked, rubbing his temple gingerly.

“Do you think we would come here if we didn’t absolutely need your bitch ass?” Hades snapped, genuinely over this conversation. “We don’t have any parts of what’s going on in the city, and unless you want every news station in the country to know what kind of man you really are, you’ll handle this.”

That got Henry’s attention. Hades had let him live his fake ass bourgeois life up until now because speaking on his childhood was entirely too much to handle, but if he had to face that fear and sing his story at the top of his lungs to anyone who would listen, he would. It would ruin his father’s reputation, and he would live the rest of his miserable days in exile, away from the precious city he grew up in.

With fear in his eyes and in a shaky tone, he said, “I’ll handle it.”

Hades stared at him, his intense gaze full of emotion, before he started for the door. “Make sure you do, and quickly, or not only will I make good on my threat, after the media has their time with you and everything you worked so hard for is taken from you, I’ll come and find you, and I promise the place I’m sending you won’t be as comfortable as hell.”

Hades walked out of the room, happy with the outcome of the meeting, but coming completely undone in its wake. There was only one person he wanted to see, and he was about to break every traffic law in order to get to her as quickly as possible.

Still shaken up,Harley stayed tucked in her room with Pixie, not sure she wanted to venture out into the world ever again.

She wasn’t sure what went down between Hades and Drew before he got to her, but she knew she hated how unsettled she’d been feeling.

Freshly showered, she lay in the bed, petting Pixie, who lay on top of her, while she stared at the ceiling. She wanted to call Blair and Sage to find some form of comfort, but she knew this situation would only add to their worry concerning her. Neither of her friends were really sure why she was still living with Hades or what she had going on with him, and Harley couldn’t really tell them if she wanted to, because she didn’t have the answers. All she knew was that she felt safe here. It didn’t matter thatHades drove her insane or pissed her off for sport. His home had somehow become a haven for her. She tried desperately to wrap her mind around the why of it all, but she came up short every time. By all intents and purposes, Hades should have been someone she hated. She wanted to hate him, but she couldn’t bring herself to.

Her thoughts halted when her bedroom door banged open. Startled, she sat straight up, disturbing Pixie, who had been sound asleep.

Hades stood in her doorway scowling at her, and the tension in the room could suddenly be cut with a knife. With one quick glance at Pixie, he said, “Bed.”

Pixie hopped up and wagged her tail at the edge of the bed. When Hades saw Harley was frozen in place and wouldn’t help Pixie off the bed, his frown deepened, and he walked over to them in three long strides.

As soon as Pixie was placed on the floor, she scurried over to her bed in the corner and got comfortable, peering at the two humans in the room curiously.

“Come with me.” Hades turned and marched out of the room, not bothering to look behind him.

Just like Pixie had just done, Harley scurried to obey his order, her heart pumping wildly in her chest. When they got home earlier, Hades and Lucifer disappeared into his office, leaving her with nothing to do but check on Eris and Dante before taking a shower.

That was a few hours ago, and now he seemed even more upset than he had been earlier. She wondered what happened, worried it had something to do with Drew. Prior to their breakup, she realized she had been somewhat shielded from how big of a menace he and the men he hung around were. Now, she understood that he got away with a lot, and he caused issues for others, the complete opposite of how she operated inher day-to-day life. The pull she felt to break up with him had been completely justified. They were clearly no match for one another, yet he was determined to make her his again.

When they got into Hades’s bedroom, he stood at the door and waited for her to walk by. She stepped just inside the door timidly, and he slammed it shut. The next thing she knew, she was sandwiched between the wall, and her legs automatically wrapped around his middle.

His jaw clenched and unclenched as he stared into her eyes, and she realized that Hades was another man who she was not compatible with. The difference between him and Drew was her spirit wasn’t telling her to run from him. In fact, when he was near, she felt at peace and completely at ease.

Harley cocked her head to the side as she realized something new danced in Hades’s expression. Underneath the coldness he always exuded was a new emotion she couldn’t quite put her finger on. His eyes looked glossy as she studied him closer, placing her hand on his cheek. Finally, she hesitantly asked, “Hades, what’s wrong?”

He closed his eyes and shook his head before leaning his forehead against hers. He pressed against her so hard she could barely breathe, and she just knew there would be a dent in her forehead from his, but oddly, she welcomed it. Clearly, he needed this moment, and she did her best to stay completely still and just be there for him.

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