Which means letting Hades foot the bill.
“Fine. I’ll send you an itemized list.”
“Much obliged.” He studies my face before his gaze flicks to where Hook’s hand rests on my shoulder. It’s an innocent enough touch, though it’s the only thing keeping me anchored in the here and now. Hook’s presence is a flame against the night that continues to seek hold inside me. I don’t want to check out, but the self-defense mechanism isn’t something I can fully control. It was the only thing that got me through being trapped with Peter, being able to disassociate enough that he didn’t break the last piece of me I held close.
Being in proximity to physical evidence of how he plans to punish me … I shudder.
Hook squeezes my shoulder. The barest press of his fingers against my skin, but it gives me the strength to meet Hades’s gaze. “If that’s everything?”
He nods. “Allecto will provide an escort to the border of the Underworld’s territory.” He turns and heads back toward the elevator.
Hercules steps forward and pulls me into a hug. “Good luck.” He releases me immediately as if he’s sure I’m going to bite.
Two hugs in one day, three if I’m going to count the one in Hook’s bathroom earlier. What the hell is this world coming to?
Meg gives me a brief smile. “Take care of your business, Tink. I expect to hear about it very soon over drinks.” Then she links her arm through Hercules’s and follows Hades through the parking garage to the elevator.
I barely wait for it to close before I turn to Hook. “Let’s go.” I have to keep moving or I’m going to fall apart. I may be farther from that breaking point than I was thirty minutes ago, but it’s still close enough to taste on the back of my tongue.
For once, Hook doesn’t have a snarky comment to offer. He simply falls into step next to me. We head to the waiting car and slip into the backseat. Colin’s driving, and he takes one look at our faces and apparently decides that conversation can wait.
Hook leans forward between the seats. “They’ll provide escort.”
A calculated risk—an escort could be translated into us being too weak to protect ourselves—but as long as we’re on Underworld territory, we don’t have the ability to refuse Hades. Especially when it’s a reasonable request.
Still.
The thirty minutes it takes to navigate the traffic back to Hook’s building are some of the tensest in recent memory. It’s everything I can do to keep my eyes forward and not rubberneck around, looking for an attack. I know it’s coming. Peter destroying the majority of my worldly possessions is as much a declaration of war as sending a signed letter. Not knowing when he’ll strike? It’s enough to drive a person mad.
I jump as Hook laces his fingers through mine. He’s not looking at me, his dark gaze intent on the street outside his building. We make it into the parking garage without issue, but he still doesn’t relax. Why should he? Peter infiltrated Hades’s parking garage just hours ago.
Hook waits for Colin to shut off the engine. “Sweep the place starting from the ground up. I don’t want anyone in the building who isn’t meant to be here. No girlfriends, no boyfriends, no fuck buddies, no delivery people. No one.”
“Will do.”
He squeezes my hand, and I obey the silent command to follow him out of the car. It’s not until the elevator doors slide silently shut that I realize he kept his body between me and the entrance to the street the entire time. Protecting me. I look at our linked hands and tell myself to release him, but my body isn’t obeying my mind.
Or maybe I just flat out don’t want to.
“This is going to get ugly.”
He finally looks at me. “It was always going to get ugly. The only way to eradicate an infection is to lance the wound and dig it out so it can heal cleanly. Peter is a wound in this territory, and I have to bear the burden of letting him live five years ago.”
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say to that. He did let Peter live and, yes, that’s put a number of people in danger now. But what’s the other option? “You’re not a cold-blooded killer.”
“I wasn’t then.” His smile is empty and cold. “People change.”
The doors open before I can come up with a response to that. We barely make it a single step out before Nigel waylays us. “There’s someone here to see you.”
“Now’s not a good time.” Hook shakes his head, already turning away. “Colin is organizing a sweep. I want everyone who isn’t ours out.”
But Nigel doesn’t budge. His expression is more serious than usual. “It’s Gaeton.” The barest of hesitations. “The Man in Black is dead.”