A Touch of Ruin (Hades & Persephone #2) - Scarlett St. Clair Page 0,12

to celebrate YOUR first day with the Cypress Foundation. How’s it going?

Amazing,” Lexa replied. “There is a lot to learn, but it’s going to be amazing.

Persephone managed to avoid Demetri for the rest of the day. Helen was the only one who engaged her in conversation, and that was to tell her she had mail, which included a pink envelope. When Persephone opened it, she found it full of crudely cut paper hearts.

“Did you see who put this in my mailbox?” she asked Helen. There was no return address and no stamp. Whoever sent it hadn’t mailed it.

The girl shook her head. “It was there this morning.”

Weird, she thought, tossing the mess into the garbage.

At the end of the day, Persephone took the elevator to the first floor and found the crowd still outside. She considered her options. She could just exit through the front and brave the mob. Security would give her escort, but only as far as the pavement, unless she called Antoni for a ride. She knew the cyclops was willing enough, but his loyalty to her would wane if he saw these people were still waiting for her to leave work, and she really, really didn’t want an Aegis. There was also the slight chance that her magic would respond if challenged, and she wasn’t willing to risk exposing herself, which also ruled out teleportation. That left her with only one other option—finding another way out of the building.

There were other exits, it was just a matter of finding one that wasn’t being stalked by rabid fans. She sounded paranoid, but she was informed. Admirers of gods would do anything for a glimpse, a touch, a taste of the Divine and that included their significant others.

She turned and set off down the hallway, away from the masses, in search of another exit.

She considered leaving through the parking garage but didn’t like the possibility of being cornered by a bunch of strangers in a place that was dark and smelled like oil and piss.

Maybe a fire exit, she thought, even if it set off an alarm. The doors weren’t accessible from the outside, so it was unlikely anyone would wait by one.

Excited by the idea of getting home and spending the evening with Lexa after this stressful day, she quickened her pace. Rounding a corner, she slammed into a body. She didn’t look up to see who it was, fearing they might recognize her.

“Sorry,” she muttered, pushing away and hurrying for the exit ahead.

“I wouldn’t go out that door if I were you.” A voice stopped her just as her palms touched the metal handle. She turned, meeting a pair of grey eyes. They were housed in the thin, handsome face of a man with a mop of unruly hair, sharp cheekbones, and full lips. He was dressed in a grey janitor’s jumpsuit. She had never seen him before.

“Because the door has an alarm?” she asked.

“No,” he answered. “Because I just came in that door and if you’re the woman that’s been in the news the last three days, I think the people outside are there for you.”

She sighed, frustrated, and added in a desolate tone. “Thanks for the warning.”

She started down the adjoining hallway when the man called to her.

“If you need help, I can get you out of here.”

Persephone was skeptical. “How, exactly?”

The corners of his lips lifted, but it was like he had forgotten how to smile.

“You’re not going to like it.”

CHAPTER III - A TOUCH OF INJUSTICE

He was right. She hated it.

“I’m not getting in that thing.”

‘That thing’ was a tilt truck full of garbage.

She was wrong when she said she didn’t want the smell of oil and piss. She’d take it, so long as it didn’t mean bathing in rancid trash.

The janitor led her to the basement, a trek that had her feeling uneasy and clutching her apartment keys tight. This is how people are murdered, she thought, and then quickly reminded herself that she watched too much true crime.

The basement was full of various things—extra furniture and artwork, a laundry room, an industrial kitchen, and a maintenance room where she stood now, staring at her ‘get-away vehicle’, as the man had started to refer to it.

He seemed pretty amused now.

“It’s either this or you walk out the door,” he said. “Your choice.”

“How do I know you won’t wheel me into that waiting crowd?”

“Look, you don’t have to get in the cart. I just thought you might like to go home sometime