Chapter Prologue

I let out an umpf as a small, petite figure plowed into me.

She's breathtaking. From the way, her beautiful blond hair flows in ringlets down her back to the way she crosses her long slender legs in front of her.

Her outfit points toward her innocence. Her hair is tucked back with a simple black headband, and she's wearing a white sundress with a pair of strappy high-heeled sandals. Her body, however, screams sex on wheels. Her luscious breasts are begging to break free of the fabric that's bound them down; her stomach is taut and toned against the white material of the sundress that's clinging to her like a second skin; and her delectable ass, which I find myself wanting to sink my teeth into, causes her mid-thigh length dress to sit an inch higher than where it's attached.

Sorry "She apologetically smiles, her teeth white and perfectly straight, her freckled nose scrunched up and a dimple appearing on the left side of her cheek, "I'm Persephone."

I forced myself to look away from her breathtaking body and focus on the hand she had outstretched to me and then raised my eyes to meet her gaze, which held no trace of her smile. Her eyes tell a tale opposite the proper, posh princess she was trying to portray. Her eyes, a beautiful shade of emerald with brown honey flakes, told the truth. They radiated hatred, anger, and anguish. They showed shimmers of the need for an adventure, the hope for a new beginning, and when my gaze fully met hers, they showed a flicker of desire, of want. They lit a flame deep within me, an inferno that only she would be able to extinguish if I let her close enough.

"Hades," I reply, ignoring her outstretched hand as I walk past her. She's a distraction I can't afford. I'm here to reckon, and I can't let myself be seduced by this temptress that's somehow managed to light my skin on fire without a single touch.

The rest of the evening passes without much intel to go on. It's an engagement party for Brutt, and while his second and other major players in his operation are here, it seems like no one has a loose tongue tonight. I'm sitting in the back of the ballroom, sipping on my beer as the speaker calls Brutt and his family to the stage.

There she is, the fair-haired beauty. She's taken the stage with Brutt, next to an older woman who shares similar features to her own. She looks uncomfortable, standing up on stage, twiddling a blond lock of hair. When the speaker introduces them as Brutt's finance and soon-to-be stepdaughter, I let myself smile for the first time in over a year as a new plan forms in my head. I place my beer on the nearby counter and walk out of the room, heading for the exit. I have all the information I need now.

"Soon, Princess. Soon you'll be mine."