I pulled back the sleeve of my shirt to check the time on my watch. “Why are you here? It’s morning.”
“I’m not a vampire.” He glanced around my office and checked for the black duffel bag of money that was usually waiting for him. “Where’s my shit?”
I had been so caught up with Annabella that I forgot about the biggest bill I had to pay every month. “I’ll have it for you tonight.”
“I want it now.”
“I haven’t done accounting yet.” I pulled my feet off the desk and straightened in the chair. Sleep was in the corners of my eyes, and I wiped it away, still half asleep. “You caught me at a bad time.”
“Then should I hit up your father instead?”
This was a terrible way to wake up—to be full of rage.
He smiled when he got a rise out of me. “If you think your father is safe in your cathedral, you’re wrong.” He grabbed a folder off my desk and threw it down. “You have everything you need right now. I’m not leaving until I get my money.” He slammed his forefinger into the surface of the desk. “You already wasted enough of my time. I’m not letting you waste any more of it.”
I got to my feet and held his gaze, my hands tied behind my back as if I were a prisoner behind bars. Was this how Hades felt when he was stuck with Maddox? A helpless hostage who could do nothing but obey? It was worse than torture, having all your pride stripped away like it never meant anything in the first place. I’d been stabbed, beaten to within an inch of death, and that was still preferable to this.
If only Bones hadn’t retired out to pasture like a goddamn pussy.
Heath stared at me with his ice-cold blue eyes, prepared to make good on his word if I didn’t cooperate. He was still livid at the way I’d thwarted his plan, and he would make me pay for it every single day until one of us was dead.
But that person was going to be him…someday.
I grabbed the folder on the desk and pulled it to me. “It’s gonna take at least thirty minutes.”
“I’ve got time. Have one of your cronies get me a cup of coffee.”
“They don’t do—”
“Or you can get it.” He fell into the chair across from my desk and smiled, enjoying every second of this.
I held his gaze and felt the bloodlust in my veins, the desire to give him so many paper cuts with this folder that he bled all over the floor until he died.
“What are you going to do, Damien?” He loved to taunt me. “Get my coffee? Or bury your father? If I give him back, of course…”
Days passed as a blur.
I spent my time at home, not going to the office because I didn’t want to be the recipient of Hades’s looks of pity. I didn’t want to meet my clients and pretend to give a shit. I just wanted to be alone, to drink and watch whatever garbage was on TV.
Hades called a few times, but I didn’t answer.
He texted me too. I never answered.
I was tempted to call Charlotte so I wouldn’t have to be alone. It was also spiteful, because I knew Annabella was jealous of her. But if I did that, I would get involved with a clingy woman again.
I was home when someone knocked on the door and let themselves inside.
I didn’t move from my spot on the couch. All I did was turn my head and see Hades enter my bedroom. Patricia never told me when he arrived because he had unlimited access to my property. He was the only person who could come and go as he pleased. Except Annabella…when we were together.
Hades walked across the room and headed toward me, in jeans and a t-shirt. His short dark hair was rigidly styled, as if he’d skipped his workout after the office and headed straight to my place. “Who’s winning?”
“Do you care?” I was a soccer fan, but he wasn’t.
He helped himself to the scotch and took a seat. “You want me to get straight to the point, instead?”
“No.”
“Your dad talked my ear off when I came inside. He gets along with Patricia well.”
“Yeah. He was really stubborn about it in the beginning, until his room was spotless, his sheets were always clean, his laundry was always hung in the closet. And he’s a big fan of her cooking too.”
He got comfortable on the couch and watched the game, resting his ankle on the opposite knee. He took a few drinks before he set the glass on the table beside him.
“You aren’t gonna finish that?”
He shook his head. “Trying to cut back.”
“Why?”
“I’ve got another kid on the way…”
“Didn’t matter when Andrew was born.”