Sinful Hearts: Chapter 11

“I didn’t know you had a sister.”

Not many people do. I keep my personal life personal. Especially after I got passed over for a highly competitive job at a firm in London when they learned I had a ten-year-old living with me. Not one person in that interview room believed that she was a younger sister, and that there just weren’t any parents around anymore. I could see the same look in their eyes that I used to get when I’d take an even younger Nora to the playground.

When the age difference between you and your sister is as large as it is between Nora and me, people don’t see a teenager with her baby sister.

They see a young mother with a cataclysmic mistake.

They see someone they can silently judge while smiling benignly.

That particular firm, after fawning over me for three months, suddenly told me that they didn’t think I was “the right fit” for their “culture”.

“Most of our junior partners work hard and start families of their own,” one of them told me.

I walked out before I could tell them all to go fuck themselves. That could try raising a child alone when they were still a teenager themselves after their mother dies.

But there’s no judgement in Hades’ tone. And when I turn to look at him as the lift rises, all I see is a genuine look of interest in his sharp, ice-blue eyes before he turns to face the doors again.

It takes me a full two seconds to realize I’m still looking at him before I manage to rip my gaze away.

Goddammit, why is he so fucking attractive?

Again, it would be easy to write Hades off as some sort of trust fund brat who’s only playing at being a gangster. He was born with more wealth that I can even imagine. The Drakos family home on Central Park South is a neoclassical mansion from the British countryside—as in it was a mansion in England that Hades’ great-grandfather had moved, brick by brick, and rebuilt on the roof of a forty-story building overlooking Central Park.

Hades has never wanted for anything. He’s never had to pull all-nighters for days on end in order put food on the table while raising a kid sister going to university. He received an allowance from his trust fund while he fucked and partied his way through Harvard.

And yet, as easy as it would be to think of him as this soft, moneyed, pampered brat…even I know that’s not really true at all. And let’s face it, words like “soft” and “pampered” are the last ones I would use to describe Hades.

He’s not good looking in the way a rich trust fund brat usually is. His is a dangerous, lethal beauty. And it’s not just the viciously piercing blue eyes, the dark brows and tanned skin, the tattoos and muscles, or the razor-sharp jaw and cheekbones that give him this overall deadly attractiveness.

It’s the fact that he deadly. He savage and vicious. He lethal.

He’s a killer.

Hades isn’t pretending to be a tough guy. He’s pretending to be normal. And the times I truly realize that are the times when my sinful attraction toward him despite my fear of him burns the fiercest.

“Her name is Nora,” I finally say. “She’s fifteen.”

Hades nods. “And she’s living with you right now?”

“She’s always lived with me.” The lift comes to a stop, and the doors slide open. Hades starts to exit with me, but I stop, turning back to him with a furrowed brow. “Look, I’m fine, you can go. Thanks for driving me,” I mumble.

He nods, his eyes lancing into me in a way that sends a ripple of heat down my spine.

“See ya,” I blurt.

I turn and start walking down the hallway.

I groan, but when I walk around the corner and see the two police officers standing outside my apartment door, my cringey interaction with Hades and his sinful hotness melts away.

The two cops are here because a neighbor called to complain about the loud music and the smell of pot smoke coming from my apartment.

“Good evening, officers,” I venture with a professional smile. I extend my hand to shake theirs. “Elsa Guin. I’m the owner of the unit.”

They both nod politely and shake my hand before one of them—an officer Gonzales, as it says on his badge—sighs.

“Look, we hate to bother you like this, miss, and we’d love to just drop it now that you’ve arrived. But unfortunately, since we could smell the marijuana from out here in the hall ourselves, and being that the other oocupant is a minor, we need to file the paperwork.”

I grit my teeth.

.

“Now, you can refuse us entry, of course. But we would like to speak to the two young men in there as well.”

I stiffen. “I’m sorry, the ?”

The two cops glance at each other unhappily.

“There, uh, appear to be two other individuals in there with her. At least that’s what it sounded like when we first knocked.”

“Uh, okay, yeah…” Anxiety is flooding my system as I brush my hand over my tightly pulled back hair.

Officer Gonzales gives me a sympathetic look, his lips twisted. “I’m sorry, miss. We’re not trying to bust your balls. But while New York might be a recreational legal state—”

“Yes, I’m aware. The legal age is twenty-one,” I mutter, finishing for him. “And you smelled what you smelled.”

He shrugs. “Unfortunately, yeah, we did. We’re going to have to file—”

His eyes suddenly snap past me, and his whole demeanor changes. He stiffens, as if a supervisor has just walked in.

“Mr. Drakos, sir.”

I whirl, frowning when I see a grinning Hades striding over, his hand extended.

“Jose, how are things, man?”

Officer Gonzales beams, nodding eagerly.

“No complaints over here, Mr. Drakos.”

Hades grins that smooth, charming grin of his that he uses when he’s trying to get his way.

“And, Chuck, hi, how’s your boy?”

“Real good, Mr. Drakos,” the other cop grins. “Just made the varsity team.”

Hades whistles and points. “Basketball, right?”

If officer Chuck grins any wider, I’m going to beg Hades to just give the man an autograph before he pisses himself.

“Yes sir, Mr. Drakos sir.”

“That’s awesome, Chuck. Give him my best.”

Hades clears his throat, sighing as he claps his hands together.

“Look, fellas, I think this is all just one big misunderstanding. Don’t you?” He rolls his shoulders before his hand slides into his jacket pocket. It comes out a second later holding a wad of cash.

The color drains from my face.

—

“What do we think, guys?” Hades shrugs casually, grinning that lopsided, charming grin of his as he brazenly extends the hand holding the money between two fingers. “You guys are, what, just ending your shift, right? How about dinner on me?”

I’m hyperventilating. Black spots dot my vision as I count the seconds before these two cops drop Hades like a bag of bricks and haul him down to the precinct for the serious crime of attempting to bribe a police officer.

I mean there’s cocky, and then there’s sheer lunacy.

Except all that happens is Officer Gonzales turning to Chuck, and the two of them just shrugging.

“Yeah, I could eat. How about you, Chuck?”

“Starvin’.”

Hades smiles and my jaw drops as he hands the stack of hundreds to Officer Gonzales and then firmly shakes his hand.

“Enjoy, guys.”

“Great to see you, Mr. Drakos.”

The two cops barely even look at me as they legit tip their hats to Hades and then saunter off around the corner. When I hear the elevator door close, I turn to the psychopath standing next to me, aghast.

“Did you just fucking bribe ?!”

He lifts a casual shoulder, shoving his fingers through his hair.

“What bribe? I gifted them dinner in appreciation of the amazing services they do for our great city.”

I scoff. “That’s called bribery, and it’s a felony.”

“You don’t have many friends, do you?”

“I have plenty of . I just don’t have crooked cops at my beck and call.”

“Well, if you your sister to be processed for possession and use, I can call them back.”

I glare at him before I shove past him to angrily stick my key in the door.

“You’re welcome, by the way,” he grunts behind me.

Ignoring him, I push the door open. Instantly, I’m assaulted by the lingering scent of pot and way, way too loud music. I storm down the hallway into the main living room, and suddenly stop dead in my tracks as two boys all but levitate off the couch with white faces.

“Who the are you?!” I bellow at them.

One of them ventures an uneasy smile. “Uh, we go to school with Nora—”

“Where is she?”

“Uh—”

Their eyes suddenly shift past me and somehow get even wider.

“

Mr. Drak ”

It happens so fast, I can’t even take it in. Hades storms past me like a force of nature, grabbing the two guys by the collars and yanking them off their feet so hard they both fall to their knees.

“

?” he snarls viciously.

“In her room!” one of them blurts, looking like he’s about to cry, or maybe pee himself. Or both. “She’s in her room! We were just hanging out, Mr. Drakos! I swear! Just a little smoke and some music! That’s all we—”

Without even blinking, Hades suddenly turns and literally drags them out through the glass sliding door to the balcony off the living room.

“Hades…?”

I start to follow him, but then my face goes white as he yanks both boys up and shoves them hard against the balcony railing, to the point that they’re bent backward over it with their feet scrabbling to keep on the ground.

“Hades!” I scream. “Are you fucking crazy!?”

But he ignores me, his eyes two dangerous, lethal slits as he stares at the two teenagers who clearly know him somehow.

“You’re both eighteen,” he rasps darkly as they choke back sobs and whip their heads around to gape at the ground thirty stories beneath them. “And Nora is , you little fucks,” Hades snarls. “From now on, you leave her the fuck alone. You don’t come near her. You don’t come over to her fucking house. And you give her drugs. Is that fucking clear?!”

The two guys nod so hard and with so much fear and panic in their eyes, I almost feel sorry for them.

“Yes, sir, Mr. Drakos!” one of them bleats pathetically. “We won’t! We swear!” The other boy swallows, the question obviously hanging on his lips.

“

,” Hades hisses.

“Uh, my dad—”

“Are you smart enough to understand what I’m telling you?” Hades spits back.

They both nod wildly.

“Then I don’t think either of your fathers needs to hear about this. If you ever come near Nora again, though, believe me, that change. Are we crystal fucking clear, you little shits?”

Cue the painfully hard head nods again, and the choked apologies.

“Good.”

I’m still staring at the whole scene like it’s some sort of insane fever dream. Hades hoists them back over the balcony to safety and keeps a hold of their collars as he drags them back through my apartment before he shoves them out the door and slams it shut.

When he turns back to me, he smirks.

“Are you ?!” I blurt. “What the hell was that?!”

He shrugs. “They’re eighteen, and they should know better. Also, both their fathers work for my family.”

“Oh, same as those two cops?”

“Are you typically this much of an asshole when people do you fucking favors?”

I’m about to tell him to pack up his crazy and get out when I hear Nora’s voice.

“Hello?”

With a final glare at him, I pull my attention from Hades and march back to the living room. I grab the remote for the stereo and click it, instantly silencing the loud, awful rock music blaring through the speakers.

“Nora?” I growl through clenched teeth.

She’s silent.

“Nora, get out here.”

There’s a heavy sigh and a squeak from her bedroom door as it swings open. A second later, my sister shuffles out of the hallway that leads to both of our rooms in leggings and a hoodie, her dark hair down and framing her face and her hazel eyes, which are currently clearly unimpressed with me.

“What?”

I arch a brow. “Really? You’re going to open with attitude? That’s seriously how you’re going to play this?”

She rolls her eyes. “El, you’re over-reacting.”

I stare at her. “Over-reacting? Nora, were called to our apartment, and you were smoking weed! Are you fucking serious right now?!”

“It’s legal now, in case you missed the memo!” she barks back at me. “You’re the lawyer, aren’t you?”

“Not if you’re fifteen years old it’s not! And those boys are too old for you!”

“I’m not a fucking kid, Elsa!”

“Legally speaking, yes you are. And they are, legally speaking, .”

“Did they hurt you?”

The dark, edged note in Hades’ voice startles even me. Nora just about jumps out of her skin before her eyes whip past me to where he has just emerged into the living room.

“Uh, who the hell are you?”

“Answer him,” I murmur quietly, dread pooling in my stomach.

Nora rolls her eyes again. “

. They didn’t hurt me. Jesus.”

“Were they in your room?”

Her face turns crimson as she shoots daggers at Hades.

“Oh my God, ?!”

“Nora.” My brow furrows as I move toward her. “Given their ages and yours—”

“Holy fuck, you’re serious.” She stares at me. “What do you think I am? Yeah, Elsa, I both for pot.” She rolls her eyes. “That’s a , by the way. Just making sure you got it.”

“Nora, what were you thinking?”

“Honestly? I was thinking I just wanted to smoke some weed and listen to some cool music! What, like you never let loose and partied when you were my age?”

“

!” I snap. “I didn’t!”

“Well, you should have!”

“I couldn’t! I was too busy raising ”

The room goes silent, and I cringe.

.

“Nora, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“Whatever.”

She starts to turn to go back to her room.

“Where’s the weed?” Hades asks.

She stiffens, turning back to glare at him. “Again, who you, and what are you doing in our house?”

“This is Hades,” I mutter. “He’s…a client.”

Nora smirks, arching a brow. “Dude, your name is seriously ?”

“Last time I checked.”

“Like, the god of the underworld?”

“My father was a little obsessed with Greek mythology. Don’t change the subject. Hand over the pot.”

She sighs. “I don’t even have it. They came over with some, but all they wanted to do was talk football and play shitty music. So I hung out in my room and played my own stuff.” She sighs, glaring at me. “I didn’t even smoke any. Happy?”

“I mean, yes, I suppose?”

“Can I go back to my room now?”

“We’re going to talk more about this later, but yeah.”

“

.”

Nora turns and snags a stack of magazines off the coffee table before she starts to head down the hall.

“Yeah, I’ll take that pot now.”

She stiffens, turning to shoot a wary look at Hades.

“What?”

“The bag of weed you just scooped up with those magazines. I mean, props for trying. That was a nice move. But I feel like you’re not really the target demographic for magazine.”

I blink, just now realizing what magazines Nora picked up. She glares at Hades, her lips zipped before she marches over and dumps the stack back onto the table, plucking out the little Ziploc bag of weed shoved between two issues.

“

,” she mutters, handing it to Hades before she whirls and stomps down the hall. I flinch when her door slams shut, then exhale slowly.

“Thank you,” I mutter under my breath, not looking at him.

Trying not to think about the fact that less than an hour ago, this man looked me in the eye and told me .

Game over. Secret well and truly spilled.

Hades knows what happened at Club Venom. I can tell myself that he doesn’t as much as I like, but all that’s going to do is make me look ridiculous.

I slept with the god of war.

And he damn well knows it.

“I need a drink,” I blurt, striding into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of vodka out of the freezer. “Do you want one?”

I’m scrupulously avoiding direct eye contact with him, as I have been ever since the restaurant. But I catch the slight shrug of his broad shoulder out of the corner of my eye.

“Sure.”

What am I doing? Why do I to keep him here?

But somehow here I am: pouring two vodkas over ice, handing him one, and walking outside to the balcony with Hades right behind me. I stare out at the glittering lights of Chelsea and the west side of Manhattan as I take a slow slug of my drink, my pulse still thudding from the heated exchange with my sister.

And from what just spilled out that we’re not talking about, apparently.

“I don’t get it.”

I frown, glancing back at him. “Get what?”

“You’ve got this killer career, a great apartment—”

“Oh, please, I’m sure your penthouse or wherever you live is much nicer.”

He lifts a shoulder. “

you’re raising a fifteen-year-old.”

“Barely,” I mutter.

“I think it’s more than barely.”

I swallow. “So, what don’t you get?”

When he doesn’t answer, I turn around. Immediately, my jaw drops as I see him rolling a joint on my patio table with the pot he just confiscated from Nora.

“Excuse me, what the fuck are you doing?”

Hades licks the edge of the paper, seals it up, and then sticks the joint between his lips. He flicks the Yankees branded lighter that was in the baggie, torches the end, and inhales deeply.

“

”

“Toke?”

“Um, ? Get rid of that right now!”

He grins, exhaling out of the corner of his mouth with the joint hanging from his lips. It has the extremely unfair effect of making him look outrageously hot, like a smoldering young Marlon Brando.

“You do know it’s legal in New York now, right? Also its fucking , not heroin.” He inhales again, his brow furrowing as he plucks the joint from his lips with a sour look. “Ugh, shitty weed, though.”

“Great. Can you get rid of it now?”

“Depends. Can you tell me why the fuck you were at Club Venom?”

I’m so unprepared for the question that I actually flinch at his words. My face heats, my throat tightening as I swallow nervously and try to stop myself from shaking.

“Why were at Cub Venom?” I throw back in an obvious attempt at deflection.

“The drink specials and nachos, obviously,” he drawls sarcastically, stamping out the joint under his heel. “Why do you I was there?”

My lips curl into a sneer. “So, I was just a warm, available hole for you?”

“

,” he growls, the playful, teasing smile gone from his lips in a heartbeat as his icy blue eyes turn to slits. “

the one that kissed remember?

the one that threw herself at .”

“I don’t remember you protesting too hard.”

“Has the lawyer in the room ever heard of sexual assault by deception?”

I stare at him. “Are you fucking serious?”

“You knew exactly who I was.”

“That’s not , Hades,” I blurt. “And I don’t seem to remember you asking me name.”

“Yeah, funny how that doesn’t happen at ,” he snarls. “You know, the kind where you wear fucking ?!”

I swallow, my hand tightening around the rocks glass in my hand. Hades gets up from the patio table, making my core clench as he looms over me with those piercing blue eyes stabbing into my very soul.

“I want to know .”

“Why , Hades?

can go fuck a stranger no problem at a place like Venom because you’re a man? But I’m the bad guy when I do it, because I have a fucking vagina?”

“Trying to bring up gender stereotypes is a nice lawyer play, ,” he grunts, making me shiver when he uses that name. “But I’m not a jury of soccer moms, so you can save it. What I want to know is, why ?”

I swallow, flushing as heat pools in my core.

“I had no idea who you—”

“You’re a pretty shitty liar for an attorney.”

I roll my eyes. “

! I heard you talking and recognized your tattoos. So , Hades. I knew who you were, okay!? And now you know who am, or was, or whatever. We’re even—”

“Not quite.”

It happens so fast I don’t even have time to gasp. His big hand comes up and wraps around my throat just as his mouth drops to mine. And suddenly, Hades is kissing me with all the aggressive force of a conquering army.

His lips bruise against mine. His tongue demands entrance, pushing into my mouth and tasting my own. I shudder, and when the whimper hums in my throat, I swear I can feel him smiling triumphantly through the kiss.

Half of me wants to shove him away and slap his goddamn face.

The other half wants him to dominate me and bring me to my knees again, like he did at the club.

And the longer I kiss him, and the warmer my body gets as it sinfully and traitorously melts against his rock-hard chest, the more that other half of me is winning the battle.

“Did you go grocery shopping? I’m starving.”

The sound of Nora’s voice is like having ice water dumped over my head. With a startled gasp, I yank my lips away from Hades and shove him back. I stumble from him, panting, my eyes wide as my hand comes up to touch my puffy, swollen lips.

“Elsa.”

Turning from the Greek god in front of me, I turn to see Nora padding into the living room and glancing curiously at me through the open glass door to the balcony.

“I’m going to do delivery. Burritos work for you?”

I just nod, still numb.

Still tingling everywhere.

Still trying to keep myself away from the swirling dark vortex of a man standing less than two feet from me, who just kissed the absolute fuck out of me.

“Uh, yeah, thanks.”

She nods her chin past me. “Is the narc staying for burritos too?”

“I could do some serious damage to a barbacoa—”

“He is not,” I say thinly.

Nora shrugs and walks into the kitchen fiddling with her phone as I turn back to Hades.

To those eyes.

To those lips.

To that fierce look in his face that says he’s ready to devour me.

“I want you to leave. And we’re even—”

I almost choke on the last word as Hades surges to me, forcing me backward until my back hits the glass wall next to the doorway into the living room. I whimper despite myself as he melts against me, pinning me to the glass as his lips brush the sensitive skin on my neck where my bruises—

bruises—have just started to fade.

“

”

I gasp sharply when his lips fasten over one of the fading marks, and his teeth sink into my skin. Hard. So hard, in fact, that something heated flickers and licks its way down my spine to pool between my thighs.

“We’re not even close to even yet, .”

Then he’s gone. And I’m still slumped against the glass, trying to remember how to speak or walk, when I hear the door to my apartment close behind him.