Page 21 of Flowers Near Me
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
THE GODDESS WHO COULD brEAK HIM
HADES
S ephy had asked that Hades portal them back to the apartment after their hibachi date. After some convincing from her—that she wouldn’t feel sick from the travel—he relented. He relished holding her and took his time making the jump from the restaurant to the penthouse. If she was agreeable, he’d start to teleport her everywhere. It’d scared him to see how pale she’d become the first time he portaled her to Zeus’ office.
Back home, she insisted that she’d be the one to call Eurydice. “I’ve dealt with misbehaving tech before. Let me handle it.” She was the app’s new Chief Product Officer, but he wished her first significant involvement wasn’t overseeing a bug fix and handling any potential PR fallout.
Cerberus trailed behind her as she paced over a handwoven rug. The gray and brown fur ball watched the little goddess’ every move around the apartment. The beast was almost as enchanted by their companion as Hades was.
Their kiss in the secluded hallway of the restaurant was better than he’d imagined it would be. And he’d imagined that scenario often. The soft feel of her lips mixed with her bewitching scent had the ichor speeding in his veins. He would forever remember the flush of her cheeks and sultry gaze after that kiss. She desired him. And even if it was only a flicker, he’d try to fan it into flame.
Eurydice’s shaky voice came over the speaker of Sephy’s phone, “I’m still trying to find out what happened to the app’s code. It makes no sense. We’d tested it in-house before the testers were brought in.”
“Do you still have their phones?” Sephy asked. She stopped pacing and fixed her eyes on Hades.
Eurydice answered, “We gave them back after we deleted the app.”
“Are they still in the building?”
“Yes.”
Sephy’s eyes lit up. “Good. Make sure they’re logged onto Underworld’s network then pull all of their phones’ data from the past six months. Tell them you’re checking for lingering issues. Get everything you can.” She counted on one hand, each delicate finger marking her list of: “Search and location history, messages, contacts, apps, anything and everything. Then have your team cull the data and look for patterns.”
Hades choked on his coffee. Had he heard her correctly? Was she really telling Eurydice to investigate the beta testers for possible sabotage by sifting through all of the activity of their phones?
Why didn’t I think of that? He’d expect seasoned gods like himself or Demeter to distrust contracted employees, but Sephy seemed less jaded than him. Maybe she was as calculating as he was? To rise through the ranks of Demeter’s Bounty, she’d need a steely resolve and sharp mind. Demeter was notoriously distrustful of those outside of her confidantes and naturally she’d want her daughter to be the same. He’d want his children to be as cunning too. In fact, Sephy’s balance of kindness and shrewdness was the perfect combination. She’d be an incredible mom if they had children.
“I-uh… are we allowed to do that?” Eurydice asked. The developer’s voice lowered into a whisper over the phone.
Sephy tapped her screen to mute the call. “Beta testers signed a data use agreement, right?”
In no world should that sentence sound as seductive as it did coming from her lips. He cleared his throat. “Of course.”
She unmuted the call. “Yes, we’re allowed. It’s important you get your team moving on this straight away. There’s a good chance the virus came from one of them.”
“Oh, okay. I-I’ll get right on it.”
“Thanks. Keep us posted.” Sephy ended the call then quirked her brow at Hades. “What’s wrong?”
He prowled towards her until his hands rested on the sides of her arms. “Nothing at all. You made the right call. We shouldn’t rule out the testers until we’ve dug into their activities.” All he wanted was to kiss her again, but he didn’t want to force things between them, no matter what his body screamed at him to do.
She released a sigh. “I have a hard time believing it’s bad code. I had the beta version on my phone months ago, and it worked perfectly.” Something unreadable cast over her face. “Weird how things change.”
Dropping his hands from her arms, he took a step back. Why hadn’t she had issues? During the car ride to the restaurant, she told him she’d deleted the app. Was it possible she knew what caused this and offloaded the app before disaster struck? This paranoia had kept him steps ahead of his adversaries. As distasteful as it was to consider Sephy his enemy, he couldn’t shrug off this worry. She was Demeter’s daughter, taught to despise him. And he’d yanked her from a familiar, cozy place to come work with him.
To his horror, he remembered their conversation the first time she’d stepped into his place. She’d acted as if she didn’t know that using a god’s network connection meant they could access everything on her phone. Was she still playing him?
Perhaps it’d been a mistake to make her the Chief Product Officer. His infatuation with the little goddess had clouded his judgment and now his empire could die at her hands. Even he wasn’t immune to the capricious nature of the Olympus consumer. If Flowers Near Me had bad tech running rampant on users’ phones, what would that mean for the other apps and websites where Underworld Unlimited made its fortune? He’d already wagered his empire with the Fates in order to understand this charming goddess. What if she was taking it over only to crush it underneath her feet?
Sephy’s sweet voice shook him from his thoughts. “Do you disagree?” Her head tilted to one side as her brows wrinkled.
She looks so sincere. This being before him was not the same cold, scheming goddess as Demeter. This wasn’t him ruling out distrust, but he needed more information. He’d barely gotten to know Sephy even if his heart felt like they were an allied pair.
Mustering a smile, he answered, “No. I think your suggestion is right.” He rolled his shoulders. “There’s nothing we can do at the moment other than worry so let’s do something else.” Anything else.
Feeling at odds with her made his body sick with unease. Being sharp didn’t mean she was devious as well. He needed to understand her better, that was all.