Annabeth's POV

I sat across from Percy at the dining room table, just like we had done the night before when I was reading the contract. And again, the room was filled with tension—but not the sexual kind.

"What's going on, Annabeth? Talk to me."

He managed to sound confident, but I could tell he was starting to sweat. Good. I wanted him to feel as weak and vulnerable as possible.

"I just talked to Octavian."

Percy sunk deeper into his seat. "Why would you do that?"

"He asked me to meet with him. It sounded urgent."

"So, there was no spa company?" His expression conveyed profound disappointment. I felt another pang of guilt for lying to him. I shook my head before remembering he couldn't read my body language. "No."

"What did the little rat have to say?"

"He told me about what you did, Percy…"

"And what exactly did I do?"

"Don't play dumb."

His eyes widened as he scraped his fingers through his hair.

"I really have no idea what you're talking about."

The crack in his voice sounded genuine.

"He said that you sexually assaulted an employee."

Percy looked confused. "Well…I did have your consent, didn't I?"

"Not me. Another employee came forward. She's going to do an interview with the press and everything…whoever she is."

"Annabeth—"

"How could you do something so terrible? To her? To me…?"

Percy's POV

I pressed mental rewind as I started to quickly scan through my memories from the past week. The past month. The past year. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what situation she could possibly be referring to. I had never had an office romance before Annabeth came into my life. To be honest, I had never even considered it.

"Annabeth, I didn't do anything like that. I wouldn't."

"How am I supposed to believe you? You made advances on me, didn't you?"

"True. But you reciprocated before I took our relationship to the next level. I would never physically force myself onto you. Or anybody."

"All I know is, some poor girl is ready to detail her assault, and you are going to lose your job."

In this moment, I didn't care about losing my job at all. I just desperately didn't want to lose Annabeth. My breath quickened as I prepared to make my plea.

"This is Octavian we're talking about. You know he's out to get me."

"That's true. But would he lie about something so serious?"

"I wouldn't doubt it."

I heard a loud thud, and the table vibrated. She must have kicked it out of frustration.

"Annabeth, talk to me. Tell me what you're thinking."

"I just—I don't know who I can trust anymore."

Seriously?

How could she doubt me? Especially after everything we had been through…?

"Perfect nights, like the one we shared yesterday, are built on trust," I said. "I know this situation is confusing, but deep down, you must trust me. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to give yourself over to me like that."

She didn't respond, but I sensed I was starting to get through to her.

"Octavian clearly has a plan. We just need to beat him to the punch."

I stretched my arm across the table, waiting, hoping she would take my open hand in hers. After an excruciating moment she did.

Annabeth's POV

I was still feeling uneasy when Percy suggested we return to the office at night, after everybody had gone home for the day. The plan: snoop around Octavian's desk to see if we could get a better understanding of his scheme. I still wasn't sure if I believed Percy, but I badly wanted him to be telling the truth, so I agreed to join him.

At eight pm we left his house wearing all black. In an attempt to lighten up the mood, Percy thought it would be fun to dress the part of spies going on a secret mission. "A blind spy. There's an idea for a bad movie," Percy joked. We slipped into the building and mimed handguns as we backed our way into Octavian's office. For good measure, Percy rolled on the floor like he was dodging a laser beam security system.

I was surprised—and touched—to see him act like this. He must usually reserve this playful side of himself for Thalia. It was the same piece of Percy that thought of buying tiny furniture for her bedroom so all her stuffed animals would feel at home. Picturing it made my insides melt, but outwardly, I just laughed at his charades. The laughing stopped when we approached the enormous mound of papers covering Octavian's desk. Where to begin? This could take all night.

I sat on one end of the desk, Percy on the other. I narrated everything I saw to Percy. I didn't know what we were going to find. I wasn't even really sure what we were looking for. But there was nothing unusual about the contents of his desk, as I skimmed through file folders filled with information about Jackson's various properties. About thirty minutes into snooping, something caught my eye. On the other side of an old travel itinerary, I saw Octavian had sketched something out in red pen. It was a picture of a woman with a mess of swirling lines drawn to represent curls. It was poorly done, but it was undoubtedly a picture of me.

Percy noticed I had stopped talking mid-sentence. "Find something?"

I thought this would make him even more furious at Octavian, and I had no interest in dealing with his jealousy right now. "Nope!"

The sound of footsteps in the hallway caused us both to tense every muscle in our bodies. But as they got closer, I heard they were accompanied by the sound of wheels. Phew. Must be maintenance coming through to collect trash. I carried on. Under a stack of contracts, I came across Octavian's checkbook.

"Ooh, this should be good," Percy predicted.

I started reading through the names on the carbon copies still resting in the binder rings. Most of the checks were for his rent, his car lease, his alimony, etc. But on the fifth page, I saw a name I recognized: Tracy Alexander.

"Tracy Alexander," I repeated out loud.

"Who is that?" Percy questioned.

"What? You don't know the names of your own interns?"

Percy's cheeks flushed with a twinge of shame. "Things have just been hectic around here. I was going to host a lunch to get to know them."

"Yeah, I'm sure you were." Percy was a good boss, but he had the opposite of an open-door policy.

This was an issue to address another time, because I knew we had just stumbled on a major clue.

"Why would Simon pay one of our interns two-thousand dollars?"

He didn't need to answer my question. We both knew why. He had paid Tracy to lie about an incident with Percy. What a corrupt fuckface. I pulled out my phone and snapped a photo of the page before returning the checkbook where I found it, amidst the organized chaos that filled Octavian's desk.

Percy's POV

We ran back through the halls, out the front door, and into the limo that was still waiting for us. I pulled Annabeth into the middle seat, and wrapped her arm around me. I smiled, sensing the trust between us was restored. Now that we thought we had an understanding of Octavian's plan, we needed to concoct our own scheme to make sure Tracy's falsified story never got into the wrong hands. My mind was racing, trying to come up with an idea, when Annabeth suddenly grabbed my hand.

"I know what you need to do," she whispered. "But I don't know if you're going to like it."

"What are you thinking?"

She squeezed my hand again. "You need to resign."

"Why?"

"Octavian's scandal will be less valuable if you've already stepped down. Nico can reinstate you later, but we need to get you out of the limelight while we figure out what to do about the intern. People will assume it's for health reasons. They will sympathize with you."

She was right.

How is she always right?

"Nico can't know the real reason," she continued. "We need to keep him as out of the loop as possible, for his own protection."

I nuzzled my head into her neck. She was spectacular in crisis mode. My brother was a genius to hire her. And now, I would have to lie to him.

"Text him now. Tell him that you need to meet ASAP."

The tables were turned. She was telling me what to do now. I could get used to this. I pulled out my phone and drafted a message to Nico.

Percy: Hey, where are you?

Percy: Can you come to my place later tonight?

Nico: Hey bro, sure thing.

Nico: Everything ok?

Percy: I'll fill you in when you get here.

Nico: Always with the suspense…

Percy: Always with the sass…

Percy: See you soon.

Nico's POV

As soon as I knocked on the door, it swung open. I was surprised to see Annabeth standing in front of me, although I shouldn't have been. The two of them had practically become inseparable.

"Hi! Come in," she said, like it was her own home.

"Thanks for coming," Percy called out to me from the next room. He emerged holding a piece of paper in his hands. He approached me slowly and handed me the paper. I looked down, and the bold headline at the top of the page immediately jumped out at me, shaking my very core.

Letter of Resignation?

"But…why?" I managed to stammer, as I continued to skim the rest of the document.

"I'm sorry, Nico. I just have other things to focus on right now. My health. My daughter."

"I don't understand," I said, searching for more clarity.

"I am confident that you and Annabeth can handle everything from here."

I looked up and saw them both smiling at me, as if they had given me a birthday card. My gaze shifted from Annabeth to Percy and then back to Annabeth. Nothing had been the same since I hired this woman. Was this all part of some sinister agenda? She had somehow found a way to take down my brother.

Am I next?

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