CHAPTER 3

Percy woke in a hospital bed, dull throbs erupting from his side, where his ribs were.

A blonde headed girl lay with her head on the edge of the bed.

Sleeping, she looked even more beautiful. Her face free of the cold, strong front she put up all the time. It actually looked peaceful. And that made her all the more mesmerizing. Since he played a lot of girls, he had very well seen and known all types of women. But Annabeth Chase fit none. And that just made his game play even more interesting.

He inspected her further, growing to like her lovely lemony scent. And soon, her eyes fluttered awake and she saw him staring down at her. She sat up immediately and looked at him with those striking grey eyes.

"Got the photo." he said with a smile.

Her eyes changed to an almost silvery shade as she stared at him— into his sea green eyes. She pursed her lips, then let out a slight breathe.

"You crazy bastard." she said to him. Then she reached out to touch his arm, "Thank you."

He gave her an even wider smile, "No problem. And now we know I actually do have a thick skull."

She smiled at that. It was the first smile he ever saw on her face. And admittedly,

it was nice.

-line Break-

Annabeth sat in her office, checking over product designs when her phone suddenly started to vibrate.

She picked it up and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Chase. This is Solace."

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry, but... in the meeting, it was decided that your father is going to sell your hotel resort."

"What?!" she yelled, making her secretary come running in to see what was going on. Annabeth waved her away.

"How the hell did you let that happen?" she said a bit softer.

"I'm sorry, your dad was firm in his decision."

Annabeth let out a sigh, "Un-fucking-believable. Send me all that you got on the hotel stats, prices, stocks, everything— now!"

She hung up the phone and slammed her fist on her desk, "Damn it."

A dark haired, olive skinned boy walked in to sit next to Percy.

"Hey, Percy. You look terrible."

"Thanks, Nico."

"It must be one hell of a girl for you to risk your life to play her. Who is it, this time?"

Percy's eyes were brooding, "Frederick Chase's daughter."

Nico's eyes widened, "The fucking CEO of Chase industries?! His genius daughter?"

Percy nodded with a serious frown.

"You know. She was the one who ruined the Omega group company in two days. The girl's a fucking prodigy. And you're going to play her?"

"I have to."

"Holy shit...All to get Reyna back, huh?"

"No... not to get her back… To ruin her completely… bring her down lower than she's ever been."

Percy's eyes went livid,

"That's what I'm going to do."

Annabeth sat in the lobby of her hotel with her phone in her hand.

How the hell was she going to get them to keep this place?

She had just got off with her father and found out it was true. He was going to sell the resort since the company would get more profit from doing so. It was total bullshit that he would do that. And she desperately needed to stop it from happening. She had built every brick and design of it with her mother- it was not going to get sold. Her fingers clenched over her phone.

It suddenly starting vibrating. Annabeth looked at the caller ID and picked it up.

"Percy...hi."

"Hey. You don't sound so well."

"That's because I'm not."

"Is everything okay?"

"My hotel resort is being sold in a deal that will get the company the profit it needs. I'm trying to figure out how to stop it."

"A hotel?"

"Yeah. My mother and I planned everything and built it from the bottom. I can't let it get sold- I have to find a solution."

The sound of high heels clicking on the marble floor interrupted her phone call. Annabeth looked up to see Reyna standing there in front of her with her men behind her.

"Annabeth. I knew you would be here." Reyna said with a fake smile.

Annabeth brought the phone down from her ear and looked up at her step mother. She simply glared at the brunette.

"You know. I was the one who suggested selling this place. It was the perfect choice, don't you think, Annabeth? The company needs the profit and this hotel was the first on the list."

The blonde slowly stood up and looked straight into the brunette's eyes. She let out a breathe, "And I'm going to save it."

"Oh, you are?" The brunette let out a petty laugh, "Annabeth, Honey." She reached out and brushed away a strand of Annabeth's golden hair from her face. Reyna let out a sigh, "Just accept it, alright? It was bound to happen. There's no way you can stop it from happening."

Annabeth leaned closer to Reyna's face, "Watch me." And with that, she walked away from her.

"Better do that quick. The deal is going to get settled tomorrow." Reyna called after her.

Percy could hear Reyna's voice through the phone. His face went hard and his eyes lost its brightness hearing her on the other end.

Reyna was the one who was going to take this hotel away from Annabeth.

Annabeth had already hung up on him, so he let the phone drop from his ear. He stood where he was for a few seconds, then started running.

In the private villa of her and her mother's hotel resort, Annabeth worked at finding a replacement that would get the company a bigger profit. She was determined to find it. This was the place where most of her memories with her mother were. If they took this away, those memories would also be taken from her.

How could her father let this happen? She circled a pricing, then flipped to a replacement-punching in numbers into the calculator.

None of them were working. Damn it. She calculated, recalculated, then checked— again and again. But every company investment didn't give enough money to prevent them from selling the resort.

At 3 AM, she was still trying to figure it out, but to no use. Reyna was right. This hotel was the perfect candidate to get the most profit out of the deal.

Out of frustration, she flung the papers to the floor and threw the calculator behind her before burying her fingers in her hair and tugging on it.

After a while of just sitting there at her desk, she casually slipped on some converse and went outside to the lawn. There was a fountain far in the corner that cascaded down to a creek then circled the whole lawn. Her mother loved it here. She had been so proud of Annabeth. All the memories were here. And she couldn't let it go...she couldn't let it get sold...

She slumped onto the grass and calmed herself down by taking in deep breathes of the fresh night air. Resting the back of her hand against her forehead, she looked up at the stars that speckled the blanket of dark blue in the sky.

A raven haired man went up to stand beside the blonde who was sleeping on the grass. He looked down at the girl then to the opened door that led to the villa. Leaving her there, he went over and stepped into the room to find papers cluttering the floor and uncapped pens strewn everywhere on the table. He leaned down and picked up the calculator from the floor and sat at the desk.

His sea green eyes looked carefully through the numbers as he flipped through the papers on her desk and the tablet that had the list of possible replacements and company stocks.

He picked up a pen and started circling each pricing and stocks that added up. None of them were adding up, but he knew quite a bit about finance and business from Nico. He knew the knowledge would come in handy someday and he was right.

Percy looked through the list again, scouring everything, picking up every statement and analyzing it. Nothing was matching up. Seriously, what was he thinking? The blonde prodigy couldn't figure it out, so how could he?

But right then, his eyes overlooked a certain name company.

He knew that name brand. It was so familiar...

The girl brushed her fingers through his raven black hair as he lay his head on her lap.

Percy was drowned in his own thoughts, but she kept talking and talking. This one was quite the chatterbox.

"What I'm about to tell you is super accurate and secret. Hephaestus Industries— It was bankrupt two years ago. But they got a jackpot deal from a oil plantation. They're not in the stock market yet, but their going to get some big money very soon... Percy, are you listening?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm telling you to put your money there fast, honey. This is accurate information, I'm telling you."

Percy's eyes widened as he stared at the stock listing. He immediately started searching the stocks of Hephaestus Industries. He calculated the amount and circled it.

His sea green eyes brightened and a smile played on his lips.

Got it.

As the sun was just starting to rise, Percy nudged the blonde still sleeping on the grass. She still wasn't waking up, so he knelt down and leaned over to her ear.

"Annabeth… Annabeth."

"The calculations aren't right..." she mumbled, still in her sleep.

Percy's eyes narrowed on her lovely pink parted lips. He then leaned down to her ear again and kissed the sensitive skin behind the ear near the neck, slowly running kisses down her nicely tanned skin, over her neck.

Her eyes finally fluttered open and she immediately sat up.

Her hand went up to her neck, with a look of absolute shock on her face, "What in the world?"

He gave her a sweet, innocent smile, "Sorry, that's the only way I know how to wake a girl." he said.

She kept looking at him in silence with narrowed eyes.

He smirked at her and threw a packet of paper on the grass next to her.

"You're resort is saved." he said to her still with that smirk.

"What?" she said as she picked up the packet and looked at the calculations he made, "How? How did you?—But..I..."

He simply shrugged, "I'll take your stuttering as your way of saying thank you."

She looked up at him again, absolutely awestruck, "Oh my gods." she stood up and flipped through the calculations, trying to make sure again that surely enough— they had made enough money to prevent from selling the resort.

"I would go send these to your father as soon as possible if I were you. I heard the deal is going to start soon."

"Yeah...right." she said, then looked back at him, with her stunning grey eyes, "Why…are you doing all this for me? First, risking your life and now this?"

"I'm a man who has nothing to lose. Plus..." he then leaned closer to her face, making her eyes widen, "I think you're pretty amazing, Annabeth Chase."

She then looked at him like she hadn't before. It was a look full of wonder and…interest?

It was then that Percy knew for sure—

she was slipping into his trap little by little without even knowing it.

Author's Note:

Hope you all liked that chapter! Don't forget, I update every Wednesday and Thursday :D

Thank you so much for the reviews! I love it when I get reviews.

So with that-
Until tomorrow, you lovely peeps.