Prologue

The alarm on her mobile phone alerted her the hour was up. The man on top of her exhaled and slowly got off her.

Once his weight was off Persephone immediately got off the bed pulling her black skirt down as low as it could go and then proceeded to grab the hem of her pink cotton blouse, straightening the creases out.

Persephone had the music app on her phone playing classical music in the background to set the mood. The sounds of Tchaikovsky currently filled the room in the high-end hotel her client had booked.

She squared her shoulders and met his gaze. "That'll be five hundred dollars."

She noticed the man running his hands along his hair to smooth down his ebony-colored locks which had gotten a little mussed with their transaction.

He sighed as he reached into the pockets of his slacks. "I'd like to make this a regular arrangement." He informed her as he handed her a handful of cash. "I've never done this before but," he looked her up and down, "this was the best thing I've ever experienced," he said smiling incredulously at her.

Persephone counted eight crisp hundred-dollar bills. She handed three back to him. "Actually, I'm retiring."

He waved the bills away, but she noticed a scowl framing his eyes. "That's to show my gratitude." He immediately said. The client grabbed his charcoal-colored blazer from the burgundy wing-back chair and slid it on. "You can't retire now," he insisted. "Do you have any idea how many professionals I've been to?" He pleaded. "Please. I have the day-to-day stress that comes along with running a multi-billion-dollar company and no one has ever left me this...." he paused, shrugging. "Relaxed!"

Persephone grabbed her boxy black purse from on top of the nightstand beside the bed, sliding the bills into it. She shrugged her shoulders. She was very much aware of her one-time client's identification. Carter Hansen was the CEO of one of the most popular social media apps in existence right now. The news media had launched a witch-hunt against his product calling it detrimental to teenagers and a risk for sex-trafficking.

She pulled her long wavy, dark-blonde hair into a high ponytail. "I'm sorry, I'm also leaving California." She sat back on the bed. "Hence why I asked you to book a hotel room." She looked at him. "I already closed my local..." she made air quotes, "office." She looked into his eyes. "I've relocated all of my things to Seattle- all that's missing is me." She reached down to put her spiky high heels on, giving a quick glance at the gilded wall clock.

It was 8:00 PM. She couldn't linger anymore. She grabbed the phone that had been left next to the pillow and immediately opened her favorite livery service app to summon a car.

Carter sat on the burgundy chair. "Why did you agree to see me today if you were retiring?" He asked.

"It's business," she said nonchalantly. "We agreed to meet before my circumstances improved. I always deliver on my commitments."

He nodded. His body was becoming rigid once more, his face creasing with frown marks. Persephone recognized that all the progress they had just achieved was quickly dwindling as if her services had no impact on him, which didn't sit well with her.

"Tell you what," Persephone reached into her purse pulling out an old business card and a pen scribbling the new phone number for her Seattle life on the back. "If you're ever in the city, you can call me."

He took her card, staring at it like a lifeline. He smiled.

"But it'll be three times the price." She said hoping this would dissuade him.

She saw him exhale and the frown lines between his eyes slowly faded away to where all that was left was the permanent creasing that likely years of frowning had left behind.

She should have known money was meaningless to this billionaire. "Only while you look for an alternative form of... therapy," she amended. She didn't plan on being at Carter Hansen's beck-and-call for the rest of her life.

She had a life to live freely.

A life that didn't include distractions or human attachments or any connections to her past.