Gem let him has his tantrum, leaning back in her chair and staring at the ceiling. Nico could be full of it. In fact, in Gem’s opinion, he was always full of it. It was quite obvious he had a privileged upbringing sometimes. “Are you done?” she says when the line goes silent.
Sitting up, she speaks calmly. Unlike herself in every possible way. “This job was going to put me over for Pluto’s surgery, and now I have nothing. Do you understand, Nico? Nothing.” In fact, she was in debt if they didn’t get this figured out. Sighing, she rubs her forehead before continuing. “I’m not seriously considering trading the girl in, it was a joke. Okay? But you need to take this seriously.” This is probably the first time she ever asked him to take anything seriously.
With one phone call he could probably help fix Gem’s problem. If he could swallow all of his pride and call home, give in and ask them for help. Maybe somehow there could be an anonymous donor or he could explain his way out of how he got the money in the first place. The least he could do is get her even again.
Nico rubbed his face with both hands and spun his chair all the way around. Puck was sleeping in the room he cleaned up for her, at least he thought she was, and Bella was still rolling in the piles of glitter he just couldn’t sweep up. “I am taking this very seriously, what do you need me to do? Are there other jobs farther away that could help clean up the mess? I’ll give you all the profits…” Yeah, and maybe he’d call his father at some point too.










