And it humbled me.
And it hurt… because what if he chose to leave.
“No,” I said.
Silence stretched.
“No?” Rowan echoed.
“You don’t get to dictate terms on my ground,” I said. “Not anymore.”
Rowan laughed. “Careful, Lock.”
“You want a meet,” I said. “You get one. Neutral territory. Havoc rules.”
Another pause. Longer this time.
“And Kellan?” Rowan asked.
I didn’t hesitate.
“He’s decides,” I said simply.
That did it.
Rowan’s voice sharpened. “That was not the deal.” The calm slipped for the first time. Just a hair. Enough to hear the edge underneath.
“You changed the rules,” I pointed out. “This is between you and me now.”
Silence again.
“Don’t pretend this is about principles,” Rowan said. “You took something that isn’t yours, and now you’re surprised I’m taking it back.”
“No,” I said. “I’m ending it.”
I hung up.
Grim who’d slipped in quietly met my eyes. There was no judgment there, but maybe pity… I got it what where the odds of Kellan staying.
Either way he wasn’t leverage anymore.
And the man who put Saint in a coma would get what was coming to him one way or another.
15
LOCK
I didn’t go lookingfor him right away.
I tried to work first. Tried to sit in my office and make a plan…and a contingency plan, like any of it would keep tomorrow from going bad. I stared at the routes in and out the location I had selected but my mind stayed fucking blank.
Every few minutes, my eyes kept drifting to the door.
Every inch of me wanted to hide Kellan away where nothing bad could ever touch him.
Including you?
I realized I was not that self-sacrificing.
