“Well,” Knox replied, “the obvious answer is that I’ve never tried to murder you.”
The silence that followed felt like a stone dropping into a pond.
When Paolo finally found words, he wrapped them in a blanket of disdain that didn’t sound completely convincing.
“Right. You’re just doing this out of the goodness of your heart. Sure.”
Knox, still completely unperturbed, said, “Not at all. I’m banking on the fact that you want to stay alive badly enough to help me put Lorenzo Vozzina and the rest of his trafficking operation away for good. Tell me, does he know what hospital you’re in? Has he bothered to visit you?”
Another pause.
“Who else is there? I can tell you put me on speaker.”
Knox’s neutral tone hardened. “No one you need to concern yourself with.”
“Is Jez there? I saw her hanging all over your pack at the gala, before—”
“Before your mate tried to drop a hotel on you?” Knox suggested.
“I’m here,” I said.
The words were out before I could decide if they were a good idea. With a nervous glance at Knox, I walked over to the chair he was sitting in and hovered next to it. He gave me a speculative look, but didn’t protest.
“I want to talk to her,” Paolo said, the tremor in his voice growing more pronounced. “Privately.”
Knox’s eyebrows went up.
“Jez,” Tony said, his tone half-concern, half-warning.
Knox muted the call. I could see the calculations running in his head as he weighed how to respond. Was I trustworthy? Did saving him and the others in the hotel cancel out my attempt to kill him? That was what he should have been asking himself, certainly.
But what he said was, “You don’t have to, Jez. After what he did to you, as far as I’m concerned, you don’t ever have to acknowledge the little snake even exists.”
I took in a deep breath. “No, I’ll do it.”
He unmuted the phone and handed it over. Chewing my lip, I lifted it and headed for the bathroom, closing the door behind me.
“Okay,” I said, sitting on the closed toilet seat. “I’m in the bathroom. It’s just me.”
“He’s going to make me disappear.” The fear Paolo had been attempting to hide poured into the open, and for a moment I thought he was talking about Knox.
“He’s not—” I began, unsure exactly how I was supposed to be playing this.
Paolo cut me off. “He is! He’s been blocking the bond for days, and when he finally showed up at the hospital, his eyes were just... dead! He looked at me like I was a bug that needed squashing!”
“Oh,” I said. “You mean Lorenzo. Yeah, I expect he’s plotting some kind of unforeseen medical crisis for you as we speak.”
A pathetic whimpering noise crackled across the connection, and I absolutely did not take pleasure in it.
“Matthew says he’ll hide me at a private clinic so Lorenzo can’t find me, but we’ll still be mated! I can never get away from him!”
It took a beat longer than it should have to connect the name Matthew to Knox. The instant it did, every bit of omegaterritorial rage that should have been directed at Tony rushed into my chest like hot lava.
The urge to squeeze myself down to microscopic size, fly into the phone speaker, and follow the cell signal back to its source so I could rip this interloper’s tongue out for daring touse my alpha’s namewas nearly overwhelming.
An animal snarl caught in my throat, choking me.
And...what? What the actualfuck?
