Now it had a person.
“I can’t picture anyone else getting Daddy out of her mouth,” the confession scraped on the way out. “I can’t stand the thought of some polished heir hearing it. That word is mine.”
Nik was silent. No judgement. Which meant he was already planning the fallout.
“I want her collared,” I didn’t bother dressing it up. Not with him. “Tattooed. Name in the book beside mine. Crest burned into her thigh so every man in those chambers knows she’s not inventory.”
“You’ve had her what, months?”
“Feels like years.”
“That’s how we’re built. You know that. We don’t attach often, but when we do…”
“It’s a problem,” I finished.
“It’s a fact,” he corrected. “Possession. Obsession. Territorial. The codex calls it loyalty and legacy. We know better. The trick is putting a fence around it so it protects instead of cages.”
My head tipped back against the leather. The ceiling was dark.
“I don’t want to trap her.”
“I know.”
“I also don’t want to stand there while she walks toward a man who thinks submission is leverage and Daddy is a punchline.”
“Then don’t. Give her the weekend you promised before you start planning worst-case scenarios with Atticus fucking DuPont.”
The cliffs-edge house flashed in my mind. Black stone. Glass. Madeline in one of my shirts. No veil drones trying to get a picture of us.
I rolled the cigarette between my fingers, not lighting this one yet. “Every time I’ve taken time for myself, something’s gone to shit.”
He didn’t argue. It was the truth. Every hour of every day. Someone needed me. The degrees varied, but the verdict was always the same.
“Friday,” he circled back. “We handle the tunnels like this. Rome reports to me tomorrow at noon. Sober. If he’s still wired like you described, I move him to second. Put him where he can hit someone if he needs to without being the first face on camera.”
“Who runs front then.”
“Me, if I have to. Maybe Luca if I can drag him out of his screens long enough. You go down. You walk the line. Every man in that concrete box sees you. Hears you. Knows we’re in a generous mood but not that generous.”
“So the usual.”
“When the first hour’s clean and I’m satisfied nobody’s going to say DuPont or Charlotte in the wrong tone, you leave. Car already pointed at the cliffs. You don’t sit there waiting for trouble just because you’re used to being its favourite.”
Smoke finally hit my lungs. “And if something blows.”
“I call You turn around. Until then, you give her what you promised.”
“She’s not the only one I promised things to,” I muttered.
“I’m a big boy. I can handle a deal in a tunnel without you breathing smoke down my neck.”
“You like me breathing smoke down your neck.”
“Not when Rome’s in the same room trying to impress me by breaking skulls.”
Nik paused. “How is he really?”
“Rome?”
