I was going to quit today.Finally. Burn the bridge and salt the earth. I was done looking back on places that made me feel less than. I wanted—no,needed—to discover who I really was,and I couldn’t do that working in a place I’d been sent to as a punishment
“What’s the smirk for?” Theo asked, side-eyeing me.
Instead of answering, I kissed him goodbye where he sat cross-legged on the living room floor, trying to make sense of another bookcase from the hell that was flat pack furniture. The man could open a goddamn library soon.
My imagination flared to life as I gave him a once-over. Cords, white shirt and tie with glasses slipping down his nose. God. If he wore a tweed jacket with elbow patches I’d let him ruin me.
He returned my kiss with a confused look, but when he opened his mouth, I kissed him into silence. When I pulled away, loving the dazed expression on his face, I tapped his nose and winked at him. Swiping my keys off the console table, and leaving before I could change my mind.
The country club was too quiet. The staff lot was nearly empty. Something twisted in my gut as I scanned the schedule. People who were supposed to be here were nowhere in sight.
I made my way down the corridor, my heart thudding. The usual fake pleasantries and air-kisses were gone. The place felt more like a ghost town than a bustling country club serving the elite. Everything felt… wrong. Off. The usual fake smiles were gone. The falseness of opulence was replaced with something darker.
That’s when I saw Thalia. Her arms were pinned by two security guards—the same ones that tossed Elias Ballantyne out like a drunk uncle at a wedding.
Her fury was nuclear. Eyes glassy and wild, lipstick smeared, hair falling from its pins.
“Sin!” she shouted the moment she saw me.
I lunged forward, but Timothy stepped in front of me like a wall of arrogance and Prada.
“You don’t get to speak to her,” he said coolly. “She doesn’t work here anymore.”
“What the fuck did she do?” I snarled.
“Apparently being your friend is now a crime,” Thalia bit out, her voice shaking.
I felt the drop in my stomach. Cold and slow and absolute. “Let her go. Don’t touch her. If you hurt her, I swear to God, I’ll bury you in a shallow grave.”
Timothy smirked. “Save that righteous rage. Mr. Astor is waiting for you.”
“What the fuck’s he doing here?” I snapped, trying to shove past.
Timothy didn’t move. “This way, you piece of shit.”
“Takes one to know one, Timmy boy.”
He glared like he wanted to scratch me, and I just blew him a kiss. He recoiled, visibly shuddering. I cackled at his patheticness. Everything was going to hell—so I’d take the place with me.
The manager’s office was stifling, the air stale with cigar smoke and privilege. Washington Astor sat behind the oversized desk like a villain in a gothic novel, his gold cufflinks glinting in the low light, a scotch in hand, even though it was barely noon.
“Sit,” he growled, gesturing like I was a dog.
Timothy tried to shove me into the chair. I didn’t budge. Didn’t sit. Didn’t look away. “Fuck you old man.”
“You’re a leech,” he sneered. “Fucking my son like a parasite.”
My teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached, but I didn’t speak. Instead, I smiled.
He wanted my fury. Wanted me to scream, and cry, and beg. But I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me break. My hands curled into fists at my side before I slipped them into my pockets to hide how badly they were shaking.
“You think you’re special? You’re nothing. A pretty body. A novelty. And when he tires of you—which hewill—you’ll go crawling back to the gutter you came from,” he spat.
I breathed in through my nose, slow and controlled. My phone was already recording in my pocket. I didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch. I was the infuriating picture of calm—at least on the surface.
He was giving me rope, but I’d let him hang himself. Every slur. Every threat. Every ounce of his hatred. I’d make sure it was used against him when his day in court finally came.
“You don’t belong in our world,” he snarled. “And you never will. I’m offering you a chance to walk away. Quietly. Without ruining what little dignity you have left.”
