He laughs. “What gives you the impression that I’m a man of my word?”
“Many factors. Namely, the fact that I understand you seldom give it out. Ergo… it must be worth something to you. But, beyond that, you’ll keep your word because you’ll announce it to all of the Nighthawks in a public address. And, during that announcement, you’ll also give them permission to mutiny should you ever break it.”
His jaw works. “Clever little bitch, aren’t you?”
I’m threatening the oneotherthing he cares about; his power. If he does what I ask, then he’ll be binding himself to either respect his word to me or have to face down a mutiny of assassins after he losestheirrespect.
“Occasionally.”
“Fine. Done. I’ll make the announcement as soon as you tell me—”
“You’ll make it before I tell you. Right after we’re finished negotiating.” I don’t give him a chance to disagree. “Second, you prevent Tobias from claiming Alina.”
“No.”
“It’s non-negotiable.”
“Everything’s negotiable. This is a negotiation, isn’t it?” he glares at me. “I won’t prevent him from claiming someone he has a history with. The likelihood of a favorable outcome is too great.”
This is part of maintaining his power, then. He wants to control the Nighthawks by getting leverage on every single one of them through this little tradition he’s instating. And, if people start to fail and relationships don’t take root, that’ll hurt him. “Then I’ll be pleased to inform you that Azalea will likely live a long life, but it won’t be a good one. Dagon’s men will have sadistic orders straight from him. It won’t be long before packages with pieces of her and videos of her torture will begin arriving here—Dagon alwayslovedto taunt his rivals.”
Cain looks like he wants to throttle me, but Max stands up and approaches me, stopping at my side like a sentry. Despite his bout of insanity, Cain knows he’s outnumbered.
“I won’t stop him fromattemptingto claim her. If it doesn’t succeed, she’ll be released,” he grits out.
“I don’t want her captured in the first place.”
“Too fucking bad. She’ll have more than anyone else; agency. I’ll give him three months with her. If at the end, she wants to go—”
“Three months is plenty of time to break someone. Alina isn’t like me. She can’t endure—”
“Tobias won’t torture her. He cares for her. Now, before I decide to start taking your body parts, give me your third condition.”
I examine him—the hard set of his jaw, the crazy glint in his eyes. He won’t budge on this, but neither will I.
“No deal.”
“Goddamnit!” he roars, losing his composure entirely. “Fine!He won’t kidnap her. If she comes here, it’ll be of her own volition, and that is mylastfucking offer.Give me your third term.”
That’s good enough. “My freedom.”
Max inhales a sharp breath. Cain’s gaze flicks to him, then returns to me. “No. This one I won’t budge on. You stay where you are. You’re too valuable to release into the wild.”
“Ember.” Max’s voice is soft. “Don’t push it.”
His voice is a plea. A beg. One by one, the memories I’ve regained of our time together, of usgrowing up together, decide to filter through my mind’s eye on rapid-fire. Meeting him. Helping him, and having him help me. Him slowly but surely becoming my favorite person in the world.
The necklace he gave me.
The kiss. The late-night texts. The early-morning and midday texts and cold calls in between.
“I want my own room and the choice to function as an active operative within the Nighthawks.” I don’t know why I say it.
Perhaps because some traitorous part of me knows that Max did what he had to do. That he was the shooter in the forest who took out Dagon’s men. His betrayal was never absolute—I don’t think he’d be capable oftrulybetraying me.
He’s the only person in this world who truly knows me. And, while I might be seething mad at himnow… I was never able to hold a grudge against him or retain my anger for long.God, I fucking hate myself right now.
“Done.” Cain abruptly stands from the table. “I’ll make the fucking announcement. If your information proves not to be valuable, our deal is off.”
