The silence pressed down until it became unbearable, so heavy my breath felt thin beneath it. I couldn’t draw this out. If I did, I’d lose my nerve. “I can’t uphold my end of the deal,” I blurted, the words spilling out too loud, too fast. “I’m sorry, but I can’t leave Kreed. I’m willing to pay for it, money, inheritance, whatever you want. Or we can make another deal. Just…not that one.”
Donovan set his cigar down gently on the tray beside him and leaned back, steepling his fingers. A slow grin curled across his face. “I thought you might say that.”
Cold slid through me, sinking deep into my bones. And then sickening clarity. “Oh my god,” I exhaled shakily. “I’ve been played.”
His grin widened.
Fuck me.He was good. Too fucking good.
And I’d walked right into his trap exactly the way Kreed warned me I would.
“You knew,” I whispered, voice cracking. “You knew I would break the deal. You knew how much I love your son, and you took advantage of it.”
“A key component in business,” Donovan said, lifting his drink, “is knowing your opponent’s weaknesses.”
Opponent. Was that what I was? I guessed we were enemies. How could we not be considering what he’d done to me,
“But,” he added, tilting his head, “the difference here is that you do not have to be my opponent.”
I stared at him, chest tight. “What are you saying?”
“We can be on the same side, Miss Steele.”
My pulse kicked. Hard. “Meaning?”
“It’s simple. Far simpler than breaking my son’s heart and your own. What I want is your loyalty to me. To my crew.”
The room tilted slightly. “My loyalty,” I echoed.
“To the Ravens,” he clarified.
My stomach dropped. “You want me to swear my fealty to the Ravens?”
His brows lifted, amused, waiting patiently, as though he expected me to see that this was nothing short of a coronation. Or a cage.
The ring on my finger felt heavier. Almost like it burned. “What exactly does that loyalty entail?” I whispered, throat tight.
Donovan smiled over the rim of his glass. “That depends on how far you are willing to go for the family you’ve chosen.”
“And if I do this, you’ll leave Kreed and me alone? We’ll be free to continue as we are?”
“Yes.” A curl of smoke unraveled from his cigar, drifting upward like a ghost of something older, darker, thicker than blood.
Everything in me warned this was a fucking bad idea. It was worse than signing a deal with the devil, which I’d done already. This was the price for double-crossing the devil. I gnawed on my lip, contemplating, my mind quickly weighing the pros and cons.
“I can see your hesitation. Loyalty,” he began, “is not a concept we treat lightly in this family. It is the backbone of the Ravens. The reason we stand. The reason we survive.”
“What does that actually mean?”
His eyes cut to mine. “It means, what you see, what you hear, what you learn…stays within the crew. There are no exceptions. Not for friends. Not for lovers. Not for law enforcement. And you do not question what I ask of you. If I give you a job, you get it done. Quietly. Efficiently. Correctly. You do not run to my son with doubts. You do not run to the police. You do not run at all.”
My pulse stuttered, a shiver crawling up my spine.
He leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees, gaze locked on mine like he was imprinting the terms onto my soul. “Loyalty meansbeing part of this family. It means being trusted with its ugliest truths. It means you do not flinch when the world demands sacrifice.” His voice softened, almost warm, which somehow terrified me more.
“And in return, Miss Steele, you will have the protection of every Raven. You will have a place here. You will never be alone. But my enemies will treat you as they treat me.” His lips curved just slightly. “And my sons, especially Kreed, will know that you stand with us, not against us.”
Emotion scraped at my throat. Not fear, though that was part of it, but something heavier. Something final. This wasn’t just a deal.
