I didn’t question how he knew she was here. I had hoped she could sneak in and sneak out without him being the wiser. I should have known better. Nothing in this house went unnoticed by him, thanks to high-tech security and staff. The casual possessiveness in his words enticed my protective streak. “Cut to it,” I snapped, pushing off from the door frame and taking two steps into the room. “You didn’t hand me that auction location out of fatherly goodwill. You don’t do anything for free. You never have.”
He leaned back in his leather chair, causing it to creak softly. “My fee is remarkably simple, actually. You, your brothers, and Miss Steele will come back to live here under my roof.”
I barked out a harsh laugh. “You can’t possibly be serious.”
“I’m always serious about business arrangements.” He gestured with one manicured hand toward the empty chair positioned across from him. “You and your brothers will move back in by the end of the week. Effective immediately, you’ll finish out the semester here, attending your regularly scheduled classes. I’ve already spoken with the school administration and your individual teachers. They’re expecting all of you back on Monday morning, including Kaylor.” He paused, letting that sink in. “Kaylor will make up whatever coursework she missed during her...absence. And with football season concluded, you’ll put your after-school hours into something considerably more useful than playing gang leader—studying, specifically.”
“You’ve already arranged everything?” I said, disbelief and fury mixing in equal measure, making my voice shake. “Before even telling me what you wanted?”
He gave a small, dismissive shrug that made me want to put my fist through his smug face. “I’ve always preferred to stay several steps ahead of potential complications. It’s how I’ve maintained my position. Besides, it’s not like you can say no.”
I laughed again, but there was absolutely no humor in the soundthis time. “Why drag her into this arrangement? This is between you and me. Leave her out of whatever game you’re playing. I’m the one who owes you a debt.”
My father’s gaze sharpened. “Because she’s the only real guarantee I have that you’ll actually comply with the terms. You’d walk away from me without a second thought; you’ve proven that repeatedly. But you won’t walk away from her. You can’t. It’s written all over you.”
I bristled. “And if she refuses yourgenerousoffer?”
“Then I’ll remind her that I am still her legal guardian as per the terms of her father’s will. This arrangement benefits everyone involved. She’ll be protected here, properly protected, with resources you can’t provide. And at school, under my direct influence. I’ll see to her safety personally.”
The way he said it, like she was another asset to be managed, made my blood turn to ice. “She’ll hate it here. She already hates you for what you’ve done to this family.”
“She can hate me with every fiber of her being.” His expression hardened. “My priority isn’t earning her affection or winning her approval. It’s maintaining order and control. You, your brothers, the crew…that’s what actually matters. That’s what fell completely apart when you started playing the hero for that girl.”
My chest squeezed. “You don’t need her to control me. If you want me committed to the crew, I’ll do it without Kaylor being involved.”
He ignored my protest entirely, leaning forward this time with his elbows on the desk, fingers steepled beneath his chin. “Tell her that if she agrees to stay here peacefully until her eighteenth birthday, which is in just a few months, I’ll expedite her inheritance immediately. Full access to her trust fund and everything her father left her. No strings attached, no arbitrary delays, no legal complications. She’ll be free to leave once she graduates and do whatever she pleases with her resources.”
“You haven’t drained her accounts?”
“No, I’m not a complete monster. I never wanted her father’s money. I wanted justice.”
Well, Donovan Corvo’s sense of justice, he meant, which bordered on the line of revenge. He also wanted the Vipers, control of their business and territory. He wanted to be the king of Elmwood, and I doubted he’d given that dream up. And with her father dead and Rusty shaken, the Vipers were weak. If there was ever a time to strike, it was now.
“And if she doesn’t agree to your terms?”
He tilted his head slightly, a ghost of a smile touching his lips. “Something tells me she will.”
Fury rose hot and familiar in my chest, threatening to choke me. “This is bullshit.”
He met my glare head-on, not flinching, not backing down even an inch. “You’ve always needed someone to provide structure and control, Kreed. You just prefer pretending you can live without it, that you’re some kind of free agent. But we both know better.”
For several seconds, the silence between us stretched taut as a wire, vibrating with tension. I hated being backed into a corner. But I couldn’t risk Kaylor, not while he held this kind of power over her future.
He was right about one thing, much as I hated to admit it. He had the upper hand in this particular negotiation. For now.
“Fine,” I relented, the word tasting like ash in my mouth. “I’ll tell her about your offer.”
“Good.” He smiled with genuine satisfaction. “See? That wasn’t so difficult after all. We can be civilized when we try.”
I turned sharply, my pulse still pounding hard enough to make my vision swim slightly around the edges, but my mind was already racing ahead, back upstairs to where she waited, trying to calculate how to explain this new trap we’d walked into. “You have no idea what difficult actually looks like,” I muttered under my breath, low enough my father hadn’t heard as my legs ate up the hallway.
How the hell was I supposed to tell her I had traded one cage for another?
17
KAYLOR
Imeant to go to my room. I really did. But somehow, my feet carried me across the hall to the one door I couldn’t seem to resist.
