I poured another glass.The study was dark except for the glow of the fireplace, shadows pooling in the corners like secrets, and I’d been sitting here for hours.Replaying every moment of that confrontation.The way she’d walked into my study without fear.The way she’d looked at me like she could see through every layer of defense I’d spent thirty years constructing.
She sees us, my wolf murmured.She stayed.She didn’t run.
I drained the glass and reached for the bottle again.The burn wasn’t working.Nothing was working.
On my desk, the collar glinted in the firelight.Silver chain and diamonds, delicate and perfect.I’d had it made specifically for her, sized to fit that slender throat, designed to mark her as mine whenever she left this house.A symbol of ownership that could pass for jewelry.A reminder of who she belonged to.
I picked it up, felt the weight of it in my palm.Cold metal warming against my skin.The diamonds caught the light like captured stars.
Put it on her, the wolf demanded.Mark her.Claim her.She’s ours.
I set it down harder than necessary.The sound echoed in the empty room.
She wasn’t mine.She was a means to an end.A pawn in a game she didn’t even know she was playing.Her father had helped destroy my childhood, funneling payments to that godforsaken boarding school while the senator’s conscience stayed clean.Richard Hughes had known exactly what he was doing when he signed those wire transfers.Known a child was suffering.Taken the money anyway.
And now his daughter thought she understood me.
The laugh that escaped me was bitter, hollow.She understood nothing.She’d learned a few tragic facts from Alice and suddenly thought she could see the real me.As if anyone could.As if there was anything left to see except the monster I’d built from the wreckage of that little boy in the closet.
A knock at the door.I scented Parsons before he spoke.
“Come.”
He entered, his wolf senses no doubt cataloging the whiskey, the darkness, my foul mood.The slight tension in his shoulders told me he’d rather be anywhere else.But Parsons was nothing if not professional.
“The investigation update, sir.Petrov’s team traced the building access logs for the heating system.Three staff members had keycard access during the relevant window.We’re running backgrounds now.”
“And?”
“Three maintenance staff had keycard access during the relevant window.We’re still running backgrounds, but nothing suspicious so far.Whoever did this knew exactly how to make it look like an accident.”
An inside job.Someone who knew the building’s systems, its routines, its blind spots.The same profile as the person who’d sent the dead corgi.The same careful planning.
“Keep digging.”
“Yes, sir.”Parsons hesitated, and I could smell his reluctance.“There’s also the matter of Viktor’s report to the Pakhan.”
I didn’t need the reminder.Viktor had seen my distraction during the Diamantis exchange.He’d seen the way my mind had wandered to her, to the scent of her, in the middle of a multi-million dollar handoff with vampires.And Viktor was nothing if not loyal to Max.
The ultimatum would come.I could feel it approaching like a storm on the horizon, and I knew Max’s solutions were never kind.
“That will be all.”
Parsons withdrew, leaving me alone with the silence and the whiskey and the ghost of her words.
You wanted to remind me who was in charge.But I think you were really reminding yourself.
My hand tightened on the glass until I felt the crystal creak.
She was wrong.This morning had been about control.About reminding her that she was mine to do with as I pleased.About proving that her little moment of independence at the hotel meant nothing in the grand scheme of our arrangement.
Liar, the wolf growled.You were afraid.She’s getting too close.You tried to push her away.
I threw the glass into the fireplace.Watched it shatter against the stone.Watched the flames leap higher as the alcohol ignited, blue and hungry.
It didn’t help.
Nothing helped.
