"I have some names," I say.
He goes still. The mug pauses halfway to his mouth.
I explain what’s happening in as simple terms as possible. I give him no names. I don’t tell him that both his pit bosses are dirty. I don’t explain in detail how they are doing it.
"I want the deal we agreed to. I find your cheating ring, I go free."
"Those were the terms."
"Are you going to abide by them? If I give you everything, are you going to let me go?"
He puts the mug down. He doesn't blink. "No, you know I won’t," he admits.
"You letting me leave was the agreement."
He shrugs.
"You said when the job was done—"
"I said I'd deal with the situation. This is me dealing with it." He folds his arms across his bare chest. "You stay."
"Then I keep the names. You get nothing."
He looks at me for a long moment. Then he smirks again and my heat is supposed to be over, but it doesn’t stop something inside me clenching at the sight of it. That smirk is going to kill me.
"That's your play?" he asks.
"That's my play. The ring keeps running. Your losses keep climbing. Whatever that means for your business, your people, whoever's above you. I sit here and eat your eggs and keep my mouth shut and we'll see who breaks first."
"You'll break first."
"Try me."
He pushes off the counter. He walks around the kitchen island until he's standing next to me. I'm on the bar stool and he's standing and the height difference is deliberate and his bare torso is at my eye level and I can smell him, God, I can smell him, the salt-skin smell of a man who has spent days fucking me senseless. It shouldn’t be attractive but my body doesn't care aboutshould.
"Let me explain how this works." His voice purrs, sending a shiver through me. "Everything you used to find the network, I have access to. All I need is to get someone else in and they do the same job that you just did."
"Maybe."
"Definitely. And when I do, you've given me nothing. You've sat on information while my business bled."
He picks up his coffee and sips it, watching me over the rim. "Just give me the names, Theo."
"Let me go."
"No."
I study the absolute confidence of his expression. He is sure that this conversation will end the way he wants it to end. He's not negotiating. He's informing me of the outcome.
My mother's alpha used to do this. It wasn’t the same words or the same decisions but it’s the same thing.Omegas do as they’re told and alphas do the telling.He can fuck right off with that.
"You can't keep me here forever," I say.
"Yes, I can. We’re a prime match. You belong with me." The entitlement is so total it doesn't even register to him as entitlement. "Give me the names," he says again. "You've done good work. I'm not going to forget that."
“Why should I? What possible motivation do I have now to help you?”
He leans back, steepling his hands behind his head. “What motivation do I have to let you go? The moment I allow you out, you’re going to run for it and I’ll never see you again.”
