Alex displayed his tablet, presenting a photo and credentials onscreen. “I’m an inter-Aggregate attorney. Under bylaw 32B12, you must allow me to meet privately with my clients, including detainees.” He fixed a hard glare on the officer holding Audrey. “Let her go.”
The officer immediately loosened his grip on Audrey, nodded curtly to Alex, and exited the room with the remaining enforcers.
Alex pivoted back to Mihail when the door snapped closed. “I’m telling you for the last time,” Alex said, voice curt and even, “the Senator will not tolerate this. Cary Simas’s sister was removed from a protected Level Zero jurisdiction under sedation and moved through restricted transit like contraband.”
Audrey felt dizzy. Cary. Senator. Jurisdiction. The words struck her like thrown stones, one after another, too fast to catch.
Mihail smiled without warmth. “Then your Senator can be disappointed.”
“Disappointed?” Alex’s facade broke a little. “Ryker spent years building the Senator’s trust for the Separatists. He would have your head for this.”
“Outside support can be rebuilt. A gold triad cannot.”
“You’re jeopardizing years of cover, supply movement, and legal shielding because you can’t control your own people.”
Nikos stiffened, but Mihail only cocked his head. “I control exactly what matters.”
“The hell you do.” Alex slapped the tablet flat onto the table. Text flashed across the black surface too quickly for Audrey to understand. “Your route was flagged before I arrived. You’re standing in an Aggregate checkpoint arguing over custody of a woman tied to three active investigations.”
Mihail ground his teeth, but he didn’t reply.
“Release her into my custody if you want to preserve the alliance,” Alex demanded.
He didn’t look at Audrey when he said it. He was watching Mihail—measuring the reaction.
Mihail didn’t look worried. He looked like a man determined to deliver something. There was an intent smoldering beneath his composure, as if he carried a promise that had to be fulfilled at any cost. The certainty in his eyes said he would not leave without it.
“Then your crew takes this”—Alex pointed at the badge on his tablet—“and uses it to open every door two floors down before escaping by cargo pod.”
“Forget the alliance,” Mihail replied, sounding more bored than angry. He picked up the tablet and threw it forcefully across the room despite his calm. “We aren’t leaving until we have a Simas in our custody.”
The way Mihail said her name made her insides crawl—he spoke it not as a warning or threat, but as if naming a prize too valuable to surrender.
Audrey stayed very still. She wasn’t part of the conversation.
She was the subject of it.
No one had told her Alex worked for a Senator. No one had told her Cary’s name could be said out loud in a room like this and make men with guns go quiet.
No one had told her anything.
Everyone in this room knew more than she did.
She was a pawn again.
Fury worked its way up through her, spreading through her body like fire. How dare Alex keep any of this from her?
Alex looked at her again, fast, and in that glance, she saw it: guilt, regret, and a plea so deeply buried under professionalism it barely counted as human. But like before, he looked away too quickly for her to make sense of it.
He wasn’t human, though, was he?
The thought bothered her more than she wanted to admit.
“You should release her to my custody,” Alex repeated. “Now. Before this becomes something none of us can contain.”
Mihail gave a low laugh. “No.” The word landed with finality.
The muscle in Alex’s jaw ticked. “You don’t understand what she represents to people beyond the Separatists.”
