“Find what you were looking for?” she asked quietly. Her voice sounded steadier than she felt. He didn’t turn right away, and that was worse than his silence. When he finally did, his eyes hit hers—and whatever she’d been bracing for, it still knocked the air out of her. There was no warmth in his eyes. His stare was sharp and cold.
“You want to tell me,” he said evenly, “why the hell the feds have a file on you and why it’s on my desk?” He didn’t raise his voice and didn’t snap at her. His calm control felt so much more dangerous than his shouting at her.
Kimi swallowed, forcing herself not to look away from him. “It’s not what you think.”
His expression didn’t change. “Funny,” he said. “Looks exactly like what I think it is. It looks like you’re working for the feds.”
Her pulse kicked harder. “I’m not working for the feds.”
“Then why is your name stamped all over a federal case?” he questioned. She wanted to tell him that she didn’t have a choice, because they didn’t give her one. She wanted to shout that they took everything else from her, but the words stayed locked behind her teeth.
She took a step forward instead. “I didn’t go to them. They came to me.”
His gaze tracked the movement, unblinking. “That supposed to make me feel better?”
“No,” she said softly. “It’s supposed to make you understand.” A beat of silence stretched between them. It felt tight and loaded with contempt, but she didn’t let that stop her. “They wanted Cole,” she continued. “Not just him—everything tied to him. The guns, money, routes he ran, and even names.” Her voice dipped slightly. “They already had all the pieces; they just needed someone close enough to Cole to fill in the rest.”
“And that someone was you,” he spat.
Kimi nodded. “I said no,” she added quickly. “At first. More than once.”
His jaw tightened. “But then, you said yes.”
Her throat burned. “They made it so I couldn’t say no.” Something flickered in his eyes then, and was gone just as fast.
“What does that mean?” he asked. Kimi hesitated, not because she didn’t know what to say, but because saying it out loud made it real in a way she couldn’t take back.
“They had evidence,” she said finally. “Things I didn’t even know about—stuff tied to Cole. Stuff tied to me.” Her voice dropped lower. “They told me I could either help or go down with him, because whether I liked it or not, I was with him.” The room felt smaller, tighter, like the walls were closing in on her.
“And instead of running to the feds for help after Cole found out what you were doing,” Gorgon said, his voice still level, “you brought that mess here to my men and me.” Kimi flinched, not at the words, but at the truth in them.
“I didn’t know what this place was when I got here,” she said. “I didn’t know you. I was running from Cole and needed help. I never wanted to put you or your men in danger, Gorgon,” she whispered.
“You know me now,” he breathed. Yeah, she did, and that was the problem.
“That’s why I didn’t tell you,” she admitted. “Because now, it matters. I thought that I could outrun my past with Cole, but I was wrong.”
His expression darkened, and something dangerous settled deeper beneath the surface. “You don’t get to decide what matters in my house.”
“I wasn’t trying to—” she stammered.
“You brought the feds to my door,” he cut in, sharper now. “You put every man in this club in the middle of something they didn’t sign up for.”
“I didn’t bring them here,” she shot back, the first crack in her control showing. “Cole did. He would’ve found me anywhere.”
“And now he knows where you are, and so do the feds,” he said.
“So if you want me gone, just say it,” she fired back, her voice shaking despite her effort to steady it. The words hung in the air between them—heavy and final.
Gorgon went still, and for a second, she thought he might actually say it. She waited for him to tell her to leave, or to tell her she’d done enough damage. She expected him to say that this—whatever this was between them—wasn’t worth the risk. Her chest tightened painfully at the thought, but he didn’t say it. Instead, his gaze dropped briefly to the photos on the desk. He saw the evidence of everything she’d survived before she ever walked through his doors—the bruises and bloody clothes left behind by Cole’s abuse.
When his eyes lifted again, the cold was still there, but something else sat underneath it now. It was something harder to name. “Are you still mixed up in Cole’s mess?” he asked. The question hit differently than the rest. It wasn’t an accusation. It was an assessment.
Kimi shook her head immediately. “No. I ran before I could give the feds anything that mattered, and I think that Cole knows that. I think it’s why he’s so desperately trying to get to me. He doesn’t want me to change my mind and talk to them.”
“You expect me to believe that?” Gorgon asked.
“I expect you to believe it because I wouldn’t still be breathing if I had,” she said quietly.
