“Not ever.”
“Come now, Narek,” he chided, “I’m going all in, which means you have to as well. It’s only fair.”
If he wanted a chance, he had to be willing to give up on quitting, but that would defeat the purpose…
“You’re acting like you have a choice, pet,” Silver said, “you do not.”
Nuri couldn’t help the shiver that raced through him at the suggestive nickname. “Don’t call me that.”
“I’ll call you whatever I like.” He lowered into a crouch, his knees hovering at either side of Nuri, trapping him even further. “This is the only chance I’ll give you. You play and win, you get your resignation. You play and lose, and you’ll spread those legs for me like you did earlier. Any other questions,pet?”
He really shouldn’t have made that comment about Silver never having taken care of him before, clearly that was what was driving him to these lengths now. Nuri had hit a nerve, even if it was the wrong one, and here he was about to pay the price. The fact that it was going to be through sex, that sex was something Silver even wanted from him, was shocking, but he didn’t really have the time to pick that aspect of all of this apart.
“How many rounds?” Because there was no way in hell he was going to bank his entire future on a single roll of the dice. He may be stuck—and stupidly aware of the heat wafting off of the Emperor’s strong body, the smell of him…—but he wasn’t a complete idiot.
“A call came in from another of our distributors while you were sleeping,” Silver began. “The warehouse in Catthus was hit. Fortunately, those stronger security measures you implementedover the week were affective and we were able to put it out without sustaining much loss, but it’s clear now that someone is targeting us.”
“I still haven’t discovered who it is,” Nuri admitted. There’d been no clues left behind at the first location.
“It shouldn’t take you longer than six weeks,” he decided for him. “That’s when the shareholders gather for their annual meeting to discuss how successful or not they’ve found their CEO this past year. You’re aware how this will look for me if you fail, aren’t you?”
Nuri glared. “If I quit, someone else who is more competent can—”
“Six weeks,” he reiterated firmly. “Six rounds. Each rounds begins the first day of the week.”
“That means if you win, I have to give you a whole week,” Nuri pointed out.
“You’ll give me your time no matter what, Narek,” he said cryptically, but before Nuri could pick that apart and seek out the hidden meaning, continued. “Do you agree or not? I’m fine with forgetting about this whole thing. You can return to the office as soon as your ankle is healed, and we can put this mess behind us and pretend like it never happened.”
“No.”
“To which part?”
Nuri heaved a sigh of frustration. “How long will it be before I recover?”
“The doctor mentioned roughly a week or so. Since you can walk on it,” Silver’s eyes darkened by the memory, “I’d say no longer than six days.”
“Six days and six weeks, huh?”
“Admittedly, it was a random number I came up with on the spot. The doctor’s diagnosis must have been on my mind.”
“And until those six days are up?”
“You’ll remain here.” His eye twitched. “Under mycare.”
Nuri was going to regret saying that for the rest of his life.
“My brother?” He couldn’t forget about the most important part. As badly as he wanted to be free of his past, Nuri would do anything to ensure Nate was safe. Honestly, a part of him was confused over why Silver was going through all this trouble of offering a game in the first place.
He had to have known he could leverage Nate’s safety to force Nuri to sign a new employment contract, locking him in for another decade or longer.
So why wasn’t he?
What was Nuri missing?
“So long as you agree to play, he’ll be free to go,” Silver said.
“Unharmed?”
