Ryker: Axel, I swear to God.
Axel: What? I’m trying to establish parameters. For him. Not for me. I don’t need them. *Halo emoji*
Blake: You absolutely need them.
Jace: I’d like to point out that “murder the ex-boyfriend” is typically frowned upon by parole boards.
Me: I need that name.
Ryker: Knox?
Ryker: Knox.
Ryker: You still there?
Axel: Uh-oh. He’s gone quiet.
Blake: That’s … not good.
Axel: For the record, quiet Knox is scarier than loud Knox. Loud Knox punches walls. Quiet Knox plans funerals. *Coffin emoji*
Ryker: NOT HELPING.
Axel: I’m trying to keep things light. It’s literally the only tool in my emotional toolkit. I’m working with what I have.
Blake: That was weirdly self-aware.
Ryker: Knox, listen to me. Dakota needs you OUT of that place. Not serving a longer sentence. Whatever you’re thinking, stop.
Me: I just need to know if it’s him. Because if Whitmore is the man who put his hands on her …
Axel: Then he’s already a dead man? He just doesn’t know it yet? *Skull emoji*
34
HARPER
“How could this happen?”
I probably should have softened my tone, given that I was standing in Deputy Warden Callahan’s office with my fists clenched at my sides. But I was not about to sit back and meekly accept Silas working inside this prison.
Where I might have to see him every day.
Where he might see Knox every day.
Where, God forbid, Knox might have access to him and do something he’d regret.
You know, like the whole ripping-his-esophagus-out-of-his-throat thing he’d so vividly described. That would not end well for anybody.
And Knox suspected. He more than suspected. I’d seen the way his gaze locked on to Silas’s knuckles when they were introduced. The way he went rigid, that terrifying calm-before-the-storm stillness that meant violence was brewing beneath the surface.
It was a ticking time bomb.
When it exploded, who got taken out as a casualty was yet to be determined.
“Background checks are a point-in-time snapshot,” Callahan said, leaning back in his leather chair like we were discussing a minor scheduling conflict. “Not an ongoing monitoring system.”
“But I filed a police report weeks ago! Long before he would have applied for this job.”
