“I knew I’d find you here eventually,” he says.
The warehouse seems to shrink.
Kay’s grip tightens on my arm. Ricky straightens up. Jace pretends to keep checking inventory, but I see the way his shoulders stiffen.
“Give us a minute,” Emir says without looking at them.
Kay shoots me a worried look. I squeeze her hand once before letting go and follow Emir toward the far corner, behind a stack of pallets. The hum of the fan muffles our voices.
He turns to face me, hands sliding into his pockets.
“You’ve been gone a long time, Ayla,” he says quietly. His voice soft, almost kind. “Gabriel has been waiting for information. Waiting on you.”
“I know,” I sigh, leaning back against the cold metal of the wall. “It’s…harder than we thought.”
His gaze sharpens. “Harder how?”
“It’s not like he sets me up in meetings,” I snap, heat rising. “It’s not like he just invites me to sit in while he plans how to dismantle Gabriel’s network. I’m not in the rooms you want me in, Emir. Half the time I don’t know where he’s going until he’s already gone.”
It comes out too fast, too defensive.
A lie.
Emir doesn’t flinch. He just watches me with that steady, unblinking stare that makes most people confess their sins.
“That’s not going to cut it,” he says, disappointment lacing his tone. “Gabriel needs more than excuses. You know he’ll kill you, Ayla. He’s losing too much.”
“How’s he gonna do that?” I ask, a bitter laugh scraping my throat. “Show up at Maksim’s door and ask for his little spy back? I doubt that.”
“Careful,”Emir says softly. “You’re getting too confident, Ayla. You need to remember who Gabriel is.”
I push off the wall, his words sparking something sharp in my chest.
“You don’t think I know who the hell he is?” I bite out. “He’s been torturing me for half my life. Every rib once marked with his bruises. Every choice his decision. I just want the hell out, Emir.”
For a second, something like pity flashes across his face.
Then it’s gone.
“That’s not what we’ve heard.”
My fingers curl into fists.
“What doesthatmean?”
“Word from our informants is that you belong to Maksim now.” The word belongs lands too heavy. “If that’s the case, Gabriel expects a lot more than‘I can’t’from you.”
Heat crawls up my neck, shame and anger knotted together.
Belong to Maksim.
Maksim’s hand on the back of my neck when he sleeps. His voice in my ear telling me stay.Be mine.His body caging mine against the Ducati until I felt like I couldn’t breathe without him inside me.
Belong.
I swallow hard.
“Just give me until the end of the week,” I breathe. My voice doesn’t shake, and I’m proud of that. “I’ll get you something. I’ll figure it out.”
