“And I told you,” Wolf said, voice dropping just enough to cut, “the club doesn’t take kindly to thieves.”
The words settled heavy in the air.Jade went completely still.
For a second, the only sound was the baby crying behind her, filling the silence with something raw and desperate.Wolf held her gaze.He didn’t soften his stance or look away from her.
“Derek took from us,” he said.“That makes this a problem that needs to be handled.”
Her throat worked as she swallowed.“I don’t know anything.”
“I know,” he cut in.“But that doesn’t change the situation.”
“I have a job,” she said, her voice thinner now, stretched tight.“I have a kid.I don’t have time to—”
“It pays more,” he reminded her.“So you’ll be able to pay off Derek’s debt quickly and even have some leftover for yourself and Jane.”
Jade faltered, just for a second.Wolf saw an opening and decided to keep pressing her.Eventually, he knew she would cave.She had to, because right now she was only answering to him, not King or the club, not yet.She was fortunate that way, and didn’t know it.
“How much do you earn at the diner?Minimum wage?”Wolf asked.
“$8 an hour,” she admitted.
“Well, we pay our serving staff twice that,” he said.
Her eyes flickered with undisguised interest.That landed, of course it did.He’d seen the apartment.The building.The exhaustion written into every line of her.She was drowning, and she knew it.
“You’d be working,” he added.“That’s it.”
Jade’s gaze snapped back to his, sharp and searching.“I’m considering it, but I’m not sure I can survive in that kind of environment.”
“You’re a tough woman,” he said.“No one would touch you.”
He didn’t know why he said those last words, he certainly hadn’t planned on saying them.
“What?”Jade asked, looking dumbfounded
“You’d be under my protection.” The second the words left his mouth, something shifted in him.Wolf didn’t move, didn’t react outwardly, but the awareness was there, sharp and immediate.
He didn’t make offers like that.Wolf wasn’t the sort to make promises like that.He avoided conflict if possible, didn’t get involved in matters he wasn’t supposed to and yet, he didn’t take his words back.He watched her process his offer, watched the suspicion war with something else.Hope, maybe, or Jade was just that desperate to find a way out.
“You expect me to trust that?”she asked.
“No,” Wolf said.“However, I don’t make statements I can’t enforce.”
Jade searched his face, like she was trying to find the lie.Wolf let her, because she wouldn’t find one.Behind her, the baby’s cries hit another peak.Jade flinched again, harder this time.Her control cracked just a little more.
Wolf saw the moment it shifted.The calculation.The numbers running through her head.With the better pay, she could handle the rent and bills better.Jade sagged her shoulders, the fight draining just enough to make room for something heavier.There was resignation on her face but not defeat.Wolf had a feeling it would take so much more to bring such a woman down.
“If I do this,” she said slowly, “it’s temporary.”
Wolf didn’t interrupt.He didn’t move, he just watched her, waited, giving her the space to finish like he already knew she would.
“Until I find Derek,” she went on, her voice tightening slightly around his name.“Until he pays what he owes.”
Her sharp gaze locked onto his again, despite the exhaustion dragging at her, the crying baby behind her, and everything stacked against her.
“This isn’t permanent,” she added again, firmer this time, like repetition might make it real.
Wolf studied her.Most people didn’t bargain with him.Didn’t stand in a doorway with nothing and still try to dictate terms.They folded, or they begged.Sometimes both.She did neither.
