“I do.”
Carter’s voice is quiet. “Can you win it?”
Matteo laughs once. Short. Insulted. “I can buy the room if I want to.”
Blaze mutters, “Jesus.”
Matteo ignores him this time. “The auction starts in thirty-eight minutes,” he says. “Bidding will be private. Transfer details will arrive after confirmation. They will not send the primary location until funds are verified.”
Landon steps closer. “How long after winning?”
“Depends on the buyer’s tier. For me?” Matteo pauses. “Quickly.”
“Why?” Logan asks.
“Because my name opens doors your cuts kick down.” The insult is light. The truth isn’t.
Joker tilts his head. “I’m starting to like him.”
“No, you’re not,” Shadow says.
“I said starting.”
Matteo chuckles. “I like that one.”
Joker smiles.
Logan ignores both of them. “Once you get the transfer location, you send it to us.”
“No.” The word drops clean.
Every man in the room goes still.
Logan’s voice turns deadly. “No?”
“If I send you blindly, you make noise before I get her clear. These men are animals, but they are organized animals. They’ll have watchers, contingencies, and kill switches.”
My body goes cold.
Matteo continues, “You will move when I say move.”
I step closer to the phone. “No.”
Another silence.
Then Matteo says, “There he is.”
Carter mutters, “Matteo.”
“No,” Matteo says, his voice sharpening. “Let him speak.”
I lean over the desk, eyes on the phone like he’s standing in front of me. “You don’t give orders about her.”
“I do if they keep her breathing.” The room holds. His words are the only thing that stop me from telling him exactly how I’ll peel his skin back if he plays games with Olivia’s life. Matteo’s tone lowers. “Listen carefully, Cobra. Rage makes noise. Love makes men stupid. You need neither when she is close to men who will hurt her just to prove they still control the room.”
I say nothing. He knows enough to be useful. I hate that.
“You want her back,” he continues. “I want the ring burned. Those goals align for now.”
