Page 75 of Crave

“Likewise,” I said automatically.

When the door closed, Father looked up from his notes at last. “Surely that’s more stimulating than running statistics on repeat offenders.”

“Sentencing bias, Father.”

He gave a faint, dismissive smile. “There’s no bias. A criminal is a criminal, regardless of where they came from. The law is blind, Tristan. Or it’s supposed to be. It’s people who muddy it with sentiment.”

It was such a perfect soundbite I almost laughed. He’d probably said the same thing to the press at some point. But I didn’t have the energy to fight him again. Not today.

I stood. “Thank you. For handling the Rothwells.”

“Of course.” He capped his pen. “Will you be looking for another tenant? I imagine Henry will want to move nearer the hospital once he starts his junior rotation. And Zara? What are her plans?”

“Probably to follow Henry.”

“That wouldn’t be wise. Diana won’t approve. Henry will need to review that.”

Review it. As I should have reviewed Oliver.

I made for the door.

“Oh, and Tristan?”

I stopped, looked back.

“Needless to say, everything you heard in here is confidential.”

“Of course.”

He didn’t look up again. Already buried in the next file, the next life to be dissected.

I stepped out into the corridor. The air felt cooler out there, thinner, as if I’d surfaced from somewhere too deep. It always amazed me how a man could hold so much power in his hands and still make everything around him feel hollow. Or maybe it wasn’t him at all. Maybe it was me.

Hollowed out.

Wanting something more.

When, by every measure, I already had everything anyone could possibly wish for.

chapter sixteen

Razor

Cormac’s voice followed me out of Joe’s like the stink of chip fat.

His threat about my mum and sister lodged deep, a splinter I couldn’t dig out no matter how hard I tried. Ironically, they were the reason I’d got myself tangled in this shit to begin with, all to keep them safe. To have a man like Cormac standing between my family and the wolves meant no one would dare touch either of them again.

But that’s the thing about this life; it always comes with a collar.

I’d known it from day one: the same people who shielded me could strip safety away in a heartbeat. And Cormac? He never let me forget who held the leash. It didn’t matter how many rules I set, how I tried to run my line differently. Fairer, cleaner, built on loyalty instead of fear. I could dress it up like a business, tell myself I was better than the rest. But I still knew what sat above me. And no matter how much respect I showed my people, it never travelled upward. Not in this game.

And to keep my family safe, and those under me safe, I had to fix this.

Hackney was slick with the same fine drizzle from the night before, hanging in the air to make everything feel close and claustrophobic. And all I could see, no matter how hard I tried to look past it, was the way it had run down Tricky’s face when he’d asked me to fuck him. The taste still lingered. Rain and want, salt and sin.

But that memory had to be parked. Locked up.

Back to the old rules.