Page 142 of Cold Mercy

“Don’t interrupt me.” The calmness in my tone makes her freeze.

“Don’t do it again unless you want to see how fast I lose patience.”

Silence swallows her whole.

“Right now,” I continue, “I have nearly a dozen witnesses ready to testify that you took bribes. Not petty cash, Grace. We can place you at multiple exchanges involving illicit payments. Dates, intermediaries, and amounts are already corroborated. ”

Her mouth falls open. “Thomas…what are you—”

“Did I stutter?” My tone drops into something colder, darker.

“If their statements aren’t enough, I’ll corroborate them. Personally. Imagine the headlines: Rising-star prosecutor caught pocketing bribes from criminals she pretended to hunt.”

Her breath stutters. “You do realize you’re threatening a representative of the law? You know what that means for you? Do you have any idea—”

“See which one of us has better connections. See who survives the fallout.”

I smile, slow and deadly.

“I’m taking a leave of absence,” I tell her. “I’m keeping my badge, my weapon stays with me, rank stays untouched.” I pause, then add casually. “You’ll be covering my pay for the duration.” Her jaw drops.

“I don’t know when I’ll be back,” I continue. “I don’t know if I ever will.”

The money means nothing. I have more than enough, that is not the point.

What matters is Grace finally gets her hands dirty. She steps into my mess, my shadow. She will carry me on her books and in her reports, cover my absence, and answer for me every single day I’m gone.

It’s about dragging her into my personal swamp and keeping her there for as long as I decide.

“You don’t get to choose that,” she spits.

“I already did,” I say. “You’re signing off on it today. And you’ll file the paperwork without a whisper.”

“This is insane.”

“What’s insane,” I cut in, “is thinking you still have leverage.”

She swallows hard.

“What about that girl? Sophia? You’re doing all this for her?”

Her voice wraps around Sophia’s name like it’s dirty.

I turn my head slowly, focusing on her with ice-cold precision.

“Watch your fucking mouth.”

Grace stiffens, finally understanding the level of danger she’s sitting beside.

“Sophia Moreau stays clean,” I say. “Her record stays untouched, her name unspoken. You don’t involve her, you don’t go for her. You don’t say a single goddamn word to anyone about her.”

Grace scoffs, brittle, terrified. “You’re going this far for her? You want to go to war with an entire justice department over one woman?”

My teeth clench.

“Say it again,” I warn, “and I’ll stop worrying about your career and start looking at your family. Don’t test me, Grace. You won’t survive that gamble.”

She pales to the bone.