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My body thrums as Elias gets closer. He moves fluidly around the desk as if he owns it.

Like it, too, bows to him.

“Now, Kyrin told you he would handle the matter himself. You needn’t worry about it any longer.”

“I know. And I asked him what it is that he wants me to do, since my job clearly isn’t it.”

Elias hisses, as if my retort just enlivened something inside him, and looks toward Kyrin. “I really like her. Her sass is just…” He sighs. “Chef’s kiss.”

“Elias, you’ve made your point. Let’s take a beat.”

“Have I made my point, petit corbeau?” His fingers tuck beneath my chin and tip my head, pressing in.

The only way to ease the way they dig in is to allow him to lift me from my chair with them.

I should fight.

I should tell him to get his fucking hands off me.

But something in the way his soulless gray eyes look through me has me entranced.

“Have I made my point, petit corbeau?” he asks again, and I don’t know why, but my body is fucking vibrating.

I blame the nightmares for leaving me too tired to get myself off, when clearly, I need the release.

“Yes…”

“Yes?” he asks, clearly seeking a better answer.

I recall the day he held the door for me when he took me to the movies, when I called him ‘Sir,’ and he reacted viscerally.

“Yes, Sir,” I reply, breathless from how his presence feels.

Then I remember he has a sub—someone he forces to their knees to serve him, someone who’s not me—and the thought makes me sad.

“There’s a good girl,” he replies, and I press my thighs together as a rush of warmth and wetness pools there.

“Elias. This is too far,” Kyrin warns.

“She has to know,” Elias answers. “If not, what are we doing here?”

“Know what?” I breathe.

Somehow, this conversation has gotten wildly off track, and I wonder for a moment if I’m dreaming.

“We want you, Seraphine. All of us want you. It’s why we’re here. It’s why you’re here.”

“But the finances and the…”

“You’ve already fixed that,” Kyrin admits. “The board was appeased with you getting everything Lucien was doing digitized.”

“So, I could’ve gone home?”

“Where’s home? The Mockingbird Inn?” Elias taunts.

Shame fills my belly, and I bite my lower lip. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why am I still here?”

“Because it’s like I said. We want you.”