"Massimo." I pause. Weigh my next words against the neutrality I'm obligated to maintain. "For what it's worth, I didn't enjoy taking this contract. The ink is clean. I had no choice."
"I appreciate that."
I end the call and head for the elevator. Polaris has moved up here and sits at her desk just outside my office. Her pen moves across paper as she takes notes of something with the same quiet precision. She looks up when she hears my footsteps. Her blue eyes search my face for information.
"Bad one?" she asks.
"They're all bad ones, Polaris." I stop at the desk. Her raven hair has fallen forward across her cheek and my hand moves before my discipline catches up, tucking the strand behind her ear.
Her delicate skin is warm against my fingertips. She doesn't flinch. Six months ago she would have flinched. The fact that she doesn't sends hope through me that I have no business entertaining.
Her lips part on a breath she doesn't release. I drop my hand. "Hold my calls for the rest of the morning."
"Yes sir." She holds my gaze for one beat longer than professional. Then she looks down at her ledger and the moment passes, folding itself into the space between us where everything we don't say lives alongside everything we want.
The warmth of her skin stays on my fingertips long after I drop my hand, stirring up dark wishes. And with that thought, I head for my office. Santi and Cassius step off the elevator and fall into step behind me. They move shoulder to shoulder, their postures carrying the same tension I feel grinding between my vertebrae.
"Think he'll fix it? Or are we prepping for a bloodbath?" Cassius asks, his voice pitched low enough that it stays between the three of us.
"I think Massimo will burn the whole city before he lets anyone take Sloane from him." I strip off my suit jacket and adjust the seat of my holsters before I sit. The men do the same. "The question is whether ten days is enough time to dismantle a contract this clean before he starts a war."
Santi sighs heavily. "And if it isn't? Are we ready for the fallout?"
I don't answer. All three of us already know.
I look up to catch a glimpse of Polaris still at her desk. The bruises have long faded but the ghosts of them are still visible to anyone who knows where to look.
Three men. One woman. A tangle of duty and desire that keep us miles apart.
My father told me every contract tells two stories. The one written in ink and the one between the lines. I've spent my career reading the second story in other people's deals.
I just never expected the hardest contract to read would be my own heart.
Fifteen
Massimo
Harlon's voice is still in my ear when I hang up the phone.Ten days. Fix this before I have to come for her.
The temperature in my body drops so fast my fingers go numb against the phone screen. Chills spread from my chest outward until the hairs on my forearms stand straight.
I set the phone on my desk and press both palms flat against the surface, leaning forward until the wood creaks under my weight. My office is quiet, the morning light filtering through the blinds in pale strips that cut across the stack of files I was reviewing before the call. The espresso machine hums in the corner.
Tell her.
I should tell her. Clause thirteen exists because she demanded honesty and I meant every word I wrote. But right now Lorenzo doesn't know I have this information. That's leverage. If Sloane knows and reacts in any way that tips Lorenzo off, he’ll adjust his play. I need her calm and unaware until I have a countermove ready.
I can fix this. Ten days. I have the full Syndicate resources at my fingertips. A legal mind that has never lost a case. If all goes as I plan, I'll have it resolved before Sloane needs to know it existed.
I push off the desk, grab my jacket.
The boardroom is full by the time I walk in five minutes later.
Rafael sits at the head. Drake takes his right, arms crossed, jaw set. Luca sprawls with a tablet propped against the table, three screens of data reflected in his eyes, fingers already moving. Kon sits at the far end, still as stone.
Rowan slides in two minutes late.
"I’m going to be blunt here. You all know about Sloane, Harrison and the contract he has with Lorenzo Ferraro. Luca said he filled everyone in.” I look to Luca for confirmation and then to Rafael who nods.