Yeah. I knew.

“That means that you’re about to become obsolete,” Julia supplied, and Jake nodded.

“So if you have any worth to claim, I suggest you start demonstrating it now. What happened with Caballero and Olivia Warren at the park?”

I sighed and swallowed the rest of the sarcasm burning in my throat. “They pulled guns on us, so Ian called up darkness, and I stepped us through it and into the wine cellar. We picked up a bottle of Cabernet for you, but I seem to have forgotten it in my rush to be threatened and insulted here today.”

Okay, I swallowed most of the sarcasm. But neither Tower sibling seemed to notice.

“He made it dark in the middle of the day? Outside?” Julia said, and for once there was nothing in her voice but genuine surprise.

“Well, in the shade from some oak trees, but yeah.”

“Amazing.” Jake nodded, pleased. “Tell me about his fighting. He’s good?”

“Yeah. He’s fast, and strong, and accurate with a gun.” I didn’t want to increase Ian’s value, but I wouldn’t get away with lying. “We actually make a good team—he creates darkness and I use it. We could do good work for you.” I flinched as soon as I heard the words falling from my own tongue. They reeked of desperation. But it’s not like I was giving away my hand; we all knew what I stood to lose.

Jake leaned back in his chair, eyeing me in ruthless interest now. “Did you fuck him yet?”

I stared at the floor, silently refusing to answer. Hating how dirty the question made me feel. “He’s going to sign. That’s what you really want to know.”

“Don’t tell me what I want to know. This assignment is equal parts recruitment of Holt and punishment for you—an extension of your sentence in the basement.”

I bristled, my temper flaring like heartburn. “I thought this was a chance for me to prove myself.” To save my life and secure Kenley’s future.

“It’s all of that at once. Efficient, isn’t it?” Jake smiled, and I wanted to break every tooth in his mouth. “Now, did you fuck him?”

I’d never hated Jake more.

“Yes,” I said, fists clenched at my sides. I despised him for asking, and Julia for listening, and myself for answering. “But it wasn’t like that.”

“What was it like? Were there roses, and chocolates, and soft music?” Julia said, her words oozing saccharine venom. “Was it beautiful, Kori?”

“Fuck off.”

Julia laughed. “You know, it’s those clever, articulate retorts that tell me you’re exactly where you belong in this organization, Korinne. On the bottom.”

Jake rounded the corner of his desk to sit on the edge, less than a foot away from me now. So close he could kick me, if he wanted. Or I could kick him, if I went batshit insane in the next few minutes. “I don’t give a damn what it was like, so long as it made him happy. Did you make him happy?”

“Yes.” My stomach lurched over the truth of it. I had made him happy, and he’d made me happy, and Jake was soiling that. Defiling the memory. He was leaving his mark on a moment he’d had no part in, just by making me discuss it.

“Good. You may yet prove useful.”

“I didn’t do it for you,” I spat, rage bubbling inside me, threatening to boil over. “I did it in spite of you.”

He laughed out loud, not just a chuckle, but a great, full-bodied laugh. “Everything you do is for me. You’re not privileged anymore, Kori, and those in the general population do what I tell them to do. And you’ll fuck Holt again if I tell you to. Or never again, if I tell you not to.”

“Oh, now, Jake, that would make the poor girl miserable!” Julia said, her voice dripping with fake sympathy. “She was telling the truth. I think she really likes him.”

Jake’s left brow rose. “Is that true? Do you like him?” When I didn’t answer, he nudged my thigh with his foot. “Speak, Kori.”

“Yes. I like him,” I said through clenched teeth.

Julia closed her eyes and inhaled, like she was scenting the air. What she was really scenting was the truth of my statement. “It’s more than that,” she announced, glee dancing in every syllable. She loved seeing me suffer.

Jake frowned. “Is there more? Do you love him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” I swallowed the rest of what I’d almost said—the rest of how I felt—because it couldn’t be captured in mere words. But that one word was enough for Jake.

“And he’s going to sign?”

“Yes.” That word, I wanted to take back. I wanted to chew it up and swallow it just so he couldn’t have it. I didn’t want Ian bound into the same hell I’d served in for the past six years.

Jake nodded, pleased. “Once he signs, you are done with him. You’ll never touch him again, and you won’t let him touch you. Understood?”

Tears formed in my eyes and rage burned in my chest. “Why?” I demanded, whispering to keep from shouting. “Just to make me miserable? To make him miserable? You’re getting what you want. He’s going to sign. What we do after that is none of your business.”

Julia leaned forward in anticipation, and I could feel her watching me. Watching her brother. Waiting for him to snap. But that wasn’t Jake’s style.

“You’re an investment, Kori. If you love him, you’ll put him ahead of me in your heart, and that would be bad for business. So once he signs, you will stay away from him, and he from you. I’ll send someone else to him. Someone prettier. Someone nicer. Someone better in bed. He’ll be with her and he’ll forget about you, because none of this was ever real anyway. I created this little love connection, and I can take it apart just as easily.”