I don’t have any clue why I keep playing this game, going so far as to bring Jett takeout in his office.

My stomach dropped into my toes when I saw the news online about the company he’s been working at acquiring, a social media platform called LinkLove. He’s mentioned the acquisition a few times, but never the name of the company. The gossip sites caught fire when it came out that there had been child porn found on their servers, and they gleefully reported that Brandon, Inc. had been in negotiations to acquire them for weeks. The bookkeeping shit immediately got pushed to the background, but none of it is good for Jett.

I’d planned to sit down with him at the penthouse when he got home. I thought I could put it off one more day, but after what happened with Charlie yesterday, I couldn’t.

He’d met me outside a different coffee shop, this time dressed in a button-down and shorts that made him look like a tourist.

I handed him the flash drive as quickly as I could, holding it in my fingertips so our skin didn’t touch.

He leered at me. “You’re an excellent mole, Angelica. I’m pleased with your work.

This isn’t work, it’s extortion. Not that I could say that to him.

Instead, I took a deep breath. “Do you have what you need?”

He cocked his head at me, his gray eyes boring into mine. “Was I not clear before? This assignment is ongoing.”

My jaw clenched so hard that my molars ground together. “I’m running out of reasons to stay at his penthouse.”

Charlie laughed, the sound making the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not—”

“Jett Brandon has been taking you all over the city. He’s had several weeks’ worth of clothes delivered to his nice little penthouse. Are you telling me he’s not in love with you?”

I swallowed hard. “He’s not in love with me. He’s extremely wealthy. You should know that.”

Charlie shook his head, slowly, like he couldn’t believe my own stupidity. “You did your job too well, sweetheart. The man can’t get enough of you.” Then he laughs again. “It’s only too bad you’re fleecing him.”

“You are. Not me.”

“Don’t kid yourself. If it weren’t for your information deposits—,” he says, waving the flash drive in front of my face, “—I’d be months behind on this latest...project. Months, and millions.”

The blood drained from my face. Millions of dollars? Well, what should I have expected, that Charlie would go after a billionaire for pocket change?

“If you’re millions ahead, then I think you could consider Adam’s debt paid.”

He gave a slow nod, and for a split second I thought maybe he would agree with me, that he might call it off. “It’s true—I’ve recovered the....investment I made in Adam.” His smile is wide but cruel, no kindness in his eyes. “But you are proving to be far more lucrative.”

Asshole. “That wasn’t the deal we made.”

Charlie’s eyes narrowed, and he stepped closer, forcing me to step back. The only thing keeping him from hitting me, I was sure, was the fact that there were people in the coffee shop, and he can’t keep running his “business” if he’s in jail.

“The deal is off when I say it’s off.” I can see his muscles flexing, nostrils flaring. This was dangerous ground. I wanted to tell him to fuck off, that my brother doesn’t owe him anything anymore, and that he wouldn’t be seeing me, but the memory of his fist crashing into Adam’s face, more horrible threats in his eyes, made me bite my tongue.

There would be no chance to end it with Charlie—not until Charlie satisfies his own greed. Which could be never.

All I can do is tell Jett.

Which is why my hands are shaking when I go up to his office and ask his secretary if he’s busy. She looks me up and down, then makes a decision. “Go on in,” she says, her voice kind, if a little wary.

Jett is on the phone when I knock at the doorframe, and he holds up one finger, not looking toward me until he’s finished the call he’s on. When he sees me, his face brightens.

“Hey, sweet thing,” he says, a term of endearment that would make my flesh crawl if it was spoken by anyone else. When Jett says it, my chest fills with warm pleasure.

But it doesn’t last, because I know what I have to do.

He kisses me, then closes the door to his office. While he’s out, I arrange the food on his desk, hands trembling, heart jumping.

I don’t want to do this. I have no choice.

I want him to keep looking at me the way he did when he saw that it was me and not his secretary at the door.

I want him to love me. It’s stupid, and it’s a pipe dream, but I want him to love me...and not because I’ve seduced him, but because I make him happy.

The food I’ve brought—burgers from my favorite hole-in-the-wall a few blocks from the Sisterspark offices—stick in my throat. I don’t make it until we’ve finished.

When I abruptly put my burger down on the paper plate, Jett looks at me, his brow furrowed. “Are you all right?”

“No.”

He puts down his burger, turns to face me. “What is it?”

My phone buzzes. Hadley wanted me to be available this evening in case more news broke on the LinkLove story, which she’s also covering on her website.

“I’m—one second, Jett.”

I slide my phone out of my purse and my heart plummets straight through the floor.

Your brother was never supposed to leave the city.

Then, Do you think we can’t find him, wherever he is?

Then, Do you think we won’t?

The blood drains from my face, my mind going into overdrive. What am I going to say to Jett? I thought Adam was safe at home, away from the city, but maybe that was another stupid assumption.

There’s no way I can tell him now, not when my brother’s life is still at risk—and Charlie is angry. If the money stops coming in....

“Angelica?”

“Yeah? Yes.” I drop the phone back into my purse.

“What’s bothering you?”

“I—”

The silence stretches out as stressful heat floods my face. In the end, I have no choice to settle for half of the truth.

“I know this is supposed to be a fling, but...you should know that I...I have feelings for you.”