“What exactly did you just agree to?” she asked after Trent left with a doomed Dante still grappling for freedom. She’d taken one last look at her former boss and promptly flipped him off. He snarled, but trapped in the cage of Trent’s mighty hold, he could do nothing about it.

Now she sat in Cortez’s kitchen, trying to choke down a plate of eggs and toast he’d ordered up for her. Her stomach was still in knots. The first couple bites landed in her gut like lead.

“A favor to be redeemed at a time of Trent’s choosing. He’ll likely call on me first. I’ll try to negotiate you out of any obligation then.” Cortez leaned against the kitchen counter, arms folded over his chest. He was back to his distant facade, seeming to be contemplating something. Perhaps how to start the conversation they desperately needed to have?

Though the sun was now well above the horizon, rain clouds were moving in fast, blotting out the daylight. A burgeoning storm was softly growling and snapping as if readying to strike.

Cortez pushed away from the counter and turned for the door. “I have to check on some things. When you’ve finished with breakfast, come meet me in the lobby.”

She pushed her plate away and jumped up. “I can’t eat any more.”

He glanced back. “You barely touched it.”

She shrugged. “Surprisingly I’m not feeling too hungry.”

He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. “Come on then.”

The first time they’d been in an elevator together, there had been a kind of electric energy, an excitement that had skittered between them. This time? Dead air fell like a pall. He stared straight ahead; she glanced at her shoes.

“Can I see Cole?” she asked partly to break the silence, partly because she was desperate to verify he was truly alive. She knew Cortez wouldn’t lie to her, but being told and seeing are two very different things.

“Not yet. He isn’t through the change yet.” He glanced down at her. “The transition is...difficult.”

She tried not to let her mind run wild, but it was like corralling a buttered mudpuppy. Difficult as in painful? Difficult as in exhausting? Difficult as in the certainty of Cole’s survival was tenuous? “What about Goldie?” she asked to block those thoughts.

“She too is still recovering.”

“You said Cole has yet to wake up. Is that...normal?”

“In this case, yes. I expect he’ll awaken in a couple of days.”

The elevator doors slid open. They stepped out into the lobby and...

As though it were a basilisk lying in wait, she skittered to a stop at seeing the stack of luggage by the front entrance.

“I’ve had your things packed up,” Cortez said. “Donovan will take you home.”

Her throat closed up, and a bolt cut through her heart. He was sending her away. Was still ending things between them. Even after everything. Why? Because he couldn’t see his way past her betrayal? She hadn’t known him when she’d made that bargain. She hadn’t cared for him like she did now. Surely he understood that.

Or would stubbornness and hurt pride rule?

Was he planning to make her stay away forever? To keep her from Cole?

She planted her feet. “If you think I’m leaving before I see Cole, you’re crazy.”

He faced her, brows drawn up. “I’m not banishing you, Naia. As soon as Cole wakes up, you’ll be notified. I’ll even send a car, if you like.”

“How magnanimous.”

“There’s no need to make this difficult.”

“Isn’t there? As you said, I’ve just been through a trauma. I was used by a madman for a vengeful purpose, threatened and terrorized. I saw my best friend and brother brutalized. I thought they were dead, and I still haven’t seen either of them to confirm otherwise. And now I’m getting thrown out on my ass?” The full weight of her situation railroaded her, and her stomach twisted.

“I’m not throwing you out on your ass—”

“Not to mention the Boyle twins will still want their money. Guess who they’ll come after when they can’t find Cole?” She threw her arms out to the side.

“You don’t have to worry—”

“On top of all that, you’re breaking up with me for a teeny-weeny little thing like taking a job to infiltrate and spy on you and your clan, which, when said out loud, sounds worse than it really is, I admit. I mean, come on. I didn’t even accomplish any serious spying, and really, what choice did I have? The twins don’t take Sorry, I’m broke as an excuse, and did you just say I don’t have to worry about it?”

“I did. I’ve settled your brother’s debt.” He sounded so much more calm and collected than she did. Which was irritating. “I also sent them a message that you and your brother are now under my protection.”

“You did?”

“Cole is now one of my clan and, by extension, so are you. You’re welcome to come visit him whenever you like. Once he’s awakened, that is.”

But she was still expected to leave the premises.

He walked her out to the sedan that was waiting by the curb. Pellets of rain had begun to fall, the sky darkening like the closing of a curtain. As if her insides weren’t crumbling, he and Donovan began packing up her luggage. Stuff she’d never asked for, never needed. She’d give it all back, every damn scrap of fabric, every damn bauble, every damn wedge, pump, or peep-toed shoe, if Cortez would only look at her the way he had on his island.

When he opened the sedan’s back door for her, two rogue tears trickled down her cheeks, and her chest heaved for air. “You said you’d forgive me.”

He appeared confused at first, then seemed to recall their conversation on the boat.

“Don’t cry,” he muttered, looking remorseful. Or was he just pitying her? How many women had he sent packing after seducing their hearts?

As if to confirm that, his expression turned neutral.

Humiliated by her show of emotion, she crawled into the car and hid her face behind the curtain of her hair, soft tears coming faster. He didn’t close the door. Instead, he knelt down, setting one knee in the dirty gutter. She blinked, confused, and looked at him. Really looked. His lips were turned down in a way that made her wonder if this was just as hard for him as it was for her. But if so, then why send her away?

His controlled expression cracked, and he suddenly appeared so very tired. “Please don’t cry,” he repeated, wiping a tear away from her damp cheek. “It guts me.”

“I don’t want to go.” I want to stay with you, she didn’t say.

He bowed his head. “I know.”

“So then why must I?”

“A lot has happened.” He hesitated. “Too much.”

Meaning she’d betrayed him too badly for him to forgive her?

He paused again as though to choose his words. “If you stay, there will be consequences. Things I...things you and I might not be ready for.”

She sniffed. “What? What things?”

He shook his head and stood. “We need some time apart. I need to clear my head. So do you. I’ll call you when Cole wakes up.”

With that, he closed the car door. Through blurry eyes, she watched Cortez walk away from her and vanish into his club.

He hadn’t glanced back. Not once.