Chapter 24 REICH
REICH
Castor stopped me the moment I stepped out of Sage’s room. He was leaning against the hallway wall like he’d been waiting, but his casual posture didn’t fool me. His gaze was sharp, something urgent brewing beneath the surface.
“Reich,” he said, his tone low but edged with something tight. “Klay called. He wants to talk.”
My stomach tightened, but my face stayed still. I held Castor’s stare for a breath before extending my hand. “Phone.”
He handed it over without question, though his jaw flexed as I took it. He knew what this was. We both did. This wasn’t just a conversation. It was a game of inches. A chance to tip the scales or watch everything slip.
I exhaled slowly, rolling my shoulders back as I dialed. One ring. Two.
Klay picked up before the third, his voice sliding through the speaker smooth as oil, but beneath it was the ever-present menace. That coiled threat that lived in men like him. “Reich,” he drawled, pleased with himself. “I was starting to think you’d forgotten about me.”
I didn’t answer.
He chuckled. It was low and cold, a sound that clawed under my skin. “Thank you for finding my little pet,” he went on, lazy amusement woven through every word. “I was worried I’d have to send someone to clean up the mess she made. But look at us—working together again. Feels good, doesn’t it?”
I kept my tone flat, professional, forcing the bile back down. “All in a day’s work.”
Klay hummed thoughtfully. “I’ll be back in the country next week. I want to collect her myself. Keep her warm for me, would you? You know how I like my things. Broken in, but not broken.”
I closed my eyes, grinding my teeth together until my jaw ached. His words slithered like rot in my ears. Broken in. As if she were a toy.
He thought he owned her.
He thought he had every right to.
And for now, I had to let him.
“If you can keep her safe,” Klay added, “name your price. Whatever you want, it’s yours.”
I imagined tearing his throat out with my bare hands. I imagined the crack of his skull against the concrete. I imagined the slow draw of his last breath as he realized too late who he was dealing with.
But I didn’t say any of that. I swallowed it all down.
“I’m sure we’ll come to an agreement,” I said instead, every word carved from stone.
He laughed again. A smug, grating sound that made my skin crawl. “Until then,” he said, pausing like he was savoring the moment. “Have fun with her. Test her out.”
The phone creaked under the pressure of my grip. I forced myself to release the breath caught in my throat, counting to three before I answered.
“Will do,” I said coldly, then hung up before I could hear another word from him. Before I lost the thin thread of control I had left.
Castor was watching me when I lowered the phone. His arms were crossed, his brow furrowed. “You good?” he asked, though we both knew the answer.
“No,” I said, handing him the phone. “But I’ll manage.”
We stood there for a moment in silence, the weight of everything unspoken settling between us.
“You believe him?” Castor asked eventually, his voice low.
I shook my head. “I believe he’s obsessed. And desperate.” I paused. “Which makes him dangerous.”
Castor exhaled through his nose, nodding. “One week, huh?”
“One week,” I repeated.
One week to keep Sage safe. One week to keep her in the dark. One week to figure out how to untangle the web she was caught in without getting us both killed.
It sounded simple.
But I knew it wasn’t.
I walked with Castor back toward the main room, both of us falling into step without thinking. The house was quiet tonight, but it was the kind of quiet that didn’t last. We both knew it.
Later, in my office, we sat across from each other. Castor poured some more of the whiskey while I sifted through files I’d already read a dozen times. My mind wasn’t on them.
It was on her.
She was in my house. Sleeping under my roof.
And I had no idea how I was supposed to keep my hands off her.
Castor tapped the edge of his glass against mine. “You seem tense,” he said, though there was a sharpness under his words. A knowing. “More than usual.”
I ran a hand over my face, scrubbing at the stubble there like I could wipe away the exhaustion clawing at me. “I’ve spent the last two days trying to pull answers out of someone who refuses to talk.”
He laughed under his breath. “Sounds familiar.”
I shot him a look. “You’re not helping.”
He raised both hands in mock surrender. “I’m just saying... you’ve always had a thing for impossible women.”
“She’s not impossible,” I muttered, draining half my glass. “She’s stubborn.”
He smirked. “Isn’t that what I said?”
I didn’t answer. My gaze drifted to the window, to the dark stretch of trees beyond it. Somewhere out there, Klay was planning his next move. Somewhere out there, the world was spinning toward disaster, and I was sitting here, drinking whiskey, wondering how the hell I ended up here.
“You’ll figure it out,” Castor said quietly, as if reading my mind.
“I always do,” I replied, but the words felt hollow tonight.
He left me alone a while later, taking the bottle with him because he knew if he didn’t, I wouldn’t stop. I’d sit here until dawn, drinking and thinking myself in circles.
I needed something else.
I stood, crossing to the turntable in the corner. My fingers hovered over the records until they settled on the one I needed.
I let the music settle into my bones, closing my eyes as I leaned back against the desk. The lyrics hit too close. I’d built my life on control. On precision. On keeping everyone at arm’s length.
And then there was Sage.
I didn’t know if she was my rescue or my destruction.
Maybe both.
I checked on her again that night. She was asleep, but not peacefully. Her body twisted beneath the sheets, her face pale and damp with sweat. She was fighting something in her dreams. Something I couldn’t touch.
But I wanted to.
I wanted to be the thing that made it stop.
So, I went to her room and I sat down on the edge of her bed and watched her breathe. Watched her fight. Watched her survive.
I reached out, smoothing the damp hair from her forehead, my fingers lingering too long.
“You’re safe,” I murmured, even though she couldn’t hear me. “For now.”
But Klay was coming.
And I didn’t know if I could keep her safe from him.
Or even from me.
One week.
That’s all I had.
One week until this game ended.
Or until it destroyed us both.