Even now, even cornered, even with no good options, she needed to believe she had control over something.For reasons he didn’t bother examining too closely, he respected that.
“Fine,” he said.
It wasn’t entirely a lie.If Callahan surfaced with the money, if the debt was settled, then, yes, this would end, but until then, she would belong to the MC.
“You’ll start tomorrow night,” Wolf added, tone shifting back to business.“Do you know where the clubhouse is, or do you need me to pick you up?”
“I know where it is,” she snapped immediately.“Everyone in town does.”
She paused, then added tartly, “So they can avoid it.”
That almost pulled a reaction from him.Almost.Wolf nearly smiled, but he held back.
“And you don’t need to pick me up,” she continued, lifting her chin a fraction higher.“I’m not going to run.”
Wolf believed that.
“Good,” he said simply.
Jade shifted then, finally breaking the stillness just enough to glance back toward the apartment, toward her baby.
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” she said, already turning back to him, “my baby needs me.”
Wolf stepped back from the door.The first real space he’d given her since she opened it.
Jade didn’t relax.Not even a fraction.Her body stayed tight, coiled, like she expected him to change his mind, to push, to take back the ground he’d just given.
“Be ready,” he said.
Then he turned and walked down the hallway without looking back.His footsteps were steady, unhurried, echoing faintly against the worn walls.Halfway down, something tugged at him.A pull, subtle and unfamiliar.
The awareness of her still standing there, watching him despite the fact she told him her kid needed her.Tension lingered in the doorway.He had the sudden, inexplicable urge to look back.To see if she was still there, maybe he could say something else, but Wolf didn’t even know what.
Wolf didn’t slow, but he acknowledged one disturbing fact.Something had shifted.This was supposed to be simple.Find Callahan, apply pressure, and resolve the problem.Meeting Jade altered everything. Dealing with her was not going to be easy, and that was going to be a problem.
Chapter Five
