Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 39414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
My jaw clenches so hard it aches. “Are you alone?”
“No,” she says, and I can hear the slightest shift in her tone—something like relief. “Sadie is nearby. Maddie told me what to do. I’m doing it.”
The words should calm me.
They don’t.
“What are you doing,” I ask, voice low.
Ellie exhales. “I flipped the security cameras on to record him.”
Heat flashes through my veins—pride and fear colliding. “Good. Keep him talking. Don’t—”
“I know,” she snaps, then immediately softens, voice tight. “I know. Wyatt, I’m not going to fold.”
I can hear Graham in the background, faint but present. That smooth voice that makes my skin crawl.
“Ellie,” I say, and my voice drops, rough. “You’re not alone. You hear me?”
There’s a beat of silence, then she whispers, “I hear you.”
The line goes dead.
Levi stares at me from the passenger seat. “He’s there.”
“Yes.”
Levi’s face hardens. “You want me to—”
“I want you ready,” I cut in. “And quiet.”
Levi nods, jaw flexing. “Copy.”
Devil’s Peak is too small for this. Too tight. Too familiar. A man like Graham should stand out, but he doesn’t—because men like him blend in with smiles and paperwork. They hide behind legality and reputation, and everyone lets them because it’s easier than calling it what it is.
Control.
We pull up behind the alley by Devil’s Kiss, out of sight from the front windows. Snow crunches under the tires. My hands are already shaking with restrained violence.
Levi reaches for his door handle.
I stop him with one word. “Wait.”
He freezes, then looks at me. “Wyatt—”
“I’m not walking in and letting him see me yet,” I say, voice flat. “Ellie needs him to keep talking.”
Levi exhales, frustrated but understanding. “Fine. So what’s the play?”
I glance toward the building, scanning. “We flank. We listen. We keep the door covered. If he touches her—”
Levi’s grin is gone now. “Say less.”
We move around the back quietly, boots soft on snow. The shop’s back entrance is closed. I can hear voices inside—the muffled cadence of conversation, the smooth rhythm of a man who thinks he’s winning.
I press closer to the wall, ear near the doorframe.
Graham’s voice floats through, fake-soft. “Ellie, sweetheart. You’re making this so hard.”
Ellie’s voice answers, sharper than I expected. “Stop calling me that.”
Graham chuckles. “Why? Your new… arrangement doesn’t like it?”
My blood turns hot. Levi’s shoulders tense beside me.
Ellie’s tone is steady. “My husband doesn’t like you.”
Graham laughs, low. “Your husband is temporary.”
My jaw clenches.
Ellie doesn’t flinch. “You don’t get to decide that.”
Graham’s voice shifts—still calm, but there’s a hard edge under it now. “You’re in default. You breached contract. If you keep pushing, you’ll lose everything. Your shop. Your credit. Your little life here.”
Ellie’s voice is quiet, controlled. “You’re threatening me.”
“I’m warning you,” Graham says smoothly. “There’s a difference.”
I close my eyes for half a second. This is his trick. Make the knife sound like a handshake.
Then Ellie says, “You’re the one who changed the locks.”
Graham’s sigh is theatrical. “I did what I had to do. You forced my hand.”
Ellie’s breath hitches once. Then she steadies. “No. You punished me because I left.”
Silence.
Then Graham’s voice lowers, almost gentle. “You left without understanding the consequences.”
Ellie’s response is immediate, and it’s not soft. “The consequence is you don’t get to own me anymore.”
Levi lets out a low sound of approval beside me.
I crack the back door open a fraction and slip inside like smoke. The back room is dim. I move fast, silent, keeping to the shadows between shelves.
Ellie is near the front display, standing tall. Graham stands across from her, suit perfect, posture relaxed. But his eyes are sharp now, irritated by the interruption, calculating.
Captain Saxon walks through the doorway like the embodiment of authority, calm and hard-eyed. He scans the room once, takes in Graham, then Ellie, then the tension, and his gaze narrows.
Graham smooths his jacket like he’s the victim here. “Captain Cole, is it? I’m handling a private matter with my—”
“Ex,” Ellie cuts in, sweet as poison.
Graham’s smile tightens. “Ellie.” His gaze flicks toward Saxon, trying to regain control. “This is a legal issue. Ellie is in default. I’m offering her a chance to—”
Ellie lifts her chin. “To crawl.”
Graham’s eyes flash. “To resolve this quietly.”
Ellie’s voice stays steady. “You’re here to scare me.”
Graham’s smile turns thin. “You should be scared. You don’t have the leverage you think you do.”
Ellie’s phone shifts in her hand just slightly, her thumb pressing again.
Graham’s eyes drop to the phone.
His gaze sharpens.
I see it—the exact moment he clocks what she’s doing. The way his focus narrows like a predator locking onto prey. I suspect she’s been recording him and now he knows.
Ellie sees it too.
She doesn’t move.
She holds her ground.
Maddie’s coaching in action. Sadie’s courage in her spine. Her own stubborn fire.
Graham’s voice goes low. “Are you recording me?”
Ellie smiles, small and bright and lethal. “Why? Planning to say something you don’t want anyone to hear?”