Page 136 of Double Down

“He is indisposed, but I can assure you, I can assist with anything. How may I help you?” I ask, trying not to let my annoyance flare.

“Great, fantastic. We need to discuss the wrongs done to my wife.”

“Happy to,” I say, not smiling. “We can begin with her purchase of counterfeit medical products on our property.”

His mouth tightens like he bit a lemon wrong. “My wife was the victim of your employees’ predatory behavior. Fixers knocking on doors whispering about ‘corrections’ and ‘boosters.’Unregulated injections. Do you have any idea what kind of liability?—”

“We do,” I say evenly. “Which is why we’re stopping it. And before your speech crescendos, Senator, an honest question: is this really about your wife’s well-being, or the angle you think it’s going to buy you with the gaming board?”

His eyes flash. There it is—the predator under the public servant. He knows about his wife’s boyfriend; hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one pushing her to fuck him for influence. He looks like the kind of man who enjoys a cuck chair. “Careful, son.”

“You first, pops.” I pop the P to make sure the barely veiled insult lands.

Karen makes a wounded sound, like a dying swan. “I’m having headaches.”

“We’ve arranged for a board-certified physician,” I tell her. “On us. As many follow-ups as medically needed. We care about your health more than the men selling you snake oil do.”

Langford leans in a fraction, lowering his voice to threaten. “You think you can placate me with comped suites and doctors? My time is valuable. This situation has cost me. There are ways to compensate a man for his time.”

“Invoice your donors,” I say, giving him a flat look. But he isn’t looking at me.

He chuckles, the kind of laugh that crawls. “I was thinking of something…more immediate.”

His eyes slide down Phoenix’s body and linger. “A few hours with the young lady might persuade me the Titans are asaccommodating as their reputation claims. Might even persuade me to host a few events here, if she is accommodating enough.”

The lobby goes quiet. Not actually—but in my head, something stops. The barista’s milk steamer hisses and sounds like a fuse.

I don’t remember moving. One second I’m ten feet away, the next I’m close enough to count his pores. My fist curls like it has its own plans.

Phoenix is steel at my elbow, fingers digging in, her voice lowered but urgent. “Mav. No.”

Langford doesn’t look at her. He looks at me with that punchable calm, daring me to give him headlines.

Titan assaults a senator.

I could do it. I could make it look like he tripped and fell into my fist.

“Say that again,” I tell him softly. I want him to.

Conrad would call this a poor strategic choice. Storm would call it encouragement. Atticus would call it evidence. I call it a countdown.

Langford smiles like the devil tried Botox. “Don’t be crass. I’m merely suggesting a private apology for inconveniencing my wife. I’m told Ms. Phoenix is…versatile.”

Phoenix’s nails bite my arm. “Maverick.” Just my name, all warning.

I hear Storm in my head.Not here.

Atticus’s voice is calmer.Pick a battlefield with fewer cameras.

Then I hear Conrad.If you swing, swing to win the war, not the room.

I exhale hard enough to taste copper. “Senator,” I say, voice scraping the bottom of the well for civility, “if you ever speak about her like that again, I will forget that marble is expensive.”

He rocks back half an inch. He wasn’t expecting pushback that precise. His staffers go still, measuring how much work it’ll be to spin a broken nose.

His wife huffs. “Are you threatening a sitting senator?”

“I’m promising a future private citizen a lesson in manners,” I say.