Page 82 of House Rules

“Yeah. Just vanished. No one’s seen him since.”

Maverick snorts. “Probably ran off with one of the waitresses. Happens all the time.”

The hand ends. My heart’s no longer in the game.

“I need a break,” I say, pushing back from the table.

One of the girls jumps up, declaring she has to pee, and Maverick heads toward the bar to pour himself another drink. I intercept him before he can disappear.

I grab his hand. “Come with me.”

He raises an eyebrow but lets me tug him down the hallway.

“What are you doing, little Firebird?” he asks with a lazy smirk. “Gonna beg me to satisfy you now that Con’s finished?”

I don’t bite. I slam the door behind us.

“Did you do it?”

He frowns. “Do what?”

“The dealer,” I say flatly, crossing my arms. “Gary. The one at our table yesterday. He’s missing. That doesn’t feel like a coincidence.”

Maverick looks at me like I’ve grown two heads. “You’re serious?”

“Don’t pretend it’s nothing. It’s not just Gary. It’s Rachel. And half a dozen other employees. All women…people…who worked here. Who were around you and the other Titans. And now they’re gone.”

His brow lifts, but it’s not mocking. It’s calculating.

“People quit all the time,” he says. “Turnover’s normal in hospitality.”

“Not like this,” I snap. “Gary had a family. He didn’t just vanish.”

“Maybe that’s exactly why he left. Family’s not always a reason to stay, Phoenix.”

My hands tremble with the effort to keep them still. “Don’t lie to me.”

“Who says I am?” His tone sharpens. “Is this some kind of sex game? You starting a fight so you can have angry sex with me too? See how I measure up to Con?”

“No,” I growl. “I’m trying to understand why people around you guys keep disappearing and no one’s talking about it. Rachel’s dead. The others are missing. And now Gary. I don’t believe in that many coincidences.”

He steps forward, arms braced on either side of thedoorframe, caging me in. His voice drops low and dangerous.

“What the fuck are you doing, Phoenix?”

“I’m trying to figure out what the hell is going on.” My breath comes fast. “You did something bad enough to get expelled from school. Your parents hired someone to babysit you. I don’t know what you’re involved in, Maverick—but I know I’m caught in the middle of it, and I don’t know where the line is. I don’t know how close I can get before I end up just like them.”

There’s a beat of silence.

Then: “You do not get to accuse me of that shit.” His voice is quiet. Sharp as broken glass. “You have no idea what we did.”

“That’s the problem,” I whisper. “I don’t. And that terrifies me.”

He turns away, jaw clenched so tight I can see the muscle twitch.

“Those women you’re so worried about?” he says bitterly. “They weren’t here to work. They were here to latch on. To fuck a Titan and hope we’d make them our queen. Some even tried to record it.Blackmail us. When it didn’t work, they left. Or got fired. Or vanished into the world like they were never here.”

“That’s not true.”