Page 58 of The Sterling Acquisition

“It wasn’t a request.” Leo’s smile was unpleasant. “You’re still my property, Orion. Contracted to me for another three years. If I want to inspect what belongs to me, that’s my right.”

Property. Not a person—an asset, a possession, something purchased and owned. His hands clenched into fists, nails digging into his palms hard enough to leave crescent marks. The pain helped him focus past the growing heat and rising panic.

“I’m going to bed,” he said firmly, trying to step around Leo. The sudden movement made his head spin, his balance affected by the suppressants’ decreasing effectiveness.

Leo’s hand shot out, catching his wrist with enough force to make him gasp. The contact burned. “You’re going to answer my questions. Starting with why you’re nesting with another Alpha’s things and ending with what the fuck Dante has been doing to you during those private sessions.”

Orion tried to pull away, but Leo’s grip tightened, fingers digging into the tendons of his wrist. “Let go of me.”

“Not until you tell me the truth.” Leo’s other hand moved toward Orion’s collar. His fingers brushed against Orion’s throat, the touch making his skin crawl with revulsion. “What has that Gensyn bastard been—”

Orion’s free hand came up fast, connecting with Leo’s jaw in a solid punch that sent the man stumbling backward. The impact jarred up Orion’s arm, the satisfying shock of it momentarily clearing his head. Leo released his wrist, more from surprise than pain, and Orion used the opening to bolt for his room.

He barely made it through the door before Leo’s voice followed him, cold and furious. The sound echoed through the apartment, bouncing off the walls.

“I know something’s going on!” Leo shouted. “I know he’s been touching you! And when I figure out what kind of game you two are playing, there’s going to be consequences!”

Orion slammed the door and heard the locks engage—the familiar mechanical click that had been both prison and protection for the past year. His hands shook with adrenaline and fear as he pressed his back against the door, listening to Leo’s continued threats from the other side. The cool surface provided momentary relief against his overheating skin.

“You think I’m stupid? You think I don’t notice the way you look at him? The way you smell like sex and secrets every time he leaves?” Leo’s voice was getting louder, more unhinged. The control he normally maintained for appearances was gone, eroded by wine and jealousy. “I paid 2.7 million for you! You belong to me!”

The words devolved into incoherent shouting, punctuated by the sound of something being thrown against a wall—glass shattering, probably the wine bottle. Leo was having a complete breakdown, and Orion was trapped in his room with nowhere to run.

This is bad. This is very, very bad.

Leo had pulled his head out of his ass long enough to notice something was happening between him and Dante. Knew enough to be dangerous, to start asking questions that could blow their cover. And drunk Leo was unpredictable Leo—the kind who might do something desperate and stupid.

The shouting from the other room stopped, replaced by an ominous silence that was somehow worse. Orion pressed his ear to the door, trying to hear what Leo was doing.

The sound of a phone being dialed made his blood run cold.

“Dr. Morrison? It’s Leo James. I know it’s late, but we need to move up the timeline.”

Orion’s heart stopped, a moment of perfect stillness before accelerating to a painful rhythm.

“No, I can’t wait until his heat starts naturally. Something’s compromised the process. I think...” Leo’s voice dropped, but Orion could still hear the words that sealed his fate. “I think someone’s been interfering with my asset. We need Project Tether implemented immediately.”

The phone call continued, but Orion heard enough. Leo was accelerating Morrison’s timeline out of jealousy and suspicion. Which meant he had hours, not days, before someone came to drag him to Morrison’s lab.

He moved to the wall that separated his room from Dante’s apartment and began tapping. Three short, three long, three short. The SOS pattern that kept him sane during the worst days of his captivity.

Tap tap tap. Tap-tap-tap. Tap tap tap.

He repeated it over and over, his knuckles growing sore from the impact against the concrete. The pain helped focus his thoughts, cutting through the fog of heat beginning to cloud his mind. Dante had to be there. Had to hear him. Had to understand what this meant.

He needed to contact Dante. Needed to warn him that their careful plans had just gone to hell because Leo noticed what should have been obvious from the beginning.

But first, he needed to figure out how to survive the next few hours without getting dragged away for forced bonding before Dante could extract him.

Time to find out if all those escape attempts over the past year taught him anything useful.

Because ready or not, it was time to run.

Chapter nineteen

Damage Control

Dante