Page 29 of Velvet Corruption

“Ruby?” Alek was rolling down the passenger side window, staring at me like I’d grown an extra limb. “What the hell are you doing out here?”

I walked up slowly, brushing damp hair off my face. “Something came up,” I said, trying to sound like I hadn’t just come face to face with a ghost in the shape of Kieran Callahan.

He reached across the seat to push the door open for me, eyes locked on mine, like he already knew I was lying.

I climbed in and shut the door.

“You had me worried,” he said, his voice clipped as he started the car. “This is an important meeting.”

“Isn’t everything an important meeting at this point?” I asked, my head throbbing.

Alek glanced at me for a second. “What happened?”

I bit my lip, the words catching in my throat. After a long pause, I exhaled and forced myself to say it. “I ran into Kieran.”

Alek’s car drifted toward the curb as he stared at me. I had to reach out and grab the steering wheel to snap him out of it.

“You ran into Kieran Callahan?” Alek asked, brows almost buried in his hairline. “In a cafe a five minute drive away from your house?”

“Well, he—he ran into me, I guess. Or…came looking for me.”

“Ruby,” Alek’s tone dropped an octave, his disbelief clear, “what exactly did he say?”

I hesitated, my mind replaying Kieran’s words in the café, his voice smooth and calculated, each syllable a deliberate move in some unseen game. “He said that going after the Callahans…it’s a mistake. That Lenta understood where to push and where to let go, and that I should take the same approach.”

Alek shook his head, his laugh cold and humorless. “He’s not warning you, Ruby. He’s testing you. That’s classic Callahan strategy—paint themselves as misunderstood pillars of the community while they stab you in the back. And let me guess—he brought up some vague threats about the election? Or your campaign?”

I bit my lip, debating how much to share. But this was Alek, my closest ally. If I couldn’t tell him, I couldn’t tell anyone. “He said if I don’t play nice, they’ll expose our past. The time we spent together…everything.”

Alek’s grip on the wheel tightened, his knuckles stark white against the leather. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered. “That’s not just a threat, Ruby—that’s blackmail.”

“I know what it is,” I snapped, frustration creeping into my voice. “But it’s not like he was throwing ultimatums around. Heframed it like, I don’t know, like he was doing me a favor. A warning, not a threat.”

“A favor,” Alek echoed, his tone bitter. “That’s the first step. He’s reeling you in, Ruby. Making you feel like you’re in control when you’re already playing by his rules.”

“I’m not doing anything. I’m sitting here, in your car, talking to you about how to deal with it,” I responded, annoyed. I knew Alek would react strongly, but something about this over-the-top “let’s deal with it” bullshit grated on my already frayed nerves. I got it—it was what Alek was good at, it was his whole fucking career. It was what made him a great lawyer.

It didn’t make this any less annoying.

“You’re smarter than that,” Alek said simply. He was merging onto the interstate, and the sound of traffic was making it hard to hear him. Or maybe that was just the pounding in my head. Either way, I was about done with listening to men tell me what to do today.

I exhaled sharply, my fingers curling into fists in my lap. “It’s not that simple, Alek. If they go public with this, it’ll destroy me. My campaign, my career—everything I’ve worked for.”

“No,” he said firmly, his voice cutting through my rising panic. “It won’t destroy you. They think you’re weak, Ruby. They think they can exploit that. But you’ve worked too damn hard, and I’m not about to let them take it all away.”

I groaned. “Yeah, thanks.”

He softened slightly, his tone more measured. “I’m serious. If you let them dictate your moves, you’re playing their game. Ruby, you’re better than this. You’ve been building this campaign on integrity, on standing up to people like them. If you back down now, what’s the point?”

I looked out the window, the city blurring as we sped past. His words struck a nerve, but the weight of Kieran’s presence, his carefully chosen words, lingered. “He said they don’t want violence. That the Callahans just want someone they can work with.”

Alek snorted. “‘Someone they can work with’ is code for ‘someone they can control.’ Don’t let him fool you. They’d love for you to think they’re just misunderstood businessmen. But you know better. You’ve seen the files, Ruby. You know what they’re capable of.”

I wanted to believe I could handle this, that I could outmaneuver Kieran without compromising my campaign or my principles. But the shadow he cast over my thoughts was too large to ignore.

Alek cleared his throat. “Listen to me. Whatever he said, whatever charm he used—it’s all a tactic. Kieran Callahan doesn’t show up unannounced to chat about the good old days. He’s planning something, and we need to be ready.”

I closed my eyes, tilting my head back to rest against the headrest. “He didn’t bring Rosie up.”