Page 125 of Wicked Refusal

Those waters are churning now, filthy with waste. No one cares to keep it clean. Why would they bother? It’s better if the muck hides all the things beneath it.

I haven’t walked five steps before I hear a voice behind me. “Took you long enough to come.”

“I’m not here on a social visit.”

“Pity. I just brewed a fresh pot.”

“Is that what you’re holding against my back?”

He chuckles. His gun presses harder into me. But I know he won’t shoot—he’d never end the game so early. “Fuck, I’ve missed this. You, me, our endless banter.”

“I haven’t.”

“Liar.” His tone turns sharp. “Why accept my invitation otherwise?”

His invitation.I remember the words that brought me here, spoken as an aside that time in front of the StarTech building.

“If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

“I’m here to change the rules.”

I can hear the surprise in his reply. “That’s bold. What makes you think I’d let you?”

“Because I’m the one you want.” I turn my head slightly, enough for our gazes to meet. “And if you agree to my terms, I’ll give you exactly that.”

“You’ll come over to my side?” For a second, his tone sounds almost hopeful. “You shouldn’t toy with people’s feelings, Yul.You never know how they might react.” As if to make his point, the mouth of his gun digs into my spine.

It’d be easy to be swept up in his provocations. To let his taunts undo what I’m trying to do here.

I grit my teeth and force myself to remember who I’m doing this for.

Mia. Eli. The baby.

My family.

“You’ve figured out our plans.” I don’t phrase it as a question. It’s not.

Desya doesn’t pretend it is. “You mean, the whole trying-to-lure-me-out plot? I admit, it was cute at first, but then it got old. And I so hate to play boring games.”

“Sounds like what a loser would say.”

“Am I? A loser?” He clicks his tongue in disagreement. “I don’t know, Yul. So far, I seem to have come out on top.”

“You didn’t get your body last time.”

“I’ve got extra lives. Your people don’t.”

It’s taking all my willpower not to carve it out with my bare hands, to stay calm and speak with my words instead of my fists.

But right now, I’m outgunned. I knew I would be the second I walked up to this pier. It’s Desya’s territory. His ground, his rules.

For now.

“Perhaps not,” I concede. “But I’ve got a proposition.”

His remaining eye twitches with interest. “You have my attention.”

“You’ll lay off of Mia and her kids. That’s rule number one. Non-negotiable.”