Page 137 of Discretion at Its Finest

“I’ll spell it out for you. You don’t exist. Your problems do. And unfortunately one of your so-called problems caused this fucking mess in the first place.”

“Don’t bring my son into this,” I seethed. “Youdecided to use him to kill them off.”

“And he delivered, did he not?”Calvin shot back.“But your military-trained bastard son? Try keeping tabs on a man with no emotional stability, abandonment trauma, and a walking PTSD ghost for a roommate. Eugene did what Eugene wanted.”

“I asked for results. Not excuses.”

“And for the last fifteen years, the targets were neutralized. Marissa was supposed to be dead,”Calvin snapped.“Emphasis onsupposed.”

“Fix. It,” I gritted through my teeth into the phone.

“They won’t be a problem much longer—”

“They already are,” I cut him off, my chest rising in anger, fist clenched against my side. “If this isn’t fixed,” I said, tone dropping into something colder than a threat, “your chance at the Russel table is finished. You want the Russel name tied to you? You want the immunity, the contracts, the empire that comes with it? Don’t you?” He was quiet. “Answer me, dammit.”

There was another long exhale through the line.“I said I’ll fix it.”

“You damn sure will fix it. Because without me, you willneversit at that table. Without me, Archer doesn’t breathe the same air as Delilah Newman-Russel. Without me, Killian cuts you out of every circle you’re desperately trying to claw your way into.”

He stayed silent. “I can make you disappear, Lockwood. You thinkIdon’t exist? Let’s see what happens when I tell every one of your major stockholders to halt their business with you. Let’s see what happens when your profits start to freefall. Let’s see what happens when the boy you groomed for fifteen years to sit at the Russel throne gets yanked from the running before heeven has a chance. You haveone chanceto fix this. Do I make myself clear?”

There was a heavy beat of silence.

“God,“ Calvin muttered,“I really shouldn’t have answered the phone.”

Rolling my eyes, I ended the call, shoving the phone into my pocket. The message was clear enough. His ability to comprehend it at an adult level… questionable. But that was Calvin Lockwood. A man too stupid to fear me properly… and just smart enough to know he should.

Turning back to walk towards the conference room, I froze in place as Genevieve stood in the middle of the hall, already staring at me with her curious, beautiful eyes.

I walked toward her slowly, letting the last of Calvin’s irritation shake off my skin. Her gaze tracked me the whole way.

I stopped before her, looking down at her knowingly, my hands entering my suit jacket pockets. “How much did you hear?” My voice was low but not angry.

Her lashes lowered for a moment. “…Not too much,” she whispered.

It was a lie, but a gentle one. Her tells were the same after all these years—the way her fingers curled slightly, the way her throat worked, the way she couldn’t meet my eyes for a full second.

My Vieve. My sexy little wife. And my beautiful, terrible little liar.

I slid two fingers beneath her chin and tilted her face up to mine.

“Try again,” I murmured.

She swallowed. “Just… the part about you threatening to ruin someone’s livelihood…”

My thumb brushed the corner of her mouth.Fuck, I wanted to taste those lips again.

“Mm,” I hummed, leaning in. “And here I thought you were done lying to me.”

Her lips parted, her eyes widening. “I wasn’t—”

“You were,” I told her quietly. “And you’re terrible at it,” I muttered, nipping at her lip before my hand slipped to the back of her neck and into her hair, pulling her closer to me.

A flush crept down her neck… guilt, arousal, devotion all threading together the way they always did with her.

“Reid…” she breathed. I wasn’t sure if her tone was apologetic for eavesdropping, or asking for something more. Regardless, my lips found hers again, my body humming. She tasted so fucking good, so sweet, and all mine. Her fingers curled in my suit jacket instantly, needy and instinctive, trying to pull me into her body.

I groaned internally, letting her tug on me just once before I pulled away. I wouldn’t be opposed to a little office sex to get my mind straight, but I had a stacked schedule today: back-to-back meetings, negotiations waiting on my signature, a senator expecting a call from Alexander.