I weigh my options. Give him nothing and lose any chance of information, or give him something and risk exposure. The decision comes easy. Risk is my business, after all.
“I found it by accident.” Not a lie. “I was examining the artwork.”
Suspicion etches deeper lines around his mouth. “Nobody examines artwork in a disguise, unless they’re planning to steal it.”
I don’t confirm or deny, letting the silence stretch between us. My fingers trace the edge of the cage door, testing the lock. Industrial grade, but easy enough to pick with the proper tools.
Which I don’t have.
I pat my pocket as if a bobby pin might appear by magic, before I remember the wig. Two pins hold it in place. But removing it would blow my cover. And my exit strategy.
It’s too great a risk. Even if I could open the lock, getting Jade out of the building would be another operation entirely. I can’t improvise a second heist in the middle of the first.
Jade’s eyebrows draw together. “Are you a cop?”
I almost laugh. “No.”
“Then what’s your play here? You just happened to find a secret room with a prisoner and thought you’d stop in for a chat?”
His defensiveness makes sense. In his position, I’d be suspicious, too. I need to offer him a real thread to follow, just enough to get him talking.
“I’m an acquaintance of the Rockfords,” I say finally. “I’ve spent time at the manor.”
The change is immediate. Jade’s body tenses, his expression sharpening with sudden attention. He leans forward, fingers wrapping around the bars. “Which ones? Who sent you?”
“No one sent me.” I shift my weight, keeping my back to the wall so I can watch the entrance. “As I said, I found this room by accident. But I recognized you. You’re the housekeeper’s kid.”
Hope cracks through his suspicion. “You know my mom?”
I shrug, noncommittal.
“Bullshit. We don’t have casual visitors at the family house.” He studies me more closely, trying to see past my disguise. “Who are you really?”
I change tactics. “I knew Ezra for a brief time.”
The name drops between us like a stone in still water, sending ripples through Jade’s expression. His mouth opens, closes, then opens again.
“Wait.” He leans as close as the bars will allow. “Are you the guy Ezra’s been going feral over?”
The question slices through me, unexpected and devastating. My pulse falters, then surges, blood roaring so loud I nearly miss what he says next.
“The one he’s been hunting? The Omega who vanished?”
My fingers go numb on the cage bars. The air becomes heavy, the room shrinking around me, and a weight settles beneath my ribs, each breath shallow, strained, edged with pain.
Going feral over.
The words tumble through my mind, colliding with memories I’ve kept locked away.
Ezra’s hands on my skin. His whisper in my ear. The way he handled me with such care.
And the envelope on the desk. Fifty thousand dollars to disappear.
Had Ezra not known about his family’s payoff? Had he been searching for me all this time, thinking I had abandoned him without explanation? The possibility opens a chasm in my chest, dark and bottomless.
Or worse, is this his new fixation? Did he find someone else to obsess over after I left? The thought shouldn’t hurt. It was never real between us, just a job, a way in, but acid jealousy burns up my throat.
“No.” Despite the inner turmoil, I remain in control. “It’s been a long time since I saw Ezra.”
