Page 22 of The Most Wanted Witch

“I safeguarded for this very situation.” It was the longest sentence he’d said to me in days, and I immediately wished he’d gone back to not speaking to me.

“How?”

He leaned back in his chair, calm and emotionless. “That spell, way back when you agreed to work for me. It wasn’t quite as cut and dried as you might’ve thought. You agreed to work for me until a time of my choosing. I couldn’t fire you, but you can’t quit either, so you aren’t actually able to offer yourself as collateral, since you’ve already been promised to this place.”

Oscar gasped. “I knew something seemed off about her right around the time she started working here as a broker.That’swhat it was.”

While Oscar was relishing in his ah-ha moment, I was having one of my own. “For how long? How long am I actually stuck here?”

“Until we do a joint release. It was an insurance policy against immigration being able to evict you from Xest.”

All the nerves, wondering if I’d done the wrong thing, went up in smoke from the fire he’d just lit. “How could you do that without telling me?”

“Don’t act as if you had no idea. You were aware I did something. It was very obvious you didn’t want to know the details. After the immigration trial, you asked me what I did that swayed the hags. I told you the timing wasn’t right to answer that question. You dropped it then, and in the months since, you haven’t once mentioned it. That’s not someone who wants to know.” He was still being that calm, ice-cold Hawk of old.

“I never thought you’d do something like this, or I would’ve asked.”

“Then you should’ve. You know me well enough to realize I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Oh, he was right there. I never should’ve underestimated that at all.

“You might’ve mentioned this earlier,” Oscar said.

I sprang to my feet. “You need to undo it.”

“You sure about that?” Hawk asked. “Do you want to risk them being able to take you? If that’s what you want, say the word.”

I was stuck, hanging out in owned limbo. But what bothered me more than anything was that I didn’t think he’d really do it anyway, even if I truly did want him to.

I moved closer until my toes were nearly brushing his. “You know what? I’ll take my chances. Undo it.”

This might’ve been the stupidest thing I’d ever asked for. What if he did undo it?

He stood. “You’d cut off your nose to spite your face?”

“No, she wouldn’t. She doesn’t want you to really do it. Right, Tippi?” Oscar got to his feet as well, trying to angle into the small space between us. “Tell him you don’t want that, Tippi, because it would beincrediblystupid.” Oscar was looking at me like I’d lost my mind and he was sure hoping I’d find it fast.

He was right. I might’ve lost my mind. No, I’ddefinitelylost it, and I wasn’t finding it anytime soon. I was going down with this ship.

“Oscar, I know what I’m doing. Step out of the way.”

Oscar closed his eyes for a second, groaned softly, and then stepped back.

No buffer left. It was just me and Hawk now. “Undo it.”

His eyes didn’t flinch from my gaze. “Do you realize what you’re asking for?”

“Yes. I’m saying the words. And I’m asking you to undo it.” Probably too clearly. That didn’t bode well for my sanity, but no one was controlling my life. Not anymore.

He looked down at me. “No.”

“You won’t undo it?”

“No, I won’t. Even if you care so little about your wellbeing that you’d risk everything, as demonstrated by the actions you’ve taken in the last few days, I’m not going to compound your mistakes.” The lines of his face were hard, but there was something calling to me in his eyes, a warmth that might undo me if I let it.

I wouldn’t. I wasn’t falling for the little glimmers and hints of what Hawk could be when the man before me was being an ass, again.

“That’s the thing. They’re my mistakes to make.”

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