Page 147 of The Rules
Because when she finished?
He’d show her what it meant to cross a line carved in blood.
Kath’s fingers curled around the armrest—slow, deliberate. Composed, at first glance. But he caught it in her eyes: the flicker of tension, the steel behind the stubborn tilt of her chin.
"I met with the witness," she said quietly. "Or—I tried to.
He didn’t show."
Ben exhaled hard through his nose.
"You went alone," he said, voice low.
She noddedonce. “You said it probably wouldn’t lead anywhere.”
"So you decided to test that theory—without telling me?"
Her shoulders pulled back. "I didn’t want to bother you with it. You said the lead was dead. I just… I thought maybe there was a chance.”
Ben stared at her. No smirk. No cutting remark. Just heat pulsing beneath his skin, fury coiled tight in his chest—not because of the broken rule, but because of what it meant.
"You went alone," he repeated, quieter this time, like saying it again would help him make sense of it. "Jesus, Winters."
He moved without thinking, crossing to her desk in a few long strides. His hands hit the edge of the table—not hard, but enough to make her flinch.
"You don’t do that," he snapped, voice cracking under the weight of it. "Not with a case like this. Not withhiminvolved."
She looked up at him then. No arrogance. No smugness. Just guilt—raw and flickering across her face like a warning flare.
"I didn’t think he’d show," she said. "I wasn’t trying to—"
"But he could’ve." His hands clenched into fists on the desk. "And what then? What the hell would you have done if you were wrong?"
Silence stretched. Her throat bobbed. And he saw it—that hesitation. That moment where she finally realized this wasn’t just about disobedience.
It was about danger. Real. Present.
He exhaled again, this time slower, shakier. The anger hadn’t left him. But now it sat beside something else. Something colder.
Fear.
"You don’t get to make that call alone," he said, quieter now. "Not anymore."
Ben stared at her, the silence stretching so long it became oppressive.
"You want to run around behind my back? Fine. There’ll be consequences."
Kath’s chin lifted—defiant, defensive—but her eyes flickered. She knew that tone. The one he used when he was about to cut deep.
Ben’s gaze dropped for a fraction of a second—enough to make her feel it—then returned to hers, unblinking.
“Starting tomorrow, you’ll wear the same kind of underwear you wore at Crimson. Every day. Under your suits. In this office.”
Kath’s breath caught, a flash of disbelief skimming across her features. “Are you serious?”
He smiled. Slow. Razor-sharp.
“Oh, I’m dead serious.”
