V stiffened, his fingers digging into my skin.

“What? What is it?” I shifted in his hold, peering into his eyes.

“Nothing. Forget it.”

I paused. Normally, if V had a thought, I could pick up on his idea. We were in tune with work, with life. But this time, I had no clue.

Pinching him, I said, “Come on. You can’t leave me hanging like that. Give me something else to think about other than this catastrophe.”

Vaughn shook his head, looking as if he wanted to tear the thought from his brain. “I—no, you don’t need to hear it.”

“And you don’t have to feel my sadness, yet you do.” Sitting up, I untangled his arm from around me. “Tell me.”

He sat taller, running a hand through his glossy black hair. “What if you had been pregnant?”

I froze. “What do you mean?”

He looked away. “This madness with the Hawks is over. The police are involved. The media know everything. You’re as safe as I could make you by telling everyone what I know. But…what if it’s not enough.”

Tremors captured my limbs. Jethro’s text came back to haunt me.

I’m coming for you.

“What do you mean?”

V looked at me, his eyes tight and grave. “What if you had his kid? What if you gave birth to a girl?”

My mind raced. “She’d be a firstborn girl. She’d suffer the same fate our mother and I did. I would never put her through that.”

V shook his head. “She’d be firstborn. She’d be a girl. She’d be a Weaver.” He leaned closer. “But she’d also be a Hawk.”

V’s epiphany changed everything.

I couldn’t stop thinking about alternatives, imagining an entirely different conclusion to the Debt Inheritance, to Jethro, to our future as enemies.

Jethro said he was coming for me.

I didn’t know when and I didn’t know how…but what if I let him?

What if I went back with him willingly? Instead of saving him and running, why not do something to end the debt completely? I could end this—like I’d promised my dead ancestors.

Would it work?

Would my scheming of seducing him over and over again until I became pregnant be abhorrent or justified?

Did it make me a terrible person to contemplate bringing another life into this madness—all in the hope of breaking the debts hold?

Could I even stomach becoming pregnant with a firstborn of mixed blood? Would Jethro agree to something so drastic—so crazy? Would I go to hell for trapping someone that way?

My mind whirled with more and more questions.

If I did do all of those things—would it destroy everything? Put an end to debts being collected because the debts were now merged? Why had no one thought of it sooner?

Is it even possible?

There were dreadful flaws to my plan. Cut barely tolerated his own children. I couldn’t see him decreeing the Debt Inheritance null and void just because the firstborn of both houses was made from both houses. I couldn’t see him giving up that easily.

But Jethro…he might.

If he had something of his own…for the first time in his life...

Would he fight to protect it?

Would he finally give me his heart and choose me over them?

He could change.

He could save me.

He could save himself.

THE NIGHT BEFORE everything changed, my phone buzzed.

Two a.m., but I was still awake.

The tablets had numbed me to everything, but I still had issues sleeping.

Opening the message, a slow smile crossed my face.

Needle&Thread: You said this isn’t over. That you’re coming for me. Well, I want you to come. I’m here waiting, Jethro. Hurry up.

My cock twitched. Her message was almost perfect. Could she sense everything was in place? Could she tell that her home was here…with me…and it was time she returned?

Kite007: I appreciate the invitation.

She took her time replying. The longer it took, the harder I got. A side effect of the pills was my libido had dried up. But here…lying in the dark with no one to see or judge, I cupped my length and squeezed.

Needle&Thread: It’s not an invitation. It’s an order. I’m waiting for you.

I pinched the head of my cock, wondering how to reply. Another message arrived.

Needle&Thread: I’m wet for you. Kiss me, Jethro Hawk.

My cock jerked in my hold. Fuck.

I growled under my breath.

My father’s wise words came back. “Nila is just like her ancestors. She was using sex to get to you—using her body to screw up your mind, and it fucking worked.”

I fisted harder. Not this time. She wouldn’t manipulate me again. I knew my place. I liked this new world, and I had no intention of stepping out of it.

Kite007: You know I don’t respond to orders.

Needle&Thread: Would you respond if I begged you?

My hand worked harder, dragging pleasure up my shaft and radiating in my balls.

I didn’t want to reply. I wanted this charade over with. If I fucked her again, it would be part of a debt—not breaking the rules like I had.

I’d been idiotic. A rebel son who didn’t appreciate all that he’d been given.

In her absence, I finally saw the truth.

In my tablet fog, I finally found my home.

And it wasn’t with her.

Kite007: What would you beg for?

If she were smart, she’d beg me to forget her. To run across continents and try to hide. But she wasn’t smart, because she was still governed by inconvenient, uncontrollable emotion.