Jake’s POV

I smiled into my phone as Adrian talked.

It was fake. Practiced. The kind of smile that lived only on the surface of my face while everything underneath sharpened into something dangerous.

“I’ve thought about what you said,” I told him calmly. “The split. Sixty–forty.”

A pause. I could almost hear him leaning back, satisfied.

“And?” Adrian asked.

“And I’m willing to talk,” I continued. “Not agree. Talk.”

He laughed. A low, pleased ...