Page 35 of Covert Desires

There is no room for error.

No room for hesitation.

With swift, practiced movements, I secure the collar around his neck. It clicks into place with a finality that even he can't ignore.

Nico’s pulse thrums beneath my fingers as I adjust the fit, ensuring the device sits snugly against his skin.

When I press it, the small LED indicator on the side blinks to life, a sinister red light that mirrors the one on my detonator remote.

Smiling, I step back, holding up the remote for him to see. It’s a small, nondescript device resembling a typical car key fob, but the power it wields is far from ordinary. A single red button sits at the center, encircled by a safety switch that needs to be flipped up before activation.

“Fancy tech for an innkeeper,” Nico remarks with a tightlipped smirk.

“You have no idea, little boy. You don’t want to fuck with me.” My voice is low and dripping with animosity; there is nothing empty about my threat.

“I guess this explains how you got me in this position.” He laughs inappropriately, a sound that echoes through the room like unwelcome thunder.

“You think this is funny?”

Nico continues laughing, undermining my authority, even now with a literal bomb strapped to his throat. “A little. Of all the people who could’ve taken over this inn…”

I don’t entertain his what-ifs. I’m not letting him distract me.

Tugging the metal loop at the front of the collar towards me with force, I bring his eyes level with mine as I deliver my final warning. “You try anything—anything at all—and I press this button. No second chances."

He stops laughing as he glares at me, eyes unreadable.

“Does that mean you’re going to untie me finally?” Nico says in a cool tone, his eyes never once leaving the button as I add it to the chain around my neck.

“I’ve decided it’s time you start to earn your keep around here.”

He sneers. “Do you accept cash?”

“No,” I say simply, walking to the kitchen.

“Isn’t this the part where you untie me?” Nico calls after me.

I pour another cup of coffee and wave him off dismissively. “Maybe tomorrow.”

Am I having second thoughts? One hundred percent.

But fuck it, what’s he going to do?

That boy is way out of his league, even for a mobster. I used to literally hunt men like him for a living—men way scarier than him.

I thought joining the Special Forces would satisfy my need for power, for control, but the bureaucracy was bullshit. Even after they promoted me to the Green Berets, I only lasted a few years before the dark side of private contracting lured me in. They had fewer rules, better pay, and way more exciting targets.

Those were the good years; before it all caught up with me like it inevitably would. I was ready to retire, to get out.

Not a day goes by that I don’t regret how it ended.

But I will not let my guard down again like I did back then.

I won’t make the same mistake.

This is just for now, until I figure out what to do with this psycho. A temporary measure, if you will.

But deep down, I know I’m lying to myself.

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