Page 115 of You Owe Me

The fact that she asks what I need instead of what we’re going to do tells me everything. She trusts me to handle this. Trusts me to end it. All she wants to know is her role in the execution.

Fuck, I love this girl.

“You,” I say simply, pulling her tighter against me. “I need you to call him.”

Her head lifts. “Why me?”

“Because you’ve got leverage. And he’s got a weakness for things he doesn’t deserve.” I run my thumb across her ribs, dragging the edge of her bikini top aside just enough to see that perfect sliver of skin that drives me crazy. “He wants access. You give him that—for now.”

The plan is already crystallizing in my head. Carter thinks he has Ainsley cornered, thinks she’s desperate enough to deal. He’ll want to meet on his terms, in his territory, with his father as backup. He’ll think he’s in control.

He’ll be wrong about all of it.

“You want me to bait him.”

“I want you to bleed him dry. Set a meeting. You, him, and his daddy.”

Her eyes flash. “The dean? Are you serious?”

I meet her gaze, calm and sure. “Dead.”

Because this isn’t just about neutralizing Carter. It’s about sending a message. Dean Mills has been covering for his son’s academic fraud for years, compromising the integrity of the institution to protect his family’s reputation. Time for some consequences.

“Maverick, that’s?—“

“Calculated.” I slide my hand up to her jaw, fingers curling around her throat just enough to make her eyes go wide. “I’m not asking you to fight him. I’m asking you to open the door and let me walk through it.”

The metaphor isn’t quite right. I’m not walking through any door Carter opens. I’m kicking it down and burning the frame behind me.

“And then what?” Her voice drops, lips brushing mine. “You planning on taking him down in front of his father?”

“No. I’m planning to make him kneel for every inch he tried to take from me.”

The truth is uglier than that. I’m planning to destroy Carter so thoroughly that his father will have no choice but to throw him under the administrative bus to save his own career. Academic fraud charges, federal investigation exposure, complete reputational annihilation.

Carter thinks he can play in my world without understanding the rules. Time to teach him the price of admission.

There’s silence between us. Not tense. Not uncertain. She’s watching me like she’s trying to find the lines I haven’t drawn yet.

The lines don’t exist. Not for this. Not for him.

Finally, she nods. “Okay. But if this goes sideways?—”

“It won’t.” I kiss her—slow, hard, decisive. Like a promise. “I’ve never lost a hand when the stakes mattered. I’m not about to start now.”

That’s not entirely true. I’ve lost hands before. But never when the stakes involved someone threatening what’s mine. Never when it mattered this much.

Carter Mills is about to learn the difference between playing poker with amateurs and sitting at a table where the house always wins.

Her breath catches when I pull back. “You always sound so damn sure of yourself.”

“I don’t make moves unless I already know the outcome.”

And I do know the outcome. Carter will agree to the meeting because he’s desperate to regain control of the situation. Dean Mills will attend because he needs to protect his son from academic scandal. They’ll both walk into that room thinking they have leverage.

They’ll leave knowing exactly who owns this campus.

Her eyes darken. “That’s sexy.”

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