“Why not?”

He thought of Ollie. “I’m gonna end up hurting people, people that don’t deserve to be hurt.”

“Hurting who?”

“Ollie, the guy I came in with.”

Hamish rubbed his sparse moustache. “Murdered his father in a frenzied attack.”

“He’s come to rely on me, and the guilt’s starting to eat away at me. The longer I’m here, the more it’ll hurt when I go.”

“Push him away then.”

Rory scrunched his face. “I can’t do that.”

“You are not here to make friends, you’re here to spy on Sebastian.”

“And I have. I’ve given you information.”

“Not enough,” Hamish growled. “You owe me, remember? The favor I did for you?”

Rory bit the inside of his cheek.

“What favor?” Morris asked.

Rory looked up at Hamish and shook his head, but all compassion had gone from the inspector’s eyes.

“Rory shouldn’t even be a police officer.”

“What?”

“He failed his entrance exam repeatedly.”

Morris smirked. “Are you serious? It wasn’t hard.”

“When he failed for the third time—”

“Third?” Morris blurted.

“He begged me to help him, to tamper with the results, said he wanted to get in before his dad died, wanted to tell him he’d finally achieved his goal.”

Rory closed his eyes and pictured his dad’s face when he told him. Lying in the hospital, pale, and frail, his face had lit up when Rory told him he’d finally got in. The pride had been evident to see, and he grasped Rory’s hand tightly, spoke around the tube in his mouth, and told Rory he loved him.

“You knew I’d ask for a favor in return.” Hamish mumbled.

“But this…”

“This is a great opportunity for your career. Not only that, but you’re taking down Sebastian.”

“But Ollie—”

“Is an unfortunate casualty. Focus on the main objective.”

Rory pursed his lips and released a slow breath. “It’s not that easy…”

Hamish grinned. “You’re doing great, don’t give up now.”

As he was marched back to the wing, he tried to sort out his swirling mind.

He hated the Sebastian of the past, hated that he killed, and that he made money helping the heartless and cowards that wanted to cause death and destruction.

He hated the Sebastian of the future, the man that was clearly about to start up his dark business all over again, who clearly wanted revenge on the inspector that put him away.

But the Sebastian of the present. The one that kept him safe, made him smile, and filled in the hours of boredom by playing chess, he liked that one.

He also liked the Sebastian that made him ache in the night, and his self-inflicted orgasms more intense. He wanted Sebastian sexually, and it was driving him mad.

“How’s your uncle?” Ollie asked.

“He’s all right.”

Ollie lowered his gaze. “Mine’s still ignoring my visiting orders.”