Santiago opens the door, and for a moment, we remain facing one another in uneasy silence. I think of Mercedes. Of her beneath me. Of what I did.

“You’re working late,” he says. “I stopped by the house, but they told me you were here.”

“I had to finish some things. Come in.”

He does, closes the door behind him, and glances over the surface of my desk. “My sister’s friends.” He picks up the paper where Solana Lavigne and Georgie fucking Beaumont have taken out a full-page ad in a local paper asking if anyone’s seen her. They know her as Mercedes Rosa at least. A slight difference from her real name. Enough to keep out of IVI? We’ll see.

I hand him a scotch and take my seat behind my desk. “I’ll take care of it.”

“How?”

“Leave it to me.”

“That’s the thing, Judge.” He swirls his scotch in his glass. “Something’s gotten back to me, and I know the fucking rumor mill those Society ladies can be. But I need to make sure it’s not true.”

I clear my throat. Wait.

“You were seen kissing my sister the night of the party.”

“Ah. Well, it wasn’t quite like that. Mercedes was upset when I dragged her out of there. And her friends were watching.”

“Go on.” He drinks a sip of his scotch.

“She is impulsive.”

He snorts. “Always has been. Too emotional for her own good. The kiss?” His posture is casual, but his gaze intense, and he doesn’t take his eyes off me.

“She kissed me just as we reached the vehicle. I wasn’t expecting it, so there was a moment when I can see how it may have been perceived as us kissing, but I can assure you it wasn’t that. Those women were clearly relishing Mercedes’s… predicament, and she decided to show them up.”

He nods.

“So she kissed me in an effort to do exactly what’s happened. Stir up the rumor mill to her advantage.”

“So you didn’t kiss her back?”

“No.”

“And you explained it would not happen again.”

“Yes.”

He studies me. “Is there anything between you two? You need to tell me now if there is.”

“I know my duty, Santiago.” Fuck. God. I’m a piece of shit. “Mercedes is a beautiful, alluring woman, no doubt, but I know the rules.”

“Good. She cannot be compromised.”

“I know that.”

“I’ve heard you haven’t been to the Cat House.”

“Well, not sure if you’ve also heard that Theron is back.”

“Ah.”

“Babysitting him has taken up much of my time.”

“Why did he leave in the first place? Your brother? I never heard that story.”

“Bad blood between him and Grandfather.” It’s true at least partially.

“And now that the old man is dead, he’s back to take what he thinks is his due, am I right?”