“I’m not asking anything of the sort.” Because she couldn’t. She was no doubt contractually prohibited, just like the rest of Jake’s employees.

“But you can speak in hypotheticals, right?”

“As can you,” she said, and I let her go.

“If Jake were out of power, you could help Kori?”

“I could.” She rubbed her neck with her free hand, but her gun remained pointed at me.

“Why should I believe you care one way or another about what happens to her?”

“I don’t.” Julia shrugged, like that should have been obvious. “I care about what happens to me.” Her brows rose in question, silently asking if I was understanding the things she wasn’t allowed to say.

“You’re not happy under your brother’s reign?”

“You mean under his thumb? I’m chained to him just like Korinne is, only I’ve been serving since I was sixteen. Since before service came with a time limit.” She lifted her left sleeve to show me her binding marks, which seemed to ring her entire arm. “As long as these marks are live, I’ll never have a family or a home of my own. I can’t leave the city without authorization, which never comes. I can’t even leave the room without permission. All because of one stupid oath I took as a kid, in exchange for my older brother’s protection.”

“Protection from what?”

Her lips pressed together for a second before she answered. “There’s a skeleton in every closet, Mr. Holt.”

“Fair enough. What about his heir? Do you honestly think it’ll be better with Jonah pulling your strings?”

Her brows rose again, and her smile was back, small and reticent this time, like she was about to tell me a secret. “I can handle Jonah, Mr. Holt. His bark and his bite are both fierce, but I know how to leash him.”

I thought about that for a moment, weighing my options and her sincerity. “If I were to give you that opportunity, you’d make sure Kori goes free? Immediately?”

“You have my word that if Jake is removed from power, Kori Daniels will go free immediately.” I wasn’t sure I believed her, but since I planned to kill both Jake and Jonah anyway, Kori would go free whether or not Julia kept her word. What I really needed to know was…

“Can you get me a second alone with Jake?”

She nodded without hesitation. “My contract predates time-in-service limits, but it also predates the stricter obedience clauses. I have more leeway than most employees. But I’m going to need some reassurance from you, Mr. Holt. A handshake won’t do.”

“What do you want?”

“Protection. When people find out that I helped rid the world of Jake Tower, those loyal to him—or to his wife—will be out for my head. I want your word—signed and sealed—that you’ll protect me until that threat is gone.”

“No bindings,” I insisted. Kori’s bindings had gotten her tortured. Kenley’s had gotten her caged. Steven’s had nearly gotten him killed.

“Then no deal,” Julia countered. “It’s a simple promise, Mr. Holt. Not a service agreement. Jake’s secondary Binder is bitter about being replaced by Kenley Daniels and he’s loyal to me.”

Secondary Binder? A glimmer of an idea surfaced on the horizon of this new complication. “Is his name Barker?”

Julia frowned. “Yes. And I assure you, he’s heavily guarded. Especially with Kenley currently on the run. Though that won’t last long.”

“I have no plans to harm your Binder.” Big lie—if Kori couldn’t take him out, I damn well would. “In fact, I’m looking forward to working with you both.” Smaller, obvious lie, to cover the larger fib.

Julia rolled her eyes, and I knew I had her. “I know you don’t want to be bound, Mr. Holt. But I assure you this is the least painful solution for all involved. I’ve already drafted the binding, and we can strike through and initial minor points of compromise before we sign. Then when we get to Jake’s house, you will play your part. After that, you and Kori can walk off into the sunset, if that’s the kind of cheesy, happy ending you sentimental types like.”

“Just like that?” I studied her face, searching for the catch. “It sounds too good to be true.”

“I assure you it’s not. Jake knows how to defend himself, and even if you’re successful, you’ll have to fight your way out. I’ll do my best to rein Jonah in immediately, but in moments of passion and fury, men are often uncontrollable.”

A fact I was personally familiar with. But if Jonah was so uncontrollable, what made her think she could control him? Especially once he’d inherited her binding from Jake?

There was something she wasn’t saying, and I wouldn’t trust Julia Tower even if my own marks had been tattooed on her arm.

“This Binder? How far away is he?” I asked as that idea on the horizon came into even clearer focus.

“Less than a mile.” She pressed a button on the glass separating us from the driver, then gave him an address. “I’m pleased we could come to an agreement.”

* * *

Barker turned out to be a grizzly looking man in his mid-sixties who subsisted on nothing but pizza and beer, if the garbage covering his kitchen counters was any evidence.

I was sorely tempted to kill him where he stood, to free Kenley, which would cut Kori’s last tie to Tower. But if I killed Barker, Vanessa was as good as dead, and Kenley would never forgive me. Which meant Kori might never forgive me. So I watched in silence as the Binder read aloud from the document Julia had produced from a briefcase taken from the trunk of her car.