Evalyne blinked. "What?"
"No," he repeated. "I can't."
He said it the way someone says, I can't breathe.
"You do not even know the terms yet," she said, thrown.
He laughed once, humorless. "Lady, you could offer me a castle and a crown and I still couldn't."
"Why not?" she demanded. "You told me that night you are booked through the night like an object. You let people touch you on command. You let them say things to you that make my skin crawl. Why would you refuse an exit?"
"Because it is not that simple," he snapped, blanket shifting as his hands clenched under it. "I am not an employee. I am an asset."
She stared. "Explain."
He looked at her for a long, long moment, weighing something. Then, slowly, he exhaled.
"Manny—is not just my boss," he said. "He is my pimp. The club is
