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“Levi,” he says. “Didn’t expect you today. Tell me you’ve got good news.”

I stay standing. “Job’s off.”

Ray’s grin freezes. Slowly, he leans forward, elbows on the desk, gold rings catching the light. The room feels smaller.

“Come again?”

“Can’t do it. Not happening.”

He tilts his head, studying me. A low chuckle comes out of him, more warning than humor.

“Can’t or won’t? Because those are two very different words.”

“Can’t,” I say flatly. “Her thighs are locked tight.”

Ray leans back in his chair, one thick finger tapping against the desk in a slow, steady rhythm. Then he says, almost conversationally, “You tried prying them open?”

I lift my eyes to his. “Say that again.”

Ray holds my stare. Seconds pass.

Then his mouth shifts. Not a smile. “Still sensitive about that kind of thing, I see.”

He knows enough about my mom. Not all of it, but enough. Enough to know there are lines I don’t blur. Enough to know this one was never fucking funny.

“Careful, Ray,” I say, ensuring he knows that line is still there.

He lifts and spreads both hands. “Wasn’t serious.”

He was.

Ray’s gaze doesn’t leave mine. “And you can watch the attitude, boy.”

I shift my weight, forcing my voice back into the flat, bored shape it had before. “Send Marco if you want. It’s a waste of time.”

“You’re sure about that?”

“She’s made herself clear. No sex until marriage. Maybe she knows about the clause, maybe Whitmore bored her into a convent. I don’t know.”

“What exactly did she say?”

I meet his eyes. “She said no sex until marriage.”

His expression doesn’t change.

“And before you start,” I add, “she can’t marry anyone until the divorce is done. So there it is. Stalemate.”

Ray goes still in that way he does when something is bothering him. He’s thinking.

“And there’s no other way?”

“Would I be standing here if there was?” I say. “I’ve been at it for a month. Helpful neighbor. Fixed the fence. Took out the trash. Tutored her in algebra, for fuck’s sake.”

Ray looks over my face, my shoulder, my bad hand, then back to my eyes.

I keep my expression bored.

“Maybe Marco tries.”