Free Whatever the Cost by Lynn Kelling

this—sex with Jacen for Claudia’s pleasure—not only will he be faced with possibly nightmarish encounters for less pay than he’s used to, but Jacen will too. Liam’s efforts to get Jacen into a safer arrangement would be for nothing. They’d both suffer for it.
    Della’s right. He can’t say no. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t want to do it. He has no choice.
    Without waiting for a reply, seeing the resignation on Liam’s face, Della stands and slides her purse strap higher on her shoulder. “I’ll send you the details in a few. And if it goes well, hopefully it’ll become a regular thing.”
    “Yeah,” Liam murmurs.
    He walks Della to the door. They pause when she turns to him and says, “You made the right call, Will. Just think of who you’d rather Jacen be with, Spencer or you.”
    Nodding, wearing a hollow expression, he holds the door open for her, watching as she gets in the backseat of the Lincoln and her driver slowly pulls away.

Chapter 7
Damned If You Don’t
     
    Once alone, Liam goes online to check the balances on his accounts, not thinking too hard about why he’s taking stock of his available funds and, in the recesses of his mind, debating his options concerning the future, only that it makes him feel better to see over three hundred thousand dollars there, and even more in investments. Possibilities spin out before him, taking vaporous form, then dematerializing before becoming too tangible.
    This doesn’t have to be forever. It can just be for right now. He’ll make the most of it, keep saving and bide his time. And then, one day, he’ll be free, whether The Company likes it or not. He’ll just gather his things and vanish. There one day, gone the next. Nothing but a memory. He’s done it before, countless times. In some ways, it’s who Liam is—someone temporary, changeable, someone who knows how to slip through fingers for a quick escape. It has never been as tempting as it is right in that moment. Liam has always been mostly happy doing what he does. It defines him. It’s his outlet. So he’s not sure why it suddenly feels nothing but toxic and wrong.
    Sure you do
, a ghost whispers in his ear, a very young voice both desperately welcome and grotesquely bitter; one he knows very well; one that haunts him day and night, and will do so until the end of his days—Timothy’s voice.
I don’t even recognize you anymore. How did you let yourself become this? How did you stand by this long, letting Jacen whore himself out to monsters?
There is no good reason, is there? Greed? Fear? Hmm. Maybe a little. Maybe something else, too.
    “You. It’s your fault,” he spits into the air, knowing his own bitterness, his own hurt, is the cause of the words. He wants to take them back as soon as they’re spoken, but it’s too late. It’s been too late for years.
    Meanwhile, outside and standing by the motorcycle, Yasha and Jacen are inches apart. Yasha is getting ready to go. He’s stayed longer than he planned, but Jacen needed it. There is still a sense of heavy foreboding and dread around the big lug. Only one thing will dispel it, and it’s nothing Yasha can give him.
    “So, in conclusion,” Yasha says, laying a hand flat on the center of Jacen’s chest. “It’s fully possible for you and Liam to fuck like bunnies and still stay friends. If you want it that badly, make it happen.”
    “He’s one of the best things in my life,” Jacen admits sadly, hanging his head, making cascades of shaggy, dark hair fall in his eyes. “I don’t want to lose him over a shitty job.”
    “Then don’t. Keep hold of him. You can do that much.”
    Jacen thinks this over, then nods.
    “What’s the first thing I ever told you about The Company? Huh? Day one?”
    “You don’t get a say,” Jacen responds with resignation. It was Yasha’s biggest argument against Jacen signing a ten-year contract of his own, but Jacen was absolutely confident that he could handle it.
    “That’s