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“I’ll get over it,” I lie, my stomach knotting. “We fucked a few times. It’s not like we’re in love or anything.”

The next time I see Fionn, I’ll tell him it's over.

I’ll never respond to his watch coming off.

We’ll never be alone together.

And I’ll never let myself surrender to him again. That promise hurts most because I already know what happens inside me when he takes off his watch and tells me to run.

Chapter 27

Fionn

Graves hits harder when he’s annoyed. He proves it with a quick right hook.

I roll my neck and smile. “You’re getting slower.”

“I’m sixty-one,” he says, gloves up, shoulders loose. “What’s your excuse?”

When I come at him, he ducks out of reach, catches me once in the ribs, then again when I close the distance. The old bastard still moves fast.

“You hit the same way when you’re pissed off.”

“I hit the same way when you deserve it,” he says.

I swing. He blocks. Leather cracks against leather.

“What did you do with the girl?”

I step in with a jab. “Which one?”

Graves catches it on his glove and gives me a look. “You know which one, Fionn. The Tallon girl.”

I throw another punch. “Dropped her at Eilish’s.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

“No.”

“Where did you take her before that?”

I move around him, light on my feet. “Somewhere private.”

Graves stops for half a breath. “Tell me you didn’t bring her here.”

I say nothing.

His jaw tightens.

“Fionn.”

I bounce forward, forcing him to defend himself. “Watch your guard.”

He blocks me twice, then drives a fist into my ribs. “Watch your own.”

I laugh, breathless, and step back.

Graves lowers his gloves a fraction. “Are ya doing this because of Saint?”