The morning sun came through the large windows, but it did not bring any warmth into the master bedroom.

Julius lay awake under the blankets, his body completely exhausted and his nerves stretched tight. He had barely slept a wink all night. Every time he shifted against the sheets, the tight, burning ache between his thighs flared up, reminding him of Harrison’s cold command from the night before. His skin felt overly sensitive, and the lingering heat in his lower body was a constant, painful reminder of his unfinished punishment.

Harrison was already dressed in a clean white shirt and dark trousers, sitting at the small table near the window. He looked completely refreshed and calm, his face an expressionless mask as he read through some corporate papers. He turned a page slowly, the sound of the paper loud in the quiet room.

Julius slowly sat up, dragging the blanket with him to cover his chest. He looked across the room at Harrison with wide, soft puppy eyes, silently begging for any sign of softening. He wanted Harrison to look at him, to walk over, to do anything to relieve the intense sexual frustration that made his entire body ache.

"Harrison..." Julius whispered, his voice small and raspy from the long, restless night.

Harrison did not lift his head from the papers. He heard the plea, but his massive shoulders remained rigid. He completely ignored Julius, leaving the older man to sit in his own discomfort. Harrison was a wall of ice, showing total control and making sure Julius felt the full weight of his lesson.

Julius let out a shaky breath, feeling the sting of the rejection. He slowly climbed out of bed, his legs feeling weak and heavy as he walked over to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water.

As the hours passed, the struggle only grew worse. Julius tried to occupy his mind by organizing his clothes and pacing around the bedroom, but his eyes constantly drifted back to the big man. Every time Harrison stood up to stretch or pour a glass of water, Julius would stop what he was doing and look at him with those same pleading, frustrated eyes. He was practically vibrating with need, his chest heaving under his shirt. But Harrison passed right by him every single time, intentionally avoiding any physical contact, letting the agonizing craving linger.

The suffocating quiet in the room was finally broken just before noon. The secure phone resting on the bedside table began to buzz loudly, its screen lighting up with Daniel’s encrypted ID.

Julius jumped slightly at the sudden noise. He quickly snatched the device, pressing it tightly to his ear, glad for any distraction that might take his mind off his aching body. Harrison also stopped what he was doing, his dark eyes instantly locking onto Julius as he stood up from the table.

"Daniel," Julius said quickly, his voice tight. "Tell me you have something."

"I have a lot, Julius," Daniel’s voice came through the speaker, sounding tired but triumphant. "I stayed up all night running the deep decryption software on that fake job applicant’s file. The internal lock they used on the digital footprint was military-grade, but they made one small mistake in the coding when they wiped the server."

Harrison walked over with slow, heavy steps, his tall frame looming directly over Julius as he stood close to listen. Julius felt a sudden rush of heat just from the big man’s proximity, his scent mixing with the tension in the room, but Julius forced himself to swallow hard and focus on the call.

"What did you find?" Julius asked, holding his breath.

"I bypassed the internal lock and recovered a hidden name tied to that demolished address you investigated last week," Daniel explained. "The name is Dean Logan. Do you recognize it?"

Julius froze, his eyes widening as the name registered in his mind. The tightness in his chest grew. "Dean Logan... yes. He was the head of the Logan pack. My father completely ruined his entire family business years ago after they tried to steal our main shipping routes. I thought their pack broke apart and left the city after the bankruptcy." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"Well, they didn’t leave completely," Daniel said seriously. "Or at least, someone using their old hidden accounts is back in town and operating in the shadows. And that is not all, Julius. I also managed to hack into the local police database to look at the incident report from the gala garage last night. The waiter who was crushed by that van? I tracked his personal bank statements."

Julius gripped the phone tighter, his knuckles turning white. "Did he have a direct connection to Logan?"

"An hour before the gala started, a massive payment was wired directly to his offshore bank account," Daniel confirmed. "The source was a temporary, untraceable shell company, but the routing numbers match the ones Logan used to use. They paid that waiter a fortune for something. But the moment the plan failed because you walked away to the restroom, they used that black Van to clean up the mess. They are actively erasing every single witness before we can get our hands on them."

Julius slowly lowered the phone, his face turning pale as the reality of the situation set in. He looked up at Harrison, his voice steady but dark. "Daniel found the name. It is tied to the Logan pack. And the waiter was definitely paid off right before they crushed him in the garage."

Harrison’s jaw tightened, the muscles jumping under his skin as his expression turned incredibly sharp and focused. The deep mystery was shifting right back into focus, and the danger was growing larger by the minute.

"Dean Logan," Harrison murmured, his deep voice full of a cold, deadly promise. "So the old rats are finally coming out of their holes to look for your father’s drive."

Julius nodded, his chest heaving as he tried to balance the sudden rush of fear with the painful, throbbing ache still burning in his lower body. "They are cleaning up everything, Harrison. If they are willing to kill their own people in a public garage, they will not stop until they get that drive."