Chapter 2: Collateral

Chapter 2: Collateral

The car stopped in front of a towering luxury apartment building, its lights glowing warm in the still-rainy night.

"Get out," said Glenmorrin, not looking back at Jhonatan who sat stiffly in the passenger seat.

"Is this... your apartment?" Jhonatan asked, hesitant.

"One of them," Glenmorrin answered curtly, already out of the car without waiting.

Jhonatan followed him into the elevator, both silent until the doors opened on the top floor.

"Why did you bring me here?" Jhonatan asked once they entered an apartment larger than the entire ground floor of his parents' old house. "Why not a cheap hotel, or—"

"Because I don't trust you in a place I can't watch," Glenmorrin cut in, tossing his jacket onto the sofa. "You're a witness. I don't like witnesses running loose."

"I'm no one of yours to be watched," Jhonatan protested.

Glenmorrin turned, his gaze sharp. "Not yet," he said quietly.

"What does that mean?" Jhonatan stepped back.

"Sit," Glenmorrin ordered, pointing at the sofa. "You're soaked and shaking. I don't want to talk to you while waiting for you to pass out on my carpet."

Jhonatan sat, though reluctantly. Glenmorrin disappeared into the kitchen, returning with a towel and a glass of warm water, setting them on the table without a word.

"Why are you being kind to me?" Jhonatan asked softly, holding the glass with trembling hands. "Earlier you said I was just a troublesome witness."

"You are troublesome," Glenmorrin answered, sitting on the sofa across from him, watching. "But I'm also not stupid enough to let an unprotected Omega die on the streets because of my business."

"I can take care of myself," Jhonatan said.

"Can you?" Glenmorrin raised an eyebrow. "You nearly passed out in front of my warehouse last night."

Jhonatan fell silent. There was no argument he could offer against that.

"Why were you thrown out?" Glenmorrin asked suddenly, sharp, without preamble.

"How do you know I was thrown out?" Jhonatan tensed.

"You brought nothing with you. Your clothes are expensive but you slept on the street," Glenmorrin answered. "And—" he tilted his head, "—you keep glancing at the door as if waiting for someone to come after you. But no one has."

"My father found out I'm an Omega," Jhonatan said finally, looking down, his hands clenched in his lap. "He... didn't accept it."

"What kind of family throws out their own child just for a second differentiation?" Glenmorrin asked.

"You know about second differentiation?" Jhonatan looked up quickly.

Glenmorrin didn't answer right away. He leaned back on the sofa, his eyes never leaving Jhonatan's face. "I know a lot of things," he said finally. "Including which families in this city have had children with a second differentiation history in the last six months."

"Why are you interested in that?" Jhonatan's heart pounded.

Glenmorrin gave a thin smile—a smile that offered no comfort at all.

"Because your name just came to mind, Jhonatan Alinsky," Glenmorrin said quietly. "And I just realized I didn't save you by coincidence."

"How do you know my name? I never—" Jhonatan froze.

"You never told me," Glenmorrin cut in, standing, stepping closer until he crouched right in front of Jhonatan, their faces level. "But I already knew who you were the moment you collapsed in front of my warehouse."

"What do you mean?" Jhonatan asked.

Glenmorrin studied him for a long moment, as if weighing how much he was willing to say.

"What I mean," Glenmorrin said at last, his voice dropping to a whisper, "is that your father owes me something. And tonight, you just became the way he's paying it off."