I push the door open without knocking. Because fuck it, this is my house. My rules.
My—
The thought dies the moment I see her.
She's standing by the window, backlit by the dying sun, and the light turns her pink-streaked hair into fire. She's changed out of the clothes she wore to the warehouse, now wearing soft gray sweatpants and a tank top that displays the elegant curve of her neck.
The collar sits there like it belongs, silver and dark against her fair skin, and the cold dead thing where my heart's supposed to be sputters like it's trying to come to life.
She turns when she notices me and those green eyes hit me like bullets. There's fear there, sure, but also defiance. That same stubborn tilt to her chin.
"Kade," she says, and my name on her lips makes my cock twitch despite my best efforts.
"Princess." I lean against the doorframe, going for casual even though my pulse is racing. "Getting settled?"
"As much as one can settle into captivity." Her voice is steady, but I can see her fingers tapping against her thigh.
One, two, three, four, five.
Her tell.
She's scared.
Good. Sheshouldbe scared. Should understand exactly what she's gotten herself into.
Hope Daddy's money is worth it.
I push off the doorframe and step into the room, closing the door behind me with a thud. The space suddenly feels smaller. She takes a small step back, her shoulders hitting the wall, and I see the pulse jump in her throat.
"Captivity is a strong word considering you didn't even close your door, is it?" I ask her, moving closer.
"What wouldyoucall it?" She lifts her chin higher, even as her back presses harder against the wall. "You own me for a year. Youliterallyown me. I can't leave. Can't refuse you. That sure sounds like captivity to me."
"You agreed to the terms." I'm close enough now I can smell her perfume. Still vanilla. "You signed the contract."
"Because you left me no choice," she says with steel in those eyes that have haunted my dreams every night for four fucking years. And in all of them, she's glaring at me just like this.
Fuck, she's hot when she's pissed.
"There'salwaysa choice, Princess." I brace one hand against the wall beside her head, crowding into her space. "You couldhave walked away. Could have found someone else to do your dirty work. I'm sure you could've found some sloppy dumbass out there who'd be willing to put in the work in hopes of getting an un-fucking-guaranteed slice of Senator Waterfuck's pie. It would've gone tits-up, but still—no oneheld a gun to your head, andno onewould have stopped you from walking out again.Youchose to come back to us."
"No. I came to theKings," she mutters. "I had no idea it was you."
"And whose fault is that?" My lip curls around the words. "You chose that life. Chose him over us."
She opens her mouth to speak, and my traitorous fucking soul hangs on her every word, desperate forsomething. A lie, an excuse,anythingto explain why she left and we never heard from her again.
Why she stopped answering our calls, why she sent that fucking letter after ignoring all of ours.
She was easier to reach when we were injuvie.
Anger's safer. Anger's less likely to make me do something stupid like fall to my knees and beg her to forgive me for not hunting her down when she never came back like she promised.
But she doesn't offer anything else. No excuses. No explanations. No apologies.
Just more of the same nothing that's eaten away at me like moths all these years she's been gone.
"You think you're broken?" I lean in closer, until my mouth is almost touching her ear. "You have no idea what we becameafter you left. What we had to do to survive. What we turned into because the only thing that made us human abandoned us."
