The threat hung in the air, casual and absolute.
“Let me talk to her. Prove she’s alive.”
Xavier’s voice was tight.
Dresner looked at me. Those cold eyes studied my face with clinical interest, watching for my reaction.
“Go ahead, Ms. Bolton.” He gestured toward the phone. “Tell him you’re alive.”
My mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Split-second decision, made on pure instinct. If I didn’t speak, maybe Xavier wouldn’t come. Maybe he’d stay safe at the boarding school with Hellhound and Havoc.
Maybe I could protect him the only way I had left.
I clamped my jaw shut.
Dresner’s eyebrow rose. “Fascinating.”
“Clare?” Xavier’s voice cracked through the speaker. “CLARE!”
Panic. Pure, unfiltered panic breaking through that tactical control.
I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. Tears streamed down my face, hot and unwanted. My hands fisted against the bindings until the cuffs bit into my wrists.
Stay silent. Protect him. Don’t give Dresner what he wants.
“How noble, Ms. Bolton. But ineffective.”
Dresner’s smile widened.
He nodded to the guard standing by the door.
I saw it coming. Braced myself.
The guard stepped forward, just following orders.
I met his eyes. Wouldn’t look away. Wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me flinch.
The first slap caught me across the cheek.
My head snapped sideways. Pain exploded across my face, white-hot and sharp. The metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth. I’d bitten my cheek. Ringing filled my ears. My vision blurred for a heartbeat.
I clenched my jaw. Wouldn’t cry out. Wouldn’t give them anything.
Through the speaker: “What was that? What are you doing to her?”
Rage and terror wrapped together.
“Ms. Bolton is being uncooperative.”
The second slap was harder. The kind of force that knew exactly how much it could deliver without crossing into permanent injury.
My vision went white at the edges. Pain radiated through my skull like lightning. Tears fell. I couldn’t stop them, my body’s involuntary response to trauma.
But I stayed silent.
