She slides off the bed and stands. Her legs shake, but she forces them to hold her weight.
“You’re a liar,” she says. “You told me you were a monster. You told me you didn’t care. But you came for me. You killed those men for me. And just now...” She touches her bruised lip. “That wasn’t shock, Cassian. That was hunger.”
“Stop talking.”
“Why? Are you afraid of the truth?” She takes a step toward me. “I hate you. I hate what you did to me. I hate that you put me in this cage. But don’t you dare stand there and pretend you don’t feel this.”
“Feel what?” I shout. “The adrenaline? The stress response? You’re confused. You almost died. You want to fuck the thing that saved you because it proves you’re still breathing. It’s instinct. It’s not real.”
“Is it?” She steps closer, angry now. The fear has burned off, replaced by a manic, feverish energy. “Is that what you are? Instinct?”
“I’m the man who owns you now,” I say coldly. “And right now, you’re pushing your luck.”
“Own me?” She laughs, a hysterical, broken sound. “You don’t own me. You stole me back from the men who tried to take me.”
The words strike a nerve I didn’t know I had.
“You aren’t stolen goods,” I growl.
“Then what am I?” she screams. “I’m a loose end! I’m leverage! I’m a pawn! Pick a label, Cassian, because I’m losing track!”
She shoves me. She actually shoves me. Her small hands hit my chest, useless, but the intent is there.
“I want to go home!” she sobs, shoving me again. “I want my life back! I want to be safe! I don’t want to be this!”
She hits me, fists bouncing off my ribs. She’s unraveling, the trauma of the last three days finally fracturing the shell of the perfect daughter.
“Give it back!” she screams, pounding on my chest. “Give me my life back!”
I catch her wrists.
“Stop,” I command.
“No!” She struggles, twisting in my grip. “Let me go!”
“I can’t let you go.”
“Then kill me!”
She looks up at me, face streaked with mud and tears, eyes burning with a dark, desperate fire.
“Do it,” she hisses. “If you won’t let me go, then finish it. Be the monster. End it.”
Something inside me snaps.
She wants the monster? Fine.
I yank her forward and slam her back against the steel door.
THUD.
The impact knocks the breath out of her, eyes going wide. I pin her wrists above her head with one hand, using my bodyto crush hers against the cold metal, locking her legs with my thighs.
“You want it to end?” I snarl, leaning down so my face is inches from hers. “You want the worst of me? Fine. I know how to be that man.”
“Cassian,” she gasps.
“You think this is a game?” I ask. “You think you can slap me and scream at me and I’ll stand there like a good soldier? I’m not a soldier. I’m a killer. And right now, I’m hanging by a thread.”
