I’ve been dragged around this godforsaken moon like an animal. Adapt and overcome—it’s what I do.
He hit back almost instantly.Act like an animal, get treated like one.A pause.Basir was particularly taken with you.
“I wish I’d killed that sick fuck,” she said aloud. “Now tell me why I’m here and what you want with my family.”
He gave her a disbelieving look. “I personally don’t want anything from you. It’s your mother, and maybe your sister, I want. Sophia and I made a deal a long time ago.”
She glared daggers at him. “I haven’t made many friends here?—”
“And I’m sure I’ll see why soon,” he cut in, winking. The bastard actually winked.
She wrinkled her nose. “Don’t ever look at me like that again. Let’s keep this professional. Start hostage negotiations. I’d like better accommodations than this dump.”
He stopped smiling. “This isn’t a game,” he said. “And there’s no negotiation.”
But Audrey had survived worse men in worse places. “Everything is a game. Prison taught me that. You play, or you die. Now answer my questions, or I’ll get them myself.”
Ryker moved without stumbling this time. He crossed the room with icy precision, and Audrey rose to meet him, refusing to retreat.
An emotion played across Ryker’s face then—brief, but distinctive.
Recognition.
Not of who she was.
Ofwhatshe was.
The same kind of creature that wouldn’t break.
Seconds later, her face was level with his chest. Heat radiated off him. Her chin raised before she could stop it.
They were two predators realizing they’d stepped into the same territory.
“Playtime is over,” he murmured. “Your mouth was amusing. Now it’s annoying. I want nothing to do with you.”
Behind them, Nikos muttered, “This is going to be better than I thought.”
Ryker ignored him, entirely focused on Audrey. “That night your father died, I was there for Cary and Sophia, not you. They were supposed to come with me. You were supposed to stay with your dad.”
“Did you set the fire when my mother refused to go with you?” Audrey demanded.
Ryker didn’t answer right away. “No,” he said at last. “Sophia did.”
A beat.
“Or tried to.”
“It’s still your fault,” she snarled. “Whatever deal you made with her destroyed my family. I should kill you. Right here.”
Another lie. She would, but not here—not trapped, not yet.
“How do we get into the Field where Mihail is being held?” His eyes narrowed. “Because if you don’t know that, you’re worthless to me.”
“I have no idea,” Audrey scoffed.
Ryker studied her, like he suspected she knew more than she should. Smoke rose from the cigarette between his fingers. He took a drag, and the look in his eyes shifted.
He wasn’t watching her like prey anymore. He watched her like something that might bite back—and he wanted to see it happen.
