"Did I?" he asks.
"Yes!" I shout. "My father is weak. He’s a drunk. He gambles away money we don't have. But he isn’t like you."
I point a finger at him, hand still trembling.
"He doesn't hurt people. You only said that to justify stealing everything we own. You had to invent a villain so you didn't have to face the fact that you are the bad guy."
Konstantin stares at me. He doesn't look angry. He looks... amused. Like I’m a child trying to explain the world to him.
"You think I care if you believe me?" he asks. "Believe he’s a saint, believe he’s the Pope, it changes nothing. I’ll destroy his family the way he destroyed mine. That’s the only truth that matters."
"You're pathetic," I sneer. My fear is gone and replaced by disgust. "You put a gun to a defenseless old man’s head and made up a fairy tale."
I meet his eyes, seething. "You’re a liar and a coward."
The movement is a blur.
One second, I’m shouting; the next, I’m slammed back against the leather seat.
His hand plants beside my head, bracing against the window, boxing me in. His other grips my jaw, not hard enough to hurt—but firm enough that I can’t look away. I’m trapped between his body and the seat, nowhere to go, nowhere to breathe that doesn’t taste like him.
My hands fly up, shoving at his chest, but he doesn’t budge.
He leans over me, his face inches from mine.
I can’t move. All I can feel is him—heat, pressure, control.
"A coward hides, Helena," he snarls, his voice a low rumble that vibrates through me. "I’m looking you right in the eye."
My lungs hitch, breath shallow and uneven.
"Who are you?" I force out. "Whatare you?"
"I’m the devil," he whispers. His grip tightens slightly at my jaw, angling my face up. "I decide who breathes and who bleeds. That’s what I do.WhatI am."
He leans closer, his eyes burning into mine.
"Your father is alive because I allow it," he murmurs. "You are breathing because I allow it. I hold your life in one hand and his in the other. Don’t test the leash."
His thumb presses lightly at the base of my throat—not choking, just a reminder of how easily he could.
I try to speak, but my voice falters.
I’m frozen.
"And don’t think for one second that any of this was an accident," he says, a cruel smirk touching his lips. "You think theuniverse only happened to turn against you this week? Your ship unable to leave? Apex Heavy Industries?"
My eyes widen.
"How..." I whisper. "How do you know about Apex?"
"I know everything," he says. "I pulled the strings, Helena. I tightened the screws. I made sure your father had no choice but to walk into that casino tonight."
He leans back an inch, but keeps me caged between his arms as the horror of his confession sinks in.
He wasn't just the winner of a card game. He was the architect of my destruction. A carefully calculated cruelty. He has probably watched for days. Maybe weeks. Lurking as I tried desperately to pick up the pieces.
Abruptly, he pushes off the seat and releases me.
