Page 109 of Villainous Intent

When I climbed in the vehicle, a henchman extended a blindfold to me. I snatched it, my jaw tight. I hated this part. I hated the sensory deprivation and the surrender of my awareness. I tied the silk behind my head, plunging myself into darkness.

The engine purred and the SUV rocked subtly as it pulled away from the curb. Eventually, the ambient noise outside the vehicle changed. The hum of city traffic vanished and we rolled to a stop.

“We’ve arrived, Ms. Bishop,” the henchman said.

I ripped the blindfold off, blinking against the white fluorescent lights of the Labyrinth’s underground garage.

Instead of pointing toward the dormitory elevators, the henchman gestured to a set of reinforced steel doors. “Follow me.”

We bypassed the familiar sections of the facility, pushing deeper into the complex and the temperature dropped.

The henchman stopped abruptly and reached into his jacket, pulling out a familiar object. My phone. He held it out. “Have a good evening, Ms. Bishop.”

I grabbed the device with a rush of excitement. I could check my emails. I could verify Dawn made it home safely.

The screen illuminated, but my excitement transformed into immediate irritation.

The messaging app and contacts list were grayed out. I swiped furiously, trying to access anything that might let me contact someone but even my social media apps were grayed out. Cipher had done something to it so that it was little better than a paperweight.

I glared at the useless phone in my hand then looked around the corridor to see where the hell I’d been brought. There were no visible doors. No signs. I stood alone in an unfamiliar part of the Labyrinth, with absolutely no idea where I was, or why I’d been left here.

I jumped and nearly dropped my phone when it vibrated against my palm.

Tech Support

Do you want to play?

My pulse kicked into overdrive. Play? I stared at the screen, my thumbs hovering over the keyboard.

I thought you were at the League event

Three dots appeared. Then:

It was a fucking yes or no question, Annie.

I swallowed hard. I was terrified to say yes. I knew exactly what he was capable of, what kind of violence lived beneath his skin. But I was infinitely more terrified of saying no, of what that denial would cost me when he finally cornered me.

Yes

The reply was instantaneous.

Run.

I frowned at the screen. Where? I was in the middle of a windowless, unmarked corridor.

At the far end of the hall, the light went out. Then the next light went out. Then the next. The darkness was marching toward me, a solid wall of pitch black eating the corridor at a steady pace.

I kicked off my heels and bolted. I sprinted away from the encroaching dark, my breath tearing through my lungs and the fabric of my dress whipping around my thighs.

The blue lights along the baseboard flickered before they snapped to a blood-soaked red and I shrieked. The crimson glow bathed the featureless walls in a hellish light. I kept running, my arms pumping.

“Annie.”

Oh, fuck. His voice echoed through the corridor, a low, dark croon that seemed to bleed from the walls themselves.

He hadn’t been kidding. When he told me he knew my browser history, when he promised he was tired of holding back, he meant every single word. I never would have thought he’d actually hunt me through his own lair like this.

Part of me didn’t want this terrifying, adrenaline-soaked chase to end. I wanted to see how far I could push it, how fast I could run. But the darker part of me wanted to be caught so bad.