Page 174 of Villainous Intent

But first I needed to check on Dread’s data chip. The files were almost decrypted and I was confident I’d have a readable file by the afternoon to pass on to Dread. I pulled them up, trying to ignore Annie still watching me from the bed.

“Cipher?”

I kept my eyes fixed on the monitor. “What?”

“When you asked me if I wanted to end our arrangement, what would you have done if I had said yes?”

My hands stopped moving over the keyboard. I could have lied and maintained the weak illusion that we were two rational adults engaging in a mutually beneficial, entirely voluntary transaction.

I swiveled the chair around to face her.

“I would have done the exact same thing I’m doing now. I would have locked the lab door, declared you a security risk, and kept you here anyway. The choice was an illusion, Sparks. I have absolutely no intention of letting you walk away from me.”

I braced myself for the anger, for the inevitable accusations that I was a monster. Annie slid off the edge of the bed and walked over to me. As she closed the distance, I reached behind me and swiped the Project Warden files away so she couldn’t see them.

She stepped between my parted knees, and reached out, threading her fingers into my hair, her nails lightly scraping against my scalp.

I closed my eyes, letting out a fractured breath. Fuck, I loved when she touched me. Her hands were a soothing balm against the chaotic, violent noise inside my head. But the dark, twisted reality of the moment made the sensation infinitely sweeter. I loved it even more because she was touching me knowing the truth: I was never going to let her leave, and she was choosing to stroke the monster anyway.

I caught her wrists, pulling her soothing hands away from my scalp as I stood and scooped her up. She gasped but she didn’t fight as I carried her into the bathroom.

“I thought you had fights to get to,” she said, her voice echoing slightly against the glass and stone.

“I do,” I replied, setting her down. “But I need you to get ready first. Strip,” I ordered.

Annie’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“I assume you want to shower and change your clothes.”

“I’m a prisoner,” she shot back. “Who cares what I’m wearing?” Her chin lifted in that stubborn way I was growing far too fond of. “And I’m not stripping for you.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, leaning against the counter. “Prisoners don’t get to argue with orders, Sparks. Either you strip, or I’ll strip you myself.”

“Prisoners don’t have to be compliant either.” She was testing the perimeter of her cage, probing the electric fence to see just how much voltage I was willing to use.

“You’ll find you like your captivity much more if you do as you’re told.”

“I don’t think you prefer when I’m submissive,” she challenged. “You’d get bored if I just rolled over and did everything you said without question.”

My cock hardened instantly at her words, the sudden rush of blood making me shift my stance. She wasn’t wrong. I wanted to push her until her brain short-circuited and her body surrendered, but the victory meant nothing if she didn’t fight me first.

“Interesting theory,” I replied. “You think you’ve figured me out already?”

“You like the chase,” she said, taking a half-step closer. “You like that I make you work for it.”

“I enjoy the process of breaking resistance,” I admitted, letting my gaze drop to her throat, watching her pulse hammer against her skin. “But make no mistake, I still expect you to end up doing what I want.”

“Maybe. But I’ll never make it easy for you.”

She was a dangerous addiction. She knew exactly what I was, a violent, possessive monster, and yet she stood here in my bathroom, barefoot and unarmed, deliberately provoking me.

“I seem to recall being quite compliant last night,” I said. “When you ordered me to shower and eat.”

“That’s different. You weren’t my prisoner.”

“Wasn’t I?” I cocked a brow. “I followed your commands without question. I was at your complete mercy, Bishop.”

Annie made a noise in the back of her throat.