Page 183 of Villainous Intent

The Council member seemed to take my silence as answer enough. They turned away from me, and headed for the door.

I watched them go, wondering what they truly knew, and what they merely wanted me to think they knew.

The moment they were gone, I collapsed into my chair. A tremor ran through my body, starting at my shoulders and working its way down to my fingertips. My breath came in short, shallow gasps as the adrenaline that had kept me rigid drained away, leaving me shaking.

“Annie,” Havoc’s voice was gentle as he rounded the desk, kneeling in front of my chair. “Annie, breathe.”

I tried to respond, but my teeth started chattering, my entire body quaking with delayed fear. Dennis was dead. The last Warden besides me—gone.

I tried to control my shaking, but my body refused to obey as the reality of the situation finally hit home. Dennis Reeves was dead. Murdered. And the Council was watching me, maybe watching my interactions with Cipher.

“Annie,” Havoc’s voice came again, steadier this time. “Look at me.”

I forced myself to look up to meet his eyes, finding comfort in the familiar blue gaze that had been my anchor since childhood. He placed his hands on my shoulders, the weight and warmth helping to pull me from my spiral.

“We’ll get through this,” he said firmly. “We always do.”

My thoughts turned to Cipher. I needed to see him, to talk to him, to know exactly where we stood. The Council member’s words echoed in my mind: Are you certain you’ve put your faith in the correct person?

I couldn’t afford to have someone in my life who couldn’t commit to me, not with everything that was happening. The thought of Cipher using that information against me if he knew sent a sharp pain through my chest, but I pushed it aside.

The rational part of my brain whispered that my fear was answer enough. If I couldn’t trust him with my secret, how could I trust him with my heart?

I wasn’t a fool. I knew Cipher manipulated everyone. It was his baseline setting. But if he had been playing a game, trying to manipulate me, he wouldn’t have insisted our feelings didn’t matter. A manipulator would have weaponized that conversation to make me obedient. Instead, he locked it away and refused to address it at all.

I had to make him open that box and confront what existed between us. Maybe, just maybe, he might care about me, might have feelings for me. And if he cared for me, then the vulnerable pieces of myself might be safe with him.

I knew what I was going to ask of him was deeply unfair. I was prepared to demand total emotional transparency while holding back the most dangerous secret of my existence. I couldn’t tell him I was a Warden. I couldn’t offer him the absolute honesty I required from him.

But fairness was a luxury I couldn’t afford. Not with Dennis Reeves in a morgue. Not when my survival might depend on knowing exactly where his loyalties lay.

CHAPTER 37

CIPHER

I ducked a beam of energy and checked the time. Fourteen minutes, forty-two seconds.

Christ, this was taking forever.

“Is that all you’ve got, Cipher?” Captain Righteous bellowed. His voice was amplified by the gold and white monstrosity he called a helmet. “Your reign of terror ends tonight!”

“Reign of terror?” I muttered, side-stepping another beam. “Is that the best line they gave you?” The beam shattered the concrete behind me.

My patience had already been mostly nonexistent before this mandated circus act and what I’d managed to hold on to was quickly evaporating.

Before this prick, I’d been buried in my console, ripping through the Tower’s firewalls. Usually, the Alliance’s security was child’s play, but Havoc’s main office was a different beast. Coded video. Coded audio. A complete blackout. I had just isolated the encryption key to break into the feed to see exactly why Annie had been recalled to the Tower, when my time ran out.

All because I had to give the Alliance their fucking show.

Instead of listening to her conversation, I was stuck performing for the cameras.

“Your villainy won’t go unpunished!” the idiot shouted.

I dodged another beam, calculating trajectory and power output simultaneously. Captain Righteous was getting sloppy. Fatigue was setting in at precisely the rate I’d predicted. He was heavy on his feet, telegraphing every strike.

My mind drifted to Annie’s lips pressing against mine before she left. They’d been soft and unexpected. The ghost of her mouth lingered there still, a sensation I couldn’t shake.

I didn’t do goodbye kisses. Ever. That wasn’t part of our arrangement. That wasn’t part of me.