Page 103 of Villainous Rise

Just get through this. Just a little longer.

But they kept coming. There were more photos, more people, more Valor’s mouth whispering “smile wider” against my ear.

I glanced at the clock. Two more hours of this, of enduring Valor’s hands and Alliance PR’s demands. They’d been relentless for days, cornering me for impromptu photoshoots, “casual” social media content, and staged interactions.

I hadn’t realized how close I was to shattering until I’d been alone with Cipher before the match with his mouth on mine, hands sliding under my clothes. For those brief moments, I’d forgotten everything. The pressure. The pretending. The exhaustion.

Now, surrounded by fake smiles and camera flashes, I felt the cracks spreading again.

I watched Valor pose for yet another photo, his arm still clamped around my waist like I might escape if he loosened his grip.

Helios was watching, a slight furrow between his brows. He was only being used in a handful of pictures, the lucky bastard. But then his eyes met mine. His gaze went from Valor’s hand to my face and there was a question in his eyes, asking if I wanted him to intervene.

Helios had had a front row seat to the mutual disdain Valor and I held for each other, pre and post public engagements. He’d tried several times to be a buffer between us, but Valor always steamrolled over Helios’s attempts.

I gave a subtle shake of my head. The PR representative wouldn’t listen to Helios anyway.

Helios frowned and walked away. The fact that he felt frustration at my situation only made me double down on my own frustration.

My mind wandered and the thought of the Labyrinth loomed. Cipher would be waiting there after the afterparty. I’d debated not going at all, but who was I kidding? If I didn’t show up, he’d come find me.

And the way he’d said I’d spend every night in his bed from now on? Those weren’t just empty words. He’d meant them.

My feelings for Cipher were a tangled mess, like someone had dumped a box of improperly stored Christmas lights and walked away. I didn’t hate him. I never had, not really. Not even after what he did.

The truth was far more complicated.

For three months, he’d been sending me food, coffee, making sure I was taken care of, all without wanting me to know. Just silent support while I pretended he didn’t exist.

Now he was offering to give me everything I needed, even when I knew it would cost him emotionally. He was letting me use him for whatever I needed without asking for anything in return.

But was that true? What did Cipher actually want?

He’d said he’d offer more when I was ready. More what? More of himself? More commitment? More trust?

More love?

I stood perfectly still as the PR woman positioned my arms around Valor’s waist. My smile was frozen in place, muscles aching from holding it for what felt like hours. The camera flashed again, another perfect shot of the happy couple celebrating Havoc and Cipher’s historic match.

“Just a bit closer,” the woman instructed. “Valor, could you angle your body more toward the sponsors? Annie, tilt your chin up slightly.”

My body complied while my mind drifted to silver eyes watching me from across an arena. To hands that knew exactly how to touch me. To a mouth that had whispered both cruelties and confessions against my skin.

He loves me. The thought floated through my consciousness, undeniable despite everything. He’d shown it in ways that were harder to dismiss than any declaration—dying in my arms, watching over me for months, accepting whatever scraps of myself I was willing to give.

My pussy clenched at the memory of that night in the Neon Maze, how I’d struck him, scratched him, fucked him with all the fury I’d bottled up for months. And he’d just... taken it. Encouraged it, even. Let me break apart in his arms afterward.

What kind of man lets someone they love treat them that way?

A desperate one, my mind supplied.

The thought sent an unexpected pang through my chest. For all his genius, all his calculation and control, Cipher was desperate for me. For whatever I would give him. I could see it in the way he looked at me. The way he touched me.

“Annie, darling, we need one more with you two kissing,” the PR woman said, interrupting my thoughts. “Show the world how you’re celebrating tonight’s match.”

I froze. “No.”

Valor’s arm tightened around my waist and the PR woman blinked rapidly, clearly thrown by my refusal. “It’s just one quick photo⁠—“