Page 41 of Villainous Rise

“I don’t need a fucking scale.” He closed the distance between us too fast for me to back away and wrapped his fingers around my wrist.

His thumb and middle finger overlapped easily. Too easily.

A muscle in his jaw snapped tight and his controlled expression fractured, like feeling the physical proof of my starvation upset him far more than just calculating it. His grip was gentle, but his eyes burned with a caged panic.

Heat from his fingers seeped into my skin and his gaze dropped to where his hand wrapped around my wrist. He stroked a slow circle over my racing pulse with his thumb and a wave of warmth washed over me.

I was so exhausted. I wanted to step forward and let him hold me. It would be dangerously easy to stop fighting, to let him pull me against his chest and pretend his betrayal never happened. My treacherous heart hammered against my ribs. It begged me to surrender to the man who felt like a lifeline. He was warm. He was right here.

But I had explicitly told him to stay away and yet he was standing in my apartment uninvited to dictate my life again.

“I don’t want your food,” I said, pulling my wrist out of his grip and trying to regain control of the situation and myself. “Leave now, or I’m calling Havoc.”

“Call him,” he said softly. “I’m here as a civilian, Sparks. You can’t divulge my identity without violating about sixteen different Alliance and League rules.”

My blood pressure spiked so high I swore I could hear it rushing in my ears. “I won’t be calling Havoc as a Hero, you arrogant ass. I’ll be calling him as my goddamn dad to kick out a domineering jerk who refuses to leave when asked.”

“You could do that,” he conceded, setting down a container of what I now recognized as spicy tuna rolls, my absolute favorite. “And I’ll explain to him that you haven’t been fucking eating. On top of barely sleeping and working yourself to exhaustion.”

He leaned forward. “Then I’ll let Havoc sort all of it out with you. Probably put you on mandatory leave. Minimum two weeks. With daily check-ins.”

I glared at him. That was exactly what Havoc would do.

“You’d really tattle on me to Havoc?” I asked, hating how small my voice sounded.

“Not unless you accept and eat the goddamn food.” He gestured to the spread he’d laid out. “But if you push this, I swear to god I’m going to fucking hand-feed you every goddamn bite.”

I opened my mouth to argue⁠—

“It’s just fucking food, Annie,” Cipher cut me off. “Just eat.”

But we both knew it wasn’t just food. It was control. It was care. It was all the complicated, messy things that existed between us that neither of us knew how to untangle.

I stalked forward and snatched a tray of sushi. The moment my fingers closed around the container, I heard him exhale. I turned my back on him, marching to the kitchen island instead of the table he’d so carefully arranged. A petty victory, but I’d take what I could get.

“This doesn’t mean you win,” I muttered, picking up a piece of spicy tuna.

Cipher sighed behind me. “This isn’t a goddamn competition.”

I shoved a piece of sushi in my mouth, the familiar flavors exploding on my tongue. My body sang with relief, which only made me angrier.

“You don’t get to decide when I eat,” I said after swallowing.

“Clearly.” His voice was closer now. “Since you’ve decided not eating at all is preferable.”

I refused to turn around, keeping my spine rigid as I ate another piece. “I was handling it.”

“Bullshit.”

Cipher gathered the containers I’d rejected and arranged them on the island beside me. Each one landed with a soft thud that somehow felt accusatory. I kept my eyes fixed on the sushi, refusing to acknowledge him as he moved around my kitchen with infuriating familiarity.

The sound of running water made me glance up. He was filling a glass from my tap.

“Here,” he said, placing the water beside me. “Drink.”

I grabbed another piece of sushi with my chopsticks. “I’m good.”

“You’re dehydrated. Your lips are dry, and you’ve got that pinched look around your eyes.”