Page 77 of Villainous Rise

“It’s not running if I don’t interact with you,” I said stiffly. “I have no reason to.”

“No reason?” His eyebrow arched. “What about the fact that you still want me?”

“Wanting isn’t a good enough reason for anything.”

“It is when it’s mutual.” His voice dropped lower. “When it’s this intense.”

“We tried that already,” I reminded him. “It ended with you lying to me and putting me in danger.”

“And yet here we are.”

“Because Dawn needed me.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“And you’re deflecting.”

I crossed my arms. “I’m not running. I’m maintaining professional boundaries.”

“Call it whatever helps you sleep at night, Sparks.” Cipher’s voice lost all trace of our previous banter. “But know this—if you run, I’m coming after you.”

I looked at his profile. The sharp line of his jaw and the cold calculation in his silver eyes reminded me exactly who was driving this car. A shiver traced its way down my spine. I wanted him to do it. The darkest part of my soul wanted to run simply to force him to hunt me.

“Is that a threat?”

“It’s a promise.” His eyes met mine, intense and unwavering. “I let you go once. I won’t make that mistake again.”

I scoffed. “Let me go? You never had me to begin with.”

The lie tasted bitter on my tongue, but I forced it out anyway, my self-preservation instinct finally kicking in.

Cipher’s knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. “You can lie to yourself if you want, Annie. But I hate it when you lie to me.”

“I’m not⁠—“

“You are.” His voice cut through mine, not loud but with an edge that silenced me instantly. “I had you. In my bed. In my life. In every way that matters.”

Heat rushed to my face. “That was just sex.”

“Bullshit.” He turned to look at me as we stopped at a red light, his silver eyes piercing. “We gave each other parts of ourselves we’ve never given anyone else.”

My heart was beating too hard, too fast. He was right. The intimacy we shared terrified me because I couldn’t control it and I needed distance before it crushed the last of my resolve.

“You want the truth from me at every turn,” he continued. “You demand it. You expect it. I’d like the same in return.”

I looked at him and saw the vulnerability he only ever exposed to me. I knew exactly where his armor ended. I took a breath and chose to slide the knife right into that exposed skin.

“You didn’t have me,” I said, keeping my voice dead and flat. “Not in any way that mattered. I was your plaything when we were out together. The rest of the time it was just fucking at your request. So who’s lying to themselves now?”

I felt a twisted sense of satisfaction briefly before it turned into nausea.

Cipher’s expression went blank. The silver in his eyes frosted over, withdrawing to a place I couldn’t reach. The silence that filled the car was absolute and devastating.

I’d hit something painful so I could buy myself space. Yet, despite my anger and hurt, a part of me wanted to take it back. To reach across the console and touch his arm. To say I didn’t mean it.

But pride kept my hands folded in my lap, my eyes fixed on the road ahead.