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“Stop!” My voice cracks, raw and desperate. “Leave her alone! Take me, you sick fuck!”

The sounds from the other room don’t pause. They intensify.

Liv cries out. It’s a high, broken note of undeniable arousal. The raw pleasure in her voice hits me like a physical blow. A suffocating wave of shame washes over me—for her, for myself, for listening.

My legs give out. I slide down the wall and hit the concrete floor. I press my hands hard over my ears, squeezing my eyes shut, blocking out the violation happening feet away.

Silence finally descends, heavy and thick.

Minutes crawl past. I stay on the floor, shaking with a violent mixture of rage and complete helplessness.

The electronic lock on my door beeps.

Jax steps into the cell. He looks composed. His shirt remains pristine, his breathing steady. Dark satisfaction radiates from his posture. He stares down at me on the floor, a smile curving his lips.

“Let’s make the rules clear, Ari.” Jax adjusts his cuffs. “Your resistance equals Olivia’s punishment. Your defiance means she suffers. What you just heard? That was mild. A gentle demonstration of consequences.”

He steps closer, towering over me.

“If you want to protect her, you comply. If you want to spare her worse, you submit. The choice is yours. I’m very curious to see how long your pride lasts against your protective instincts.”

Rage burns white-hot in my chest. I want to lunge. I want to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze until that smug satisfaction leaves his dead eyes. My muscles coil, preparing to spring.

Jax reads the intent in my posture. “Would you like to see her? Ensure she’s all right? I can arrange that.” His voice drops to a lethal whisper. “But you will come willingly. And you will behave. Otherwise, I go back into that room alone, and this time I won’t be gentle.”

The trap springs shut, catching me by the throat.

Every instinct screams at me to refuse, to fight to the death, to deny him the power of my compliance. But the memory of Liv’s cries echoing through the wall paralyzes me. I was seeing her for months before this. We kept it quiet while everyone believed she would marry Hunter. I thought I knew her. Now Jax is using everything she means to me to pry me apart.

I swallow the bile rising in my throat. I force the tension out of my shoulders. I nod.

Jax’s smile deepens. The dark void in his eyes glimmers with triumph. He gestures toward the open door.

I rise from the floor, my movements stiff, walking out of my cell like a man stepping up to the gallows. I follow him down the hall.

We step into Liv’s suite.

She sits in the velvet armchair by the window. Her hands rest neatly in her lap. Her cheeks burn with a deep, flushed red. Her lips are swollen, slightly parted as she takes shallow breaths. She keeps her gaze locked on the carpet, refusing to look at me. The shame radiating from her small frame fills the room, thick enough to choke on.

The realization hits me with sickening clarity. Jax orchestrated this entire morning. He made me listen. He forced me to imagine what he was doing to her. Now, he’s forcing me to look at the aftermath. It’s a masterclass in psychological destruction, designed to hollow us both out simultaneously.

Jax moves between us, standing in the center of the room like a conductor commanding an orchestra.

“This is how we spend our days now.” Jax sweeps his gaze between us. “The three of us together. You are going to learn how this dynamic works, Ari. You are going to discover that resistance only hurts Olivia, while obedience brings rewards.”

He turns his back to me and steps toward Liv.

“You were perfect this morning.” Jax reaches out, running his large hand over the crown of her head. “Such a good girl.”

He strokes her hair with genuine, terrifying affection.

Liv’s rigid posture melts. Her shoulders drop. She leans into his touch, tilting her head to press her cheek against his palm like a desperate animal seeking warmth. The transformation is instinctive, immediate. She craves his praise. After whatever he did to her on the other side of that wall, she seeks comfort from the same hands that hurt her.

Horror freezes the blood in my veins. Eight weeks. It only took eight weeks to rip a strong-willed, independent woman apart and rebuild her into someone who treats her captor’s approval like oxygen.

Jax keeps one hand tangled in Liv’s hair and turns his head to face me.

“Will you cooperate today, Ari? Or do I need to teach you the same lesson I taught Olivia this morning?”