The warehouse is massive. I fucking hate this place.
I walk in like I own it anyway.
Vincent steps out. My stepdad. The man who owns me in ways I’ll never escape.
He smiles. “Look at what the cat dragged in.”
I don’t smile back.
“I need your help,” I say.
His smile widens. “Do you now?”
32
Atticus
I’ve spent my entire life studying people—reading their tells, finding their weaknesses, exploiting the cracks in their armor. It’s what makes me good at what I do. Dangerous, even. But Lexi Kane? She’s a fucking puzzle I can’t solve, and it’s driving me insane.
She’s attracted to me. I can see it in the way her breath catches when I get too close, the way her pupils dilate when I hold her gaze just a second too long. But she has self-control—iron-clad, maddening self-control—and she refuses to lean into it. Refuses to give me what I want.
And what I want is to break her completely.
That’s why we moved her. The mansion was too comfortable, too many eyes, too many potential interruptions. This safe house is different—isolated, anonymous, buried deep enough in the woods that no one will find us here. No one will interrupt what needs to happen.
The sedan crunches over gravel as we pull up to the weathered cabin. It’s nicer than it looks from the outside—some Reaper safehouse bullshit that we can use at our disposal. I watch Lexi’s face as she takes it in, looking for fear.
Instead, I see calculation.
“Where are we?” she asks, her voice steady despite being forced in the backseat for the last forty minutes.
“Somewhere you can think about your choices,” Revan says, killing the engine.
I get out first, circling around to open her door. She doesn’t wait for me to help her out—just swings her legs out and stands. Defiant. Always so fucking defiant.
“I’m not caging you,” Revan says. “Yet.”
Her eyes snap to his. “Yet?”
“You try to run, and that changes.”
We follow him to the cabin. I guide her. She stiffens but doesn’t pull away.
I whisper, “Don’t make me chase you, Lexi.”
“Would you like it if I did?” she challenges.
I lean down until my lips nearly brush her ear. “Don’t tempt me.”
Inside, the cabin is sparse but functional. Kitchen to the left, living room straight ahead with a worn couch facing a stone fireplace, hallway to the right leading to bedrooms and a bathroom. Revan immediately pulls out his phone, pacing near the windows.
I position myself between Lexi and the door. Not obvious about it, but enough that she knows.
Revan’s been working his contacts all morning, desperate for information about her brother. Axel Kane. Maybe he’ll know more about their father than Lexi is claiming.
His phone buzzes and he answers immediately. “Yeah?” A pause. “Where?” Another pause, longer this time. “You’re sure?”
I watch Lexi watching him, trying to read the conversation from his end. She’s smart—too smart. She’s bound to catch on.
