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I knew where each stone rested. Anticipated every move he could make. And most importantly, how I’d use them against him.
I narrowed my eyes, glancing at the clock on the wall behind him. “What do you want, then?”
I had lots of work to get to.
The leftover lasagna on the floor wasn’t going to clean itself, and at this rate, the Ahmadi family had every right to dock my pay for showing up late.
Zach took his time answering, standing before me in all his unapologetic, unreasonably attractive glory.
Hard, cold, and unrelenting.
A flawless sculpture abandoned before the varnish.
“You.”
My spine slammed against the wall. A bad time to realize he’d walked me back, step by step. Cornered me. Invaded my space without actually touching me. That was the thing. Zach never truly pierced my personal bubble. Not with his body, anyway.
Using the flat edge of his knife, he tilted my head to the side, toward the family room. I had a clear line of sight to my step-monsters. The level of precision with which Zachary Sun operated stunned me. He’d started steering me here ten minutes ago, aware of his goal while I’d rambled about souls.
Vera, Reggie, and Tabby stood in a tight circle, bickering with one another like three frenetic hens. So, they hadn’t eavesdropped. Too busy tossing the blame for what had happened between themselves.
“…looked at me like he was going to ask me out.” Tabby threw her hands in the air. Her Dior skirt rode up, revealing a generous stretch of her thighs. “What was I supposed to do?”
“…could swear he smiled at me when I told him the shoe is mine.” Reggie sniffed into a handkerchief, blowing her nose in decibels more suitable for a distressed elephant. “Also, is that my skirt?Whatmade you think you could pull it off, Tabs?”
“Look at them,” Zach instructed, every ounce of him stone-cold. “These are the clowns holding you hostage. You live in an upside-down world, where the dog has the human on a leash.”
“Is your punishment to make me feel like shit?” I slapped the knife away from my face. “Because mission accomplished. Now, can you leave?”
“Not before I hire you to be my help,Help.”
The shock lasted only for one second. Followed by an urge to strangle him with my bare hands. But he didn’t deserve my emotions.So, instead, I offered him my defiance. I tilted my head back against the wall and pulled my lips in an empty smile. “Leave. Before I kill you. I won’t even need a weapon for that. Trust me.”
“You’ll be working for me—underme—at my whim,” he continued, undeterred and unimpressed by my rejection. “You’ll serve, obey, and cater to me. Paying off your debt for trying and utterly failing to steal from me?—”
“Listen here, Sir Jerk-a-lot. I didn’tactuallysteal from you. No proof, no crime. All you have to show for your accusation is a small dent on a glass case. I’m not my stepsisters. You cannot stress me into being your bitch.”
“I never mentioned a dent on a glass case.”
Oops.I never made stupid mistakes like this. Never got so heated I abandoned my wits. Zachary Sun had managed to upend years of strict self-control. Of the practiced calm expected of a world-class fencer. Well,formerworld-class fencer.
The telltale pulse of regret crept up my neck. “You did five seconds ago.” I doubled down on my lie and lifted a hand to stop his retort, refusing to fall into the hole I’d dug for myself. “Before you say anything, remember—no proof, no crime. I simply got lost in your library. That dent in the glass was already there.”
“The surveillance cameras tell a different story.” He raised his phone with his free hand, wagging it. A clear shot of my face flashed at me.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
I’d checked for cameras on the ceilings, but it hadn’t occurred to me to check for hidden ones.Fine.It had. But my desperation got the best of me.
I pulled my shoulders back, feigning confidence. “The surveillance cameras don’t have a mouth. My lawyer, however, will, and I bet she can get pretty creative about what happened there. A powerful man. A cornered woman in a nightgown.” I cocked my head to the side. “You do the math.”
In fact, said lawyer wouldn’t have to make up a single thing. Zachary Sun had trapped me in his office and forced me to stay, dressed only in lingerie. A pesky little thing called false imprisonment. A felony punishable by up to thirty years in prison. I’d looked it up first thing inthe morning.
Zach arched a single brow. “You can’t afford a pair of shoes that stay on your feet, and you expect me to be concerned about your legal representation? Last I checked, Google can’t represent you in a court of law.” He stared me down. “Who’s letting their pride stand in their way now, Little Octi?”
And still, I refused to back down. I opened my mouth, a saucy retort ready to launch at him. He stopped me with his knife to the mouth. He used just enough pressure to part my lips. Whatever he saw had his pupils dilating. It lasted half a second before his eyes tapered.
