“How the fuck did you escape the Red Dock?”
His hand closes around my throat as he rises. I scramble to claw his grip away, but he lifts me effortlessly until my heels can’t even reach the floor.
“W-what?” I choke. My face burns. My eyes bulge as I kick at his crotch, but he doesn’t flinch.
Two steps forward—then he slams me against the wall.
Pain explodes in the back of my skull. I see stars.
That’s when I hear it. Pounding fists on the steel-reinforced door.
Malec.
No. I didn’t get a location. Not yet—
“Answer me! Who knows you’re here? How did you escape the electric cage?”
His grip loosens, just to let me answer. I gasp for air, coughing it in as he still holds me pinned.
Electric cage? Red Dock?
The oxygen rushes back to my brain, and something clicks.
He thinks I’m—
I swallow hard.
“Who do you think raised me? I’m not that easy to lock up.”
I shoot him a cocky grin I absolutely do not feel, trying to play the game. I just need a location, damn it.
He curses, closing his eyes like I’m a migraine.
I tilt my head toward the hidden camera in the corner and mouth one word:Key.Hoping Malec would check the camera when he goes back to the safe room.
He suddenly opens his eyes and pins me with a glare.
“You’re really fucking stupid, coming to me. Must’ve been zapped one too many times, scrambled your brain.”
His calm returns too fast for me to process his words. “You’re coming back with me.”
He grabs my arm and shoves me toward the corner of the room.
Zapped? He mentioned an electric cage.
I choke back tears. My chest tightens. My balance sways.
They’re really torturing Diana there.
Electrifying her.
“Help me… please.”
A whisper—not from my throat, but in my head.
No.
No, not now.
