My hands twitched at my sides with the urge to grab her face, to force her to look at me.
“You disappearing would not make anything better.”
Standing close to her again, seeing the exhaustion sitting beneath those crimson eyes, I realized something terrifying.
The thought of losing her now felt unbearable.
My fingers dug harder into my own arms, nails biting through the fabric while every violent instinct inside me roared to life.
Run if you want to, Olivia. I’ll still find you. I’ll tear this entire city apart looking for you.
The words sat hot on my tongue, but I swallowed them down and threw the conversation back at her instead.
“If you were that desperate, then why didn’t you tell me?” I shot back. “Why didn’t you use me?”
Her face twisted instantly. Disbelief flashed first, then offense, then outright irritation as her eyes rolled toward the ceiling.
“Use you?” she echoed sharply before letting out a short humorless laugh, stabbing a hand toward my chest. “You’re a fucking Syndicate boss. I was terrified to even look at you after I found out.”
The heat behind her words made me still.
“Did you forget I was human?” Her voice rose with every step she took toward me. “Not even contracted. Just some nobody human sitting at the very bottom, hoping I didn’t piss off the wrong supe and end up dead in an alley somewhere.”
Her eyes burned brighter the longer she spoke. Not fear anymore. Pride. Defiance. The kind that clawed its way out of surviving.
“I’ve been alone a long time,” she snapped. “Long enough to know exactly how this world really works.”
She planted herself directly in front of me then, her chin lifted stubbornly even though I towered over her.
“So yeah,” she continued fiercely, “I worked on Manshu’s stupid car because I thought it would keep people alive.Mypeople.”
Her lip curled up in disgust. “Every second I was around him, I waited for something to go wrong. Waited for him to get bored. Waited for my friends to get punished because of me.”
The anger cracked briefly, just for a second, then she shoved it back down and squared herself again.
“But that was my problem,” she bit out. “Mine.”
Another finger pointed directly into my chest.
“And if somebody’s fixing it, it’ll beme. Not some rich thug vampire I slept with who comes from the most powerful family in the city.”
My tongue pressed against my teeth while I stared down at her. Nobody spoke to me like this. Nobody. And yet… the more worked up she got, the more alive she looked.
Flushed cheeks. A fire in her eyes. The way her whole body braced like she’d fight me if she had to. It was intoxicating.
Fuck. I wanted her more with every word.
Unable to stand still, I pushed off the counter and slowly stalked toward her until our chests nearly brushed.
She refused to back away. Instead, she tipped her head back just enough to hold eye contact.
Good. Keep fighting me. I wanted to grab her right there and pin her against the refrigerator. Rip those oversized clothes off her body and work her up until that furious little glare shattered into desperate pleading. Wanted to watch all that stubborn resolve melt apart because of me.
My jaw flexed hard enough to ache.
“Fine,” I growled. The word scraped out rough. “You were a trapped, stubborn human trying to survive. I get it.” Every muscle in me tightened. “But you’re not human anymore.”
That finally made her falter. Her eyes blinked at the admission, so I homed in on the message.
