Page 61 of Vega

His eyes dropped to my lips. Then lifted immediately.

I became painfully aware of how close we were. My back rested against his chest. His arm curved around me, solid and warm, while his bare fingers held the next bite near my mouth. His fingertips brushed my lips as he fed me another bite, and the softness of them made me want to close my mouth around his fingers and suck them. I shoved the asinine thought out of my virgin, apparently thirsty brain before my thoughts could betray me any further.

For the first time since he had taken me, his strength didn’t feel like a threat. It felt like something holding me together. That realization frightened me more than the locked door.

I ate without being told again. He continued feeding me until half the sandwich was gone, then set the rest aside and eased me against the pillows. He replaced the cool cloth across my forehead and tucked a loose section of hair away from my damp face.

“Sleep,” he softly ordered.

I watched him through tired eyes, asking, ““Can I have something else to do besides read?”

He paused. “What do you want?”

“Puzzles. Crosswords. Maybe a laptop with logic games on it. You can disable the internet or whatever paranoid thing you need to do.”

His eyes narrowed slightly. “What the fuck are logic games?”

“Brain teasers, strategy and problem-solving games, things like that. I need cognitive stimulation. Prolonged isolation, limited social interaction, and repetitive surroundings can affect attention, memory, emotional regulation, and executive functioning. It’s similar to what happens during solitary confinement. The brain needs novelty and problem-solving to remain engaged. Extended social isolation has also been associated with cognitive decline, especially when there’s no meaningful mental stimulation.” I took a breath, then added, “Basically, I don’t want captivity to make me stupid or cause my brain to start deteriorating like I’m developing early dementia.”

A low laugh escaped him. “You’re such a nerd.”

However, those words didn’t sound insulting. Instead, there was something warm and almost admiring in his voice that made me strangely confident.

“I have a master’s degree,” I reminded him.

“I know.”

Of course he did.

“Puzzles and a laptop,” he said. “Anything else?”

I considered it. “A chessboard.”

“Do you know how to play?”

I laughed, not so weakly anymore since that sandwich was allowing some strength to come back. “Of course.”

He stared at me for what felt like too long. The threat in his eyes faded until they looked almost soft, as though he wasn’t merely listening to me but admiring something he saw.

The attention made me shift beneath the covers.

Then he pulled his gaze away and stood. “I’ll get you whatever you need.”

Before I could respond, he gathered the tray of the uneaten breakfast and left the room, locking the door behind him.

The man beneath the mask had admitted that, under different circumstances, he might have delivered me to my death. Yet he sat beside me cooling my skin so carefully, as if he was happy to be my nurse. I wondered what kind of face belonged to hands capable of snatching me from my home and feeding me with such tenderness. I wondered who he was when nobody needed to fear him. Most of all, I hated that I wanted to know.

NOVELLA “NOVI” HART

That afternoon, two pink lines stared back at me. I sat on the edge of the bathtub with the pregnancy test trembling between my fingers as tears slid down my face.

I was pregnant.

A laugh escaped me, but it broke into a sob before it fully formed.

Kash and I had created a baby. Memories rushed through me faster than I could stop them. His sleepy smile in the mornings. The way he pulled me into his lap when I was upset. His hand resting on my stomach while he asked how many children I wanted, as though he had already imagined them with me.

I pressed the test against my chest and cried harder.