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Consulting. That’s what he’d told her when she was building his online portfolio. That he was someone who handled problems.

Evidently handled them by breaking thumbs and other things that made her want to vomit.

She looked up and immediately was overwhelmed by the faces, and the spiraling began. It didn’t care if her entire world had just shifted.

Eyes down, Cassie.

His voice crept in again, steady and patient, the thing she’d been using to hold herself together in this place. And again, it worked. The cycle broke as she shifted her eyes because his voice had told her to.

The voice of a torturer.

Had anything he’d said or done with her been real? The Diehls were gushing over how well he could read people and get info sometimes without even touching them.

Had he read her? Figured out what she needed and given it to her? Was that what this whole D/s thing was? She’d thought they were playing roles, at least in front of the others, but the more she heard, the more she realized that wasn’t the case.

Ryder had manipulated her. Given her what she needed to get the result he wanted. No, he hadn’t hurt her, but that didn’t really mean anything, did it?

She kept seeing his mouth on her, his hands holding her open, and now she couldn’t tell if he’d wanted her or had just known exactly how to make her think he did.

She couldn’t be here anymore.

She stood up. She didn’t know where she was going. Away from him, away from this bench, away from the sound of men laughing about what he could do with his hands. She started.

“Cassandra.”

His voice hit her after just a few steps. She froze, breath hissing out.

Shit. The cover story. She was his property. She hadn’t so much as spoken or looked at anyone without permission for two days, and now she was just storming out?

“Did I say you could get up?”

The door was right there.

She could take a few more steps and let it all come down. The cover, the mission, whatever Ryder had built here with his talent for making people trust him or breaking things if they didn’t.

She could end it by walking through that door.

Part of her wanted to so badly her hands were shaking. Part of her stood in the white-hot center of what she’d just figured out about him and thought: let it burn.

She didn’t. She didn’t because one tiny part of her brain was able to latch on to the reason they were really here. Ryder may be some sort of a monster, but he was still the only chance those kids had.

“Turn around, Cass.”

She turned around.

Everyone was staring at her, but she kept her eyes pinned on his. His eyes held something she would have called pain an hour ago. Now she didn’t know what to call anything about him.

Then those eyes hardened. “Kneel now. Or believe me, you will regret it.”

She dropped to her knees.

Ryder was already closing the distance. Her knees had barely hit the floor before his hand was around her arm and he was dragging her up again.

“Back to the room, now. We’ll deal with your attitude.”

He steered her toward the door.

“Looks like your little pet has some spirit.” Arlo’s laugh followed them out. “I like it.”