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“He’s got a job for you and Zane.”
“What job?”
“Maxwell wants you to hack the base mainframe and download everything to his team. All clients, bank accounts, snitches, and their internal security access to all the other systems they’re connected to.”
When I open my mouth to object, he pulls me from the wall just to slam me back against it.
“I don’t have time, Jessa. You know if you tell them who I am, another will come for you. Max has a job. Once that’s done, we can get out of here—permanently. You know what happens when you disobey him, Jessa.”
Hunter is threatening me in error. He thinks I remember every minute of my time there. He thinks I’m afraid.
But I’m at an advantage because I can still think clearly and focus on my plan.
Dropping my calm a few notches, I feign panic to bolster his confidence. “Okay. Just give me some time. I need to figure some things out. I’ll get you a list of what I need to do it. Give me a day.”
A door opens down another hall, and it snaps Hunter out of his death stare.
When he steps back, I slump onto the weight of my feet and straighten my shirt. Hunter glances over his shoulder, down the empty corridor, then corrals me toward the showers.
“Don’t try anything stupid, Jessa. You know what he’s capable of.”
I shove my weight into the door and stumble into the shower, quickly taking my spot behind the partition to remove my clothes. I have nothing with me. No shampoo, and no towel, but I don’t care.
I’m not a possession.
Everyone wants to own me.
They want to tell me what to do and use me up, and I’ve had enough.
Intimidate the girl and she’ll fall in line.
I don’t belong to them.
I was never Maxwell’s.
The look on his smug face said he believes otherwise, and it took everything I had not to tell him what I had planned for him in the end.
When I’m done with him, he’ll be the one on his knees, begging for mercy, and if I’m still standing, I will grant him none.
Then there’s Hunter.
I have to admit, I didn’t see him coming. Maxwell got as close as he could to Jack and Logan, and they have no idea.
I strip off the last of my clothes and step under the water. I’m so tired of people taking pieces of me I don’t want to give. I’m not a commodity to be passed around.
As the water heats up against my skin, I tilt my face into the hot spray to center myself.
Little voices creep in among the droplets hitting my face.
Everyone saw my pain, my torture.
I know Jack saw everything. Of course he did. Maxwell was ready to show that video. Acquiring my release was just a ruse. He wanted Jack to see how broken I am. How used up I’ve become. And now Maxwell wants me to be the one to destroy Jack. He thinks this is his final step to claiming what is his, but I won’t allow it.
Pulling my head back, I suck in a deep breath of air as a sob heaves out of me, and I just can’t keep it together any longer. My stomach knots as nausea sets in. Then, all at once, it hits me.
I hate to be cold.
Is that because of my time spent outside, locked in that cage?
