She no longer knew what she was doing. Her plans, her hope—everything could come crashing down. What would she do then? Jeon was just going through the motions, treating her like a task, and it made her wonder: what if everything she had believed in never worked? What if she ended up dying? Because she would rather die than live as Marco’s slave.

She had to fight back with whatever she had. It wasn’t as though she had many choices to begin with.

“Can I tell you a secret?”

He was intent on cleaning her wrists, not even looking up as he replied, “Keep your secrets to yourself. And believe me when I say it would be better for you if you taIked Iess with me.”

“But I want to share it with you. It has everything to do with you.”

He finally looked up, their eyes locking. God. His deadly dark eyes weren’t going to make it any easier. Her heart raced as she weighed her next words.