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The threat suffocates the air. I look at Liv. She lifts her head and meets my gaze. Her hazel eyes shine with unshed tears. The silent plea screams across the space between us. Don’t fight him. It makes it worse. Please comply.

Every Viper instinct demands blood. I should fight. I should maintain my dignity, hold my ground, find a way to kill him.

The phantom sound of her whimpering bleeds into my memory. Knowing my defiance brings her pain overrides my training. The crushing weight of her desperate, tear-filled eyes breaks my spine.

This time, I surrender without throwing a single punch.

“Yes.” The word scrapes up my throat, tasting like poison as it slips past my lips.

Jax’s satisfaction swells, filling the room. He steps away from Liv and closes the distance between us. He lifts his hand, cupping my jaw with a startling, possessive gentleness.

“That’s a good start.” His thumb brushes over my cheekbone. “Cooperation makes this easier for everyone. You’re learning faster than I expected.”

His touch sears my skin. It’s commanding, intimate, absolute. A heavy, confusing spike of arousal pools low in my stomach. The wrongness of the physical response hits me like a freight train. I hate him. I want to kill him. Yet my body reacts to the raw dominance rolling off him, traitorous and weak. The self-loathing threatens to swallow me whole.

Jax releases my face and steps backward. He surveys us both, drinking in the sight of his two captives. He has us exactly where he wants us. Liv sits in the chair, already broken, already complicit. I stand by the door, taking my very first steps toward the same fate. The real education is just beginning.

I sink into the chair across from Liv. We are trapped by things far stronger than reinforced doors and biometric locks. Jax found the ultimate weapon against us—each other. I stare at the floor, unable to meet Liv’s eyes, burying the sickening realization deep inside my chest. Part of me responded to his touch. Part of me craved the promise of reward for my obedience.

Liv was right. The cage is in our heads. Jax is already building mine.

7

LIV

Isit on the edge of the mattress. Ari takes the velvet armchair across the room. Jax stands between us, watching us both. My skin still burns, flushed and humming from the aftershocks of Jax taking me this morning while forcing Ari to listen through the shared wall. Shame coats my throat. It should drown me. But beneath that heavy, suffocating layer lies a darker truth—satisfaction. Jax chose me. He touched me. I remain the center of his violent, beautiful world.

Jax stalks in a slow circle around Ari, a predator assessing his new prey. A sharp, unfamiliar ache twists in my chest. Bile rises on the back of my tongue.

Jealousy.

The realization hits me like a physical blow. I stare at Jax’s broad shoulders, watching him trail a single finger along Ari’s jawline. The dark promise shining in Jax’s obsidian eyes makes my stomach churn. Eight weeks ago, any shift in his attention would have sent me to my knees in prayer, begging for reprieve. Now, a cold emptiness hollows me out. Abandoned. Replaced.

What the hell is wrong with me?

“We’re going to play a game.”

Jax lets the words hang in the heavy air. His tone carries a light, playful cadence. A shiver races down my spine. That tone brings nothing but cruel, calculated ruin.

“You two will touch each other. You will follow my instructions down to the letter. Perform beautifully for me, and I will reward you. Hesitate or resist, and the consequences will be creative.”

My stomach plummets. I should crave this. I should want a gentle touch from a man who isn’t my captor. A tether to the outside world, to normal human interaction, to someone who came here to save me. I don’t want it. I want Jax’s calloused palms scoring my skin. I want his heavy gaze pinning me down. The thought of Ari’s skin against mine feels like treason. The ultimate betrayal. Jax is the monster who locked me in this cage, yet the mere idea of someone else touching me makes my skin crawl. He is the sun in my dark little universe. The source of my agony, my pleasure, my very breath. My conditioning runs so deep it infects my marrow.

“Move to the bed, Ari. Sit beside Liv.”

Ari stiffens. His green eyes dart toward me, swimming with apology and horror. He thinks he’s falling on his sword. He believes compliance will spare me Jax’s wrath. He has no idea that eight weeks in Jax’s custody have rewritten my definition of mercy.

Ari pushes up from the chair and crosses the plush rug. He sinks onto the mattress, leaving a deliberate foot of space between our hips.

Jax drifts around the foot of the bed, his dark eyes drinking us in. “Touch her face. Cup her cheek. Look at her like she is the most beautiful creature you’ve ever seen.”

Ari’s hand shakes. He reaches across the divide. His fingertips graze my jawline, light and respectful. A gentle caress. It lacks Jax’s bruising possession. It lacks the absolute claim that makes my blood sing. The touch feels foreign, like an insect crawling over my flesh. My muscles lock. I want to flinch away, but I know better than to move a muscle.

“Look at her.” Jax pauses right in front of us, crossing his arms over his broad chest. Dark amusement dances on his lips. “She’s frozen solid. Does his touch feel good to you, little bird?”

The question hangs in the quiet room. I can’t lie to him. The compulsion to offer him absolute honesty overrides any shred of self-preservation. I press my lips together and remain silent.

A slow, devastating smile stretches across Jax’s face. “Silence is an answer. I appreciate your honesty. Your loyalty. You are such a good girl for me, Liv.”