Mag-log inANGELI went very still. “Is that the reason you don’t sleep well? You’re afraid I’ll kill you?”I’d learned by now that he didn’t sleep well.I noticed because I woke one night to find him staring at the ceiling, his body rigid beside me, his eyes fixed on nothing. Guarding against ghosts I couldn’t see.He grinned, shaking his head. “No, that’s not because of you. I told you, remember? I don’t mind dying, if you’re the one holding the knife. I’d thank you for it. I’d kiss your hands while they were still wet with my blood.”I swallowed hard. “You’re insane.”“Absolutely.” He shrugged nonchalantly, like we were not discussing his fantasies about me murdering him. “My grandfather used to say I had a demon riding my back. Something that wouldn’t let me rest. It also wouldn’t let me stop thinking, or preparing for the next threat.”“That sounds exhausting.”“It is.” His eyes lingered on my face and his expression softened. Almost vulnerably. “It was, anyway. Before you.”“Before me?”“W
ANGELDaniel worked from home now. Most days, at least.His study was all dark wood and leather, blueprints spread across a massive desk, his screens glowing with data I didn’t understand. He spent hours there, phone pressed to his ear, his voice shifting between languages I couldn’t follow.I kept finding excuses to interrupt him.At first, it was small things. Asking what he wanted for dinner. Questions that didn’t need asking but gave me a reason to see him, to hear his voice directed at me instead of whoever was on the other end of the line. I was jealous of any moment that wasn’t spent on me.Pathetic? Absolutely. Did I care? Not even a little bit.He never sent me away. He seemed to enjoy that—my neediness, my hovering, the way I manufactured reasons to be near him. Like watching me orbit him fed something hungry inside his chest. He told me once that my desperation was a drug he couldn’t get enough of.No matter how important the call, his eyes found mine when I entered. Today,
ANGELI shook my head. That was a line I couldn’t cross. The last piece of myself I had left. The final wall between who I used to be and whatever I was becoming.“Angel.” He pulled back to look at me, his expression soft but his eyes burning with something that looked terrifyingly like love. His voice was thick with obsession. A hunger that would never be satisfied, no matter how much of me he consumed. “Say it back.”“I c-can’t.” My voice broke on the word. “Please. Please don’t take this from me too. You’ve taken everything else. My freedom. My body. My mind. Just… let me keep this one thing. This one lie I can tell myself.”A dark look flickered across his face. “It’s not a lie, though.” He positioned himself at my entrance, the thick head of his cock pressing against me but not pushing in. Teasing. Tormenting. I could feel how hard he was, how desperately he wanted to bury himself inside me, but he held back. Waiting. “That’s what scares you, isn’t it? It’s not that you can’t say
ANGELHe kissed me.His lips moved against mine slowly like he was asking permission even though we both knew he didn’t need it. We both knew I’d give him anything he wanted right now, starving as I was for touch, for contact, for him.I kissed him back.The moment our lips meshed together, something inside me cracked open like an egg.The kiss deepened. His tongue slid against mine, tasting, claiming, and a low groan rumbled from his chest into my mouth. His hands moved from my face to my hair, fisting in the strands, tilting my head back so he could take more. Take everything.I let him.This bastard had stolen me from Daddy and gotten me pregnant. The right thing to do was to push him away. Bite his lip until it bled. Snap out of this pathetic, needy state I’d fallen into.But then what?I’d go back to being lonely and miserable. Counting ceiling tiles and talking to myself. Going slowly insane in this beautiful prison while he watched from the shadows.I was so tired of fighting.
ANGELI was bored.It’s a strange thing to feel, given everything. I should be terrified of having Daniel’s baby and plotting my escape or doing something other than lying on this bed, staring at the ceiling thoughtlessly.But I was just… bored.Days had passed since Daniel dropped his bomb about the baby. Maybe a week. Maybe two. I’d lost track of time entirely.I guess time moved differently when you had nothing to mark it with—no phone, no computer, or any contact with the outside world. Just this large fortress and the endless silence that pressed against my eardrums.Daniel had been scarce.He left early in the morning, before I woke up, and returned late at night, after I’d already fallen asleep. Whatever he was working on consumed him completely.We hadn’t talked much. Not really. Ever since the day he’d shown me those documents and watched my entire world collapse around me.I should be relieved by his absence. Deep inside, I knew I should be grateful for the reprieve from his
DANIEL “I don’t know.” Her voice was barely a sob, her body still shivering as she clenched her eyes shut. “I don’t know anything anymore.” There it was. That beautiful, perfect confusion. That uncertainty that would be the foundation of everything I built next. She broke down completely then, collapsing against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight, rubbing her back in slow, soothing circles. “Why?” She choked out between sobs. “Why did this have to happen to me? Why can’t anything just—why is everything so—” She couldn’t finish. I held her while she broke. Poor little Angel. Life just kept shitting on her from a great height. Good thing Daddy was here to clean her up. To put her back together. I made soft, comforting sounds. Rocked her gently. Pressed kisses to the top of her head, inhaling the scent of her hair—my shampoo on her skin. Mine. Everything about her was becoming mine. My scent on her body. My baby in her womb. My cum probably still coating th
ANGEL Dinner was my idea. “Can we go out tonight? Just us? Like we used to?” I’d asked. He’d agreed and I’d nearly squealed. This might as well be our first date, he just didn’t know it yet. The last time we had dinner alone in public, I was still a kid. And afterwards I’d hated seeing Jillian
ANGEL His fingers closed around my nape the way you’d grab a disobedient animal. He steered me through the dining room and I walked with my chin up and his bloody hand on my neck. Every eye in the restaurant followed us out, looking horrified. The cool night air hit my skin. Vincent didn’t slow
ANGELDr Moreau’s office smelled like chamomile tea. I hated it even before my ass touched the chair.The woman was exactly what I expected. Her dark hair was pinned into a strict bun, her reading glasses dangling on her nose. She was wearing a silk blouse that was buttoned all the way to her thro
VINCENT The next morning, I prepared breakfast, grateful for the routine. The eggs were scrambled exactly how she used to like them. The toast cut diagonally. Fresh fruit arranged on the plate. A glass of milk because she needed the calcium. Normal things that a father would do for his daughter.







