Page 15 of Unlocking Ruin

I waste no time. The laptop doesn’t matter; they know everything. I run past him toward the exit.

“Rylan!” the masked man shouts. “If you run, I will chase.”

By the time he’s able to see again, I’m long gone, but his words haunt me. They sounded like he preferred that outcome over my submission.

And deep down, the idea of being chased is better than being left behind.

CHAPTER 2

Steffen

Idon’t know what burns more: the sting in my eyes or the ache in my cock.

I wanted to pin Rylan down and do unspeakable things to her. Great things, but shocking all the same.

I know she has one-night stands, so the likelihood of her allowing me to kiss her was not super slim, but the way she picks her prey taught me it was her version of control. I needed her to select me.

All in due time. Of course, I was going to stack the odds and eliminate the other options.

Did that qualify as cheating? No, it was fair play in my world—a touch of deceit paired with a heavy dose of obsessive passion.

Rylan wears innocence as a mask. She’s a predator, just like me, but she hunts from the treetops. She clings to the higher ground—hacking her way in before she swoops down and strikes. It’s smart, and given her childhood, I get it. If you’re smaller, pouncing is dangerous—you set traps instead. She’s a phishing scheme in human form.

I’m clicking the bait because, fuck, look at her. I don’t know what turned me on more: her body or her mind. She’s everything wrapped into a tiny form of walking chaos. I wanted to unleash her—to watch her help me ruin everything.

Those men in the club did not approach her. She picked them, dissecting every move until she decided they were safe; worth her time. It was the only power she had left, and I resented it. I hated that her family had belittled her into thinking her value was single-use, good for just one time. One hack. One night of fucking. One, one, one.

Rylan deserved infinity.

I wasn’t a sociopath like Rylan suggested. I just want her.

There’s nothing wrong with that. People see things and want them. It happens all the time.

We live in a culture of overconsumption, so wanting Rylan is perfectly rational. I want every inch, every thought, every moment. More, and more.

Which really throws a massive wrench in my plans, but the most successful rulers think on their feet.

The real battle will be keeping Rylan from unraveling every detail of my plans. No one is going to stop me from getting my revenge.

“Shit!” I grunt as I rub my eyes. I’m both proud and fuming. Happy Rylan defended herself. After all, the hack she did tonight was the first time she fought back; the pepper spray was the second. She’s got claws; everyone does. Some people just take longer to use them.

Rylan needs to use them, flash them, scratch me and everyone else. She has to evolve from a house cat into a lioness.

When she laid down on the pile of books and said she was giving up? Yeah, not happening, Little Thief. I’m not allowing that. I need you.

So do other people.

I’m going to show her how to survive in this world; the new world she just thrust herself into. That means I have to put trust in her, because Rylan won’t do it out of fear. She’s not going to be controlled again.

I don’t want to control her.

I want her as my ally.

“Steffen! Can you hear me?” Torben shouts through my comms, loud enough that now my ears sting as much as my eyes.

“Yes!” I respond. Reaching out, I grab Rylan’s laptop, fumbling because everything is blurry and my eyes sting like a bitch! I grab the bookshelf to steady myself as I walk over the pile of books toward the exit, unquestioningly feeling my way toward the fire escape.

“Rylan is running out the front door. What happened?” Torben asks.