Chapter 2 THE CAGE THAT GLITTERS

The car was too quiet. Zaya sat stiffly in the back seat of the sleek black SUV, her wrists resting in her lap as the city lights bled across the tinted windows. She could feel him beside her Kael Donovan. Not speaking. Not touching her. But she felt him like a storm waiting to break. It was everything about him: his stillness, the cold calculation in his eyes, the way he watched her like he owned the air she breathed. "I didn't agree to this," she said finally, her voice breaking the silence like glass. Kael didn't look at her. "You walked into my world.

You don't get to walk back out without paying the price." "This isn't legal," she snapped. He turned his head then, eyes locked on hers. "Neither is what your brother did when he stole three million dollars from me." Her breath caught. "How do you""I know everything about you, Zaya." His tone didn't rise. It was calm. Almost cruel in its steadiness. "Your favorite meal. The fake name you used at the shelter. Every job you've had since you vanished from your foster records three years ago. Your brother's betrayal bought you a one-way ticket to my world." She stared at him, stunned. "You think I'm scared of you?" "No," he said. "But you should be."