Page 76 of His Trick

I didn’t answer, not yet. I just kept walking, looking up to see the skylight blurred by the weight of the constant downpour outside.

The stench of mildew and rust grew stronger the farther we walked. The hollow sound of an empty corridor stretching into darkness that neither of us could actually see. Ronny could have at least left on a damn light for us, considering the benjis I dropped for this.

Shiloh froze when he realized the guard hadn’t followed us in. His polished brows furrowed together. “Where the fuck does this go? What is going on?”

“I dunno,” I shrugged. “Probably some old cell block. I do know the cameras don’t run here anymore. You and I are ghosts for an hour, Baby Boy.”

Ghosts. Exactly what I wanted. Invisibility, to claim what’s fucking mine once and for all.

Shiloh took a half-step back, suspicion flashing across his face. “Why…why are we going down there? Carrington, what the fuck is this?”

I grabbed his wrist before he could retreat, and my grip tightened until his pulse fluttered against my palm. “Keep moving, Sunshine. You don’t want to spoil the surprise, do you?”

He yanked his arm, trying to free himself, his big, beautiful eyes going even wider as he looked at me, then back at the door behind us. “You paid him off, didn’t you? What the fuck for, Care Bear?”

Bingo.

Earlier, while Shiloh was having a full-on panic attack, I pulled Billy Bob Muscle Dick to the side and told him I needed a place for some private time, unseen and unheard. The meathead had seen enough men barter with their souls to know when to shut up, especially when a grand worth of bills was shoved into his hand.

Easy and transactional. Like others.

I leaned into Shiloh’s ear, close enough he felt the heat of my breath as I whispered in a soft, playful growl. “So eager. Be a good boy for me and keep walking. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Another big ass door was at the end of the rainbow, followed by stairs that led deeper into the dank-smelling mildew of unused cells. I stepped through the door, my hand still wrapped around Shiloh’s, yanking him through with me.

The sound of the ironclad door slamming shut behind us was final, like a judge’s gavel. The air had a sound as we went further down the stairs. The shuffle of our shoes, the crack of old pipes, the draft that must have been from the lake beside the prison.

Everything echoed too loudly. The corridor at the bottom of the stairs was much wider, lined with cells that gaped open like blackened mouths, used once upon a time, and left forgotten.

Shiloh jerked his wrist again, finally tearing free with my permission. He spun to face me, his chest heaving, his bright eyes burning with questions he didn’t want answered.

“Why here?” His voice was sharp, cracking at the edges. “Why the fuck would you bring me here? Now?”

I stepped closer, slow and deliberate. Mirroring that of all the men here. A predator’s stride. And I was as much of a monster as everyone in here.

“Because I’m done letting you hide from me. Done watching you choke on fear every time your father’s shadow crosses your thoughts. Done with letting you pretend you aren’t mine. I intend to fuck you into submission. I’ll bring all that fear and anger to the surface, so you are ready for your Dad.”

Shiloh’s breath caught. A flicker of panic and maybe desire lit his eyes.

He backed up one step.

I followed.

He backed up another step.

Again, I followed, like a cadence we both knew the beat too.

We were in sync from the beginning.

Step after step, I followed him until his shoulders hit cold steel bars. He turned around, his palms flattening against them like maybe he could press through them entirely. His head whipped back toward me as his words broke free.

“Don’t you fucking dare. I’ll?—”

But it was too late.

The hunt had already started.

He turned again, his shoulders hitting the bars with a metallic thud, his palms grasping like he thought the steel could save him. His chest rose and fell, but his eyes flashed with something dark and hot. Those baby blues bounced between me and the dark corridor stretching behind me.