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DECLAN

W atching Finn tend to Ebony makes my blood boil.

He wipes away the blood, and he says something that makes her smile.

That smile is a kick to my gut.

I look down at the balaclava on my desk. It’s taunting me.

I could go in, undetected.

I wonder if she smells the same? Or if she’s changed her perfume?

As soon as Finn exits the room, I click on the screen, ready for the next room. I’m fascinated.

Within a minute, he’s opening up my door and ripping off his mask, ruffling out his hair with his fingers.

“I’m worried,” he blurts out, pouring himself a scotch.

“Why?” I spin my chair to assess him. He’s rattled.

He knocks it back and pours another. I was wondering what his thoughts were about her arrival. He kept quiet up until now.

“She’s dangerous, Declan.”

I nod.

“We gathered that. But I saw her struggling in the last game.”

I quickly grab the remote I was using on her and toss it in my drawer.

“Not that kind of dangerous. As in, violent. A lack of emotion and reaction to pain. Probably a complete disregard for her own life. She is broken, brother.”

A sharp pain shoots through my chest as I rub it.

It’s a similar assessment I made five years ago, but I coaxed life out of her. She was there, hiding beneath the pain.

“What are you saying?” I press.

He claps his hands together.

“Once that light goes out in someone, probably in desperation, they’ll do anything. Kill anyone. We don’t know her motives.”

The rhythmic tap-tap-tap of my fingers on the desk punctuates my contemplation of his words.

“We won’t get answers until she wins. We own her now, remember that.”

Finn shakes his head.

“You think interrogation will work on someone that doesn’t flinch, cutting themselves?”

I flick my eyes back to my screen, watching as she enters the “take a sweet” room.

“I’ll find her weakness.”

He follows my gaze and leans over.

“Like she found yours, hmm?” His lips form a thin line as he watches her.

“She’s fascinating. Needs studying, really,” Finn whispers, and I push him away.

“Get back down there and monitor her.”

He nods and slides the mask over his head.

“I mean. She could have stabbed the guards in the last game and didn’t. Dangerous. She has a game plan, I’m telling you.” He taps the side of his head.

I trust his gut.

But I also trust mine.

I won’t let her beat me again.

There’s more of us than there is of her. If anything, this shows me she has a plan and she won’t fuck it up. I see the determination in her eyes.

We are starting a battle, one I intend to win.