Page 50 of Red Dreams

“He's doing it again right now,” I say to Cassie while forcing myself to hold Kaden’s murderous stare. “Becoming the very monster who broke you. Because that's what he does, isn't it? When he can't protect someone, he becomes what hurts them instead.”

Kaden moves so fast I barely register it. His hand locks around my throat, but I don't stop. I can't.

“Go ahead,” I rasp out. “Prove me right. Show your daughter exactly who you really are.”

His fingers dig in just enough to make breathing difficult. “You think you know me so well?”

“I know enough.” My voice scrapes past his iron hand. “I know you gave up everything to find her. Your home. Your life. Your humanity.”

Something flashes in Kaden's eyes. Not the cold calculation from before, but something raw. Wounded.

“Shut up!”

Cassie slams her hand on the table beside Ethan, making him flinch. Her composure cracks, that perfect Morelli programming starting to splinter.

“Want to know what's really pathetic?” I say in a strangled voice to Kaden. “Not your torture techniques—those are exactly what I'd expect from the Scythe. It's watching you pretend they mean nothing to you.”

His fingers flex around my neck in silent warning, but I hold on to consciousness. “You're teaching your daughter how to destroy people like it's some kind of sick bonding exercise. But every time she hurts Ethan, every time you make me beg, I see it in your eyes. You're dying inside watching Cassie become everything you spent ten years fighting against.”

Cassie's manic energy falters, just for a moment.

“Go ahead,” I challenge Kaden, who hasn’t broken our stare off. “Show her more pressure points. Teach her every way to make someone suffer. You're trying to prove you can be just as repulsive, just as influential. But you can't, can you? Because unlike Morelli, you actually love her.”

Kaden’s hand loosens on my throat, but I almost wish he'd keep choking me. It would be easier than the way his thumb strokes over my pulse, knowing exactly what that touch does to me.

And reminding me exactly who I’m playing with.

“Tell them,” he murmurs, his eyes holding mine. “Tell Cassie and Ethan how your heart's racing not because you're afraid but because you want me. Even now. Even after watching Cassie disfigure your best friend.”

I press my lips shut, but my body betrays me, leaning into his touch.

“You understand my daughter now, don't you?” Kaden’s other hand slides into my hair, and I hate how my eyes flutter closed. “Why she'd do anything for the monster who shaped her. Because you would too, wouldn't you, Wraithling? You'd burn everything down for me, just like she would for Morelli.”

“I'm nothing like her,” I say, but the words sound hollow, even to me.

“No?” He pulls until I feel a sting in my scalp. “Then why aren't you running? Why aren't you trying to save Ethan? Because deep down, you know exactly how Cassie feels. To be remade by someone's darkness until you crave it more than air.”

Kaden’s deadly hold on me doesn’t waver, not once, but Cassie remains incredibly still behind him. Her eyes narrow as she studies the way his thumb strokes my neck.

“You can't even hurt her properly, can you?”

Cassie’s question comes out soft, dangerous, and her focus on my throat never strays. “Look at how you're holding her.”

From his chair, Ethan makes a miserable sound. Blood drips steadily from his split lip onto his ruined shirt, his mangled fingers curled protectively against his chest.

Kaden squeezes tighter, but there's something else in his pressure against my neck. Something that makes Cassie's expression twist with a new kind of fury.

She paces like a caged animal, that unpredictable energy of hers building. “No, no, this isn't right. You're still holding back, Daddy. I can see it.”

Cassie stalks toward us, her movements jerky and agitated. She points an accusing finger at Kaden. “You're not doing it right. This is supposed to be a lesson, not erotic asphyxiation.”

Kaden's jaw ticks, but he doesn't release his hold on me. “This is what I’m trying to teach you. Having someone submit to you, even when facing death, is the ultimate form of power over a person.”

But through a blazing stare, Cassie sees everything—the history between Kaden and me, the depraved tenderness, and the desire Kaden’s fought hard to resist, even when he’s at his worst.

Cassie circles us like a shark scenting blood in the water. Her gaze rakes over me, dissecting every point of contact between Kaden's body and mine.

“Look at you,” she sneers. “The great and terrible Scythe, undone by a pair of pretty eyes and a tight cunt. It's disgusting.”

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