Page 174 of Sinful Pleasure

I took a deep breath. I’d made the decision a long time ago, and I would probably regret it—but fuck it.

“I’ll help you escape.”

These words caught his attention, giving me his undivided focus. He leaned back against the bed frame, his head relaxed, his Adam’s apple moving with each swallow, and his firm chest rising with each breath.

Iforced myself to look away from his body and back to his dark, unreadable face.

His gaze wandered down my body a few times, studying me, but this time, I didn’t feel the usual desire in his eyes. Quite the opposite—I felt unwanted.

“No,” he said flatly. “I don’t need your fucking help.” “I won’t let you die.”

“You put me in this situation in the first place,” he reminded me, his voice cold. “And now you act like you care whether I live or die?” He laughed bitterly. “Funny, isn’t it?”

“I won’t let you die.”

He met my gaze again, his expression blank, as if the last thing he wanted was to look at me.

“Trust me, Allyn. It will be better for you if I die.”

“You won’t die, not here, not like this.”

I refused to listen, shaking my head.

His face didn’t flinch, nothing. It was as if someone had turned off every emotion he was capable of feeling.

“I need to know something,” his voice was tired.

I wanted nothing more than to hear the word “princess” slip from his lips, but it never came.

“And I want you to be fucking honest with me— for once in your life.”

Confusion spread across my face, but I let him speak.

“Is it true?”

“Is what true?”

“That you’re going to marry Theo Stone.”His gaze grew colder, crueler, as he waited impatiently for my response. I couldn’t read his face, but I knew whatever was written there wasn’t good.

His eyes pierced me, burning like fire. It felt like ages passed before I finally managed to speak the word that had been stuck in my throat for solong.

“Yes.”

A simple word. Meaning nothing, and yet so freaking much.

Maddox’s reaction was confusing. He laughed, shaking his head. The laugh was bitter.

“You can leave now.”

“I didn’t have a choice, Maddox.” My voice barely broke through. “You know that.”

“We all have choices,” he snapped, narrowing his eyes. “You just want to pretend you don’t.”

“No, I don’t have a fucking choice, Maddox,” I yelled, my voice raw with anger, my eyes stinging with tears. He remained unfazed. “I never fucking did, not once in my life.”

“Are you looking for sympathy right now?” He raised a brow with a sneer. “Because you won’t find it here.”

Of course, he didn’t get it. No one did.

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