Page 60 of Ruthless God

I grin.

Good. Let him look.

“What?” I toss my hair over my shoulder, eyes locked onto his. “Forget why you came in here? Or was this just an excuse to perv out over me?”

His expression doesn’t change, but something flickers in his gaze—something sharp, something unreadable.

I smirk. “I get it. I’m hot.”

That pulls him from whatever stupor he was in.

With a flick of his wrist, he tosses something onto the bed. My phone. I reach for it, fingers brushing against the screen. Then I stop.

Wait.

I lift my gaze slowly, narrowing my eyes. “What did you do to it?”

He tilts his head, his lips twitching, half-amused and half-challenging. “What makes you think I did anything?”

“Because you wouldn’t give it back unless you had.”

His lips curve, just slightly, like he’s trying not to smile.

“Guess you’ll just have to find out.”

Jerk.

I unlock it immediately, scanning the screen. My photo gallery is empty.

My cheeks heat.

“Did you jerk off to my nudes before you deleted them?” I fire back.

His gaze darkens, but I barely register it because something else catches my attention.

All my social media apps? Gone. My text message threads? Wiped clean. Except for one. A single message thread from a number I don’t recognize. My fingers hover over it, stomach twisting.

Slowly, I glance back up at Claudius. He’s watching me. Still. Silent. Waiting.

“Who is this?”

Claudius doesn’t hesitate. “The man pretending to be my brother.”

My pulse spikes. “He reached out? How did he get my number?”

“Several times. And I assumed you gave him the number.” His gaze stays on me, unreadable. “I want you to play along. See if you can get him to give you some valuable information.”

I eye him carefully. Does he really think I’d be good at that? Or is this just another way to manipulate me?

After a beat, I shake my head. “It’s really creepy, you know?”

His brow lifts. “What is?”

“How much you sound like Gabriel.” I wave my hand, gesturing to all of him. “But you’re completely different from him.”

“Well, now you have me intrigued.” His voice is smooth, calculated. “How am I different from him?”

I don’t even have to think about it.

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