Page 40 of Desperate People

That’s what scares me most of all.

Because if he sees all of me, and he still came for me tonight, maybe I can make him want to stay.

Maybe that means he’s real.

And that’s terrifying, because if he’s real—then I have everything to lose.

Chapter Six-Lucy

He flicks his eyes toward me, then back to the road. His voice pulls me from my spiraling thoughts.

“I’ve got tabs on him.”

The heat in his voice sends a shiver up my spine.

“And you’ve had tabs on me, too. Haven’t you?”

His hands flex on the steering wheel.

Caught.

My heart races.

But he doesn’t deny it.

Of course he doesn’t.

I should be mad. Should demand answers, scream about privacy, draw boundaries like a healthy adult.

But all I can think about is the way he looked standing in my apartment—possessive, lethal, mine.

Even now, my body heats and pulses, so damn attracted to this man I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything quite like it.

I’m desperate for him.

It’s insane.

It’s unwise.

It’s everything I was raised to run from.

But I feel safer with Balor Cruz tracking my every digital move than I do with my own security team.

Because he doesn’t just want to protect me.

He wants to own the danger.

Control it.

Snuff it out.

And instead of shrinking away from that intensity, from the unspoken violence under his skin, I find myself wanting to lean into it.

Because maybe I’ve always known.

There’s a part of me that doesn’t just accept the darkness in him.

It recognizes it.

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