Page 39 of Sold to the Nalgar
She hesitated.
Did it?
She didn’t know. The slap had been raw instinct. A burst of rage. A flare of her humanity in the face of something inhuman. It hadn’t solved anything, hadn’t changed her circumstances.But it had shocked her back into herself—grounded her. And more than anything…
He hadn’t retaliated.
That made her feel things she didn’t want to feel. Made her doubt. Made herwonder.
She didn’t answer.
He watched her for a long, simmering moment.
“Do it again… if it makes you feel better.”
Her breath caught.
Because he meant it. The invitation wasn’t mockery. It wasn’t a threat. He was dead serious.
Letting her.
Giving her that power.
Damn him.
He was soveryfucking sure of himself.
She stared at him, still trembling—but now, more from fury than fear.
He wanted her to hit him again.
That was obvious. The gleam in his eyes, the sharp focus of his attention… he wastryingto provoke her. To make her react. To rattle her. Maybe it amused him. Maybe he fed on it. Maybe it gave him some sick pleasure.
But she wasn’t going to give it to him.
Not again.
Cecilia drew a long, slow breath and forced herself to stop. Tostill.
She let her shoulders drop. Loosened the fists she hadn’t realized she’d been clenching.
She remembered who she was.
Not a prisoner.
Not a helpless little thing.
She was Cecilia Lim. From New York. A defense attorney who had clawed her way up through the hardest, most cutthroatfirms in the city. She didn’t survive by being reactionary. She survived by beingsmart.Strategic. In control of her emotions. In command of the room.
Even now—this alien room, this nightmare—she could find a way to claw some control back.
So when she finally spoke, her voice was cold and icy, like steel slid into a velvet sheath.
“Clearly, I can’t stop you from taking what you want,” she said.
He tilted his head, listening, eyes unreadable.
“So go ahead,” she continued. “Do whatever it is you want to do.”
