I don’t know who did it. Only Sean and I were in that room.
Could it have been him?
Whywould he do that?
“I’ll find out who it was,” Roman growls, storming inside.
“Sean!” he calls, and the doctor follows.
Everyone disperses. Quiet whispers pass between them, nervous glances trailing Roman’s path.
This is actually good; they are scared, and fear can work in my favor. If he becomes unstable, I might convince them to take him out. Andthatwould serve me perfectly.
I slip inside; steps light against the steel stairs. Roman took Knox’s roomon purpose, I’m sure. When he asked which rooms belonged to the guys, he went straight for Knox’s after I told him.
It’s not even the best room. The walls are dark and cold. A king-sized bed with a black wood frame. A desk, a closet, and a single armchair in the corner. On the wall: medals, pictures, and fragments of a time before Roman tore it all apart.
Everything is in place. Not a pen out of line.
That’s who Knox is. Controlled. Cold. Untouchable. And I still don’t understand what Aspen saw in him.
She gave him pussy, and he took it. That’s all. She gave it to all of them. I shake my head.
She would’ve made anexcellentcall girl. That soft, sweet look she has? That wide-eyed innocence? It would have driven men insane. I exhale slowly.
I know not everything’s about sex anymore. Not really.
But if it was power before the plague, it’s become somethingmore now.
With so few women left, we’re not just wanted, we’reneeded.
We’re gold. Diamonds. The promise of tomorrow in a dying world.
Roman understood that. The moment he saw me. The second I told him there was another woman,Knox’swoman. Dante’s too.
I didn’t even need to mention Max or Ryker. He understood.
Roman didn’t want Aspen just because she was beautiful. He wanted her because she meantsomethingto the men who defied him. And that kind of possession? That’s where his obsession lives.
I’ve seen people hate each other, sure. But this? This isn’t regular hate.
Knox loathes Roman because of the betrayal. That makes sense. But Roman?
Knox never turned him in. Never even spoke against him when it would’ve saved his ass, and still, Roman wants everything Knox ever had.
Not just the base.
Everything.
I creep toward the half-closed door at the end of the hall. Roman’s sitting on the edge of the bed. Sean’s across from him, in a chair.
They’re not talking, so I lean closer, tilting my head just enough to see inside.
Roman’s arm is outstretched, a needle in his vein. A clear tube connects to Sean’s arm, his blood running into Roman’s.
My heart stutters.
Is that…blood?