Page 179 of Money Reigns
A camera.
He watched me.
Hewantedto watch me.
A cold ripple moves through me, then another that’s not quite cold. It sits low in my belly, heavy and humming.
Because War didn’t install that camera to monitor.
Not in the way Brody meant.
He’s not the kind of man who watches out of boredom.
He watches out ofwant.
Possession. Hunger. That restless, obsessive burn he never even tries to hide.
The camera hums at the edge of my awareness, louder than the keys clacking under my fingers. I can almost feel it now, tucked in the spines of the books beside me, glass eye unblinking.
And maybe I should feel angry. Or violated. Or betrayed.
But mostly I just feel…known.
Seen in the way only he sees me. The way he always has.
Of course he’d do this.
It’s not paranoia, not cruelty. It’s War.
His obsession is oxygen.
Control wrapped in gold.
I breathe out slowly, pulse still jagged as I lean into the screen, telling myself I’m fine. That I can focus. That I can work.
Even while I know I’m being watched.
My gaze drifts again, unbidden, toward the shelf.
I don’t let it land.
Not yet.
I don’t know what unsettles me more, the violation.
Or the fact that I don’t feel violated at all.
My thighs cross. My pulse kicks. I shake myself.
Get a grip, Liv.
My thighs press tighter, my pulse hammering. I tell myself to focus, but every word on the screen blurs into nothing.
Because all I can think is that he might be watching.
Right now.
I shift in the chair, angle my body just slightly toward the bookshelf. My breath catches. The thought coils hotter the longer I let it sit.
