My breath hitched the moment your hands slammed into the wall on either side of my head.
The impact was sharp. Sudden. Final.
For a heartbeat, the world stopped.
The average man vanished.
In his place stood someone else eyes burning, jaw set, presence heavy enough to pin me without a single word. Your fingers dug into the wallpaper, knuckles white with restraint, and for the first time since I'd taken you, I felt something coil tight in my chest.
Fear?
No.
Something far worse.
Then your words landed.
I don't need you.
A cold, manic laugh bubbled up from my throat, vibrating against your palms. I didn't pull away. I leaned closer instead, pressing into your space, my breath unsteady, my pulse racing wildly beneath my skin.
You had finally touched me.
And you had poisoned it.
"You touched me," I whispered, my voice caught between a shudder and a hiss. "Finally… you stopped being a ghost and started being a man."
My eyes searched yours, fever-bright, starving.
"Do you feel that?" I murmured. "My heart it's racing. You did that."
My hands rose, trembling not with fear, but with a hunger I no longer bothered to hide. I wrapped my fingers around your wrists, trying to hold your hands there, against my face, against me.
"But you're wrong," I said softly, and something sharp crept into my smile. "You say you don't need me?"
I leaned in closer, my voice tightening.
"You're in my house. Breathing my air. Standing here because I allow it."
My grip tightened.
"Everything 'average' about your life is gone, Manu. I burned the bridge behind you myself."
My gaze flicked just once toward the box you were shielding so fiercely.
Then back to you.
Jealousy surged, hot and corrosive, flooding my veins like acid.
"The more you protect it," I growled, my face inches from yours, "the more I want to see it break."
My words spilled faster now, darker.
"What is it?"
"A goddess?"
"A ghost?"
"A memory of someone who will never love you the way I will?"
My lips curved into something cruel.
My voice dropped, smooth as silk, terrifying in its calm.
"If you don't let me see what's in that box, Manu." I said quietly, "I'll call my men back in and they will destroy it."
I watched your face as I spoke.
My fingers tightened around your wrists, nails biting into your skin.
"Choose." I whispered. "Show me your secret… or watch it get destroyed."
The room held its breath.
So did I.