Page 200 of Villainous Intent

Cipher turned back to me. “I did.”

“What’s stopping you from finishing what Dread started?” I demanded. “You gave Dennis to him, and you gave me too. So what’s stopping you?”

Cipher came back to me and dropped to his knees. His hand moved toward mine, and I flinched, expecting... I don’t know what. He gently took my hand in his and pressed his lips against my palm, the kiss so gentle it was barely there. I felt his breath shudder against my skin as he gasped, his body trembling with what seemed like genuine pain.

“I love you, Annie,” he whispered against my palm, his voice breaking. “I love you. I could never—” He didn’t finish, like the words were caught in his throat.

“But you would kill other people like me.”

His eyes met mine, unflinching. “Yes.”

The simplicity of his answer was devastating.

Cipher placed my palm against his cheek, his eyes drifting closed. I could feel him trembling beneath my touch, the slight stubble on his jaw rough against my skin. His face was too pale, almost gray in the moonlight.

“You don’t love me.” I whispered. “You don’t know how to love. It’s just possession or control or—“ A sob escaped, and I couldn’t finish.

Cipher’s eyes opened, and he pressed my hand harder against his cheek. “I do love you, Annie. But my love isn’t gentle,” he said, his voice low. “It never was. It never will be. Even if I could give you that kind of love, that soft, gentle thing, you wouldn’t want it.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he shook his head, silencing me.

“Gentle love won’t follow you down into the darkness,” he whispered, his thumb tracing circles on my wrist. “Gentle love doesn’t fight against death for you.”

I wanted to hate him. It would be easier if I could just hate him. I hated myself for how much I didn’t hate him, for how I recognized the truth in his words. I wanted to deny it, to claim I wanted something simple and uncomplicated. The kind of love that didn’t come with blood on its hands.

But he was right.

I wouldn’t want gentle love from him. I’d never wanted that. What drew me to Cipher was precisely this, his darkness, his intensity, his willingness to cross lines others wouldn’t. But that didn’t erase what he’d done.

“You’re right,” I whispered. “I wouldn’t want gentle love. Not from you.”

Something flickered in his eyes. Relief, maybe, or understanding.

“But it doesn’t matter,” I continued. “I can’t forgive you for what you’ve done. For Dennis Reeves. For working with Dread. For lying to me while pretending to help.”

Cipher’s expression remained open in the face of my condemnation. “I never asked for forgiveness, Annie.” His voice was soft but certain. “I’ve never expected it. Not for a single thing I’ve done.”

“Everything between us was a lie,” I said, tears falling faster. “Every moment. Every touch. Every word.”

Cipher’s thumb brushed against my wrist, tracing the pulse point there. “Not everything,” he said simply.

I wanted to laugh, but it came out as a sob instead. “What wasn’t a lie? Tell me one true thing between us.”

Cipher’s silver eyes never wavered as he spoke, each word precise and unflinching. “The way my body responded to yours was true. The way I wanted to protect you, even from the beginning. The fear I felt when Ash took you.” His voice dropped lower. “How I couldn’t stop thinking about you, even when I tried.”

“Cipher-”

“When I told you I loved you, that was true,” he said, his voice fierce now. “Even knowing what you are, what you could do to me, I can’t stop loving you. I lied about many things, Annie. But never about wanting you. Never about needing you.”

Cipher closed his eyes, his dark lashes stark against his pale, blood-smeared skin.

“During our game,” he murmured, his thumb still tracing the erratic pulse at my wrist. “When you asked me why I caught you when that rooftop crumbled. I told you that you were valuable,” he continued. “That wasn’t a lie, Annie. It was the absolute truth. Even then, before I ever had my hands on you, before I knew what you tasted like or how you’d feel in my arms... I couldn’t have let anything happen to you.”

“Why?” I rasped. “How could you possibly care what happened to me? I was nothing to you then. Just Havoc’s paper pusher. You didn’t even know me.”

“Listen to me,” he commanded softly. “You told me once that no one looks at you. You said you just file paperwork. That you stand in the background. That you aren’t supposed to be seen.”

He leaned closer.