Lumi POV
The words are still hanging in the car when I realize I’ve said them out loud.
I don’t know what made me say it. Maybe the way Briggs looked at me when I challenged him, like he could already see every weak spot I had and every one I was trying to hide. Maybe the way his voice dropped when he said good girls get punished, like he wasn’t threatening me so much as promising something I’d been too stubborn to ask for.
Maybe I just wanted to see what he would do.
The car felt smaller instantly, the leather seats creaking under my shifting weight as Briggs kept one hand on the wheel and stared straight ahead. Streetlights dragged gold across his sharp jawline, highlighting the faint scar that ran along his collarbone, the one he never talked about, the one that made him look like a
