The Pill That Failed

Chapter 4 The Final Prescription

The click tightened my stomach. I had used Victor to stay upright beneath the table, and now he had locked us in together.

He didn't move toward me. Instead, he walked to the built-in credenza and returned holding a heavy crystal tumbler filled with water.

He set it in front of me. I had expected a demand. The water was worse.

One tear fell, then another. Years of isolation, constant fear, and sterile loneliness caught up with me at once.

"It's a condition," I whispered. "A neurological disorder. Contact with men triggers a pain response. My body misinterprets the signals. The medicine suppresses it. But I'm out."

I looked at him. "One accidental touch can expose me. That's why I keep everyone away. The ice queen act keeps me safe."

Victor listened without interrupting. When I finished, his thumb wiped a tear from my cheek. My shoulders loosened under his touch.

"Here, you don't need a prescription."

I caught the lapels of his suit.

I pulled his mouth down to mine. The kiss was desperate and clumsy, years of fear finally breaking loose.

His arm closed around my waist, and he lifted me onto the boardroom table. He kissed me back with a hunger that left no room for doubt.

For the first time, a man's touch eased the pain.

When he drew back, I lay breathless beneath him.

Victor spoke beside my ear. "From now on, I am your only remedy."

He said it as an order.

Outside the boardroom, Marcus Vance stepped away from the corridor wall with his jaw clenched. He had heard enough, including the one word that mattered.

*Remedy.*

Marcus touched his bruised face and smiled. He had found a way to use my secret.