Consent is complicated when the alternative is death,” Dante fires back. “I chose the lesser evil.”
“You chose the evil that kept you in the center of her story,” Rafael says.
The back‑and‑forth makes my head spin.
My anger is still there, but under it, something else unfurls—a dark, sick little thrill.
Two powerful men.
Arguing about which one of them gets to say they saved me.
It’s messed up.
I shouldn’t like it.
Part of me does.
“I’m right here, you know,” I cut in. “In case anyone was wondering what ,I* think about all this.”
Both heads swivel toward me.
“Tell him,” Rafael says, nodding at Dante. “Tell him you’d rather be broke and free with me in a city apartment than rich and caged with him in this overblown fortress.”
“Don’t put words in her mouth,” Dante snaps. “She’s h
