DERRICK POV
*bad guy - billie Eilish*
My apologies for the discomfort," he said, voice like ice over silk. "But I find clarity comes faster under… pressure."
I clenched my jaw hard enough to ache.
Of course he f*****g did.
The only clarity I needed was the image of that royal ass walking back out the door so Dalton could work his magic and get us the hell out of this cell. Because he would. I could see it in the way his eyes never stopped moving—calculating, mapping, noting every crack in the walls, every rhythm of the guards' movements. Dalton didn't breathe unless it served a purpose, and right now, he was building a way out, brick by invisible brick.
And me?
The only thing holding me together was the feral need to claw my way out of this room, find Kai, fall at her f*****g feet a
