CHAPTER 208
KATYA POV
My back hit the wall hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. The steel was freezing against my spine. There was nowhere left to retreat.
Romeo stopped a few feet away. The gun stayed lowered, but the threat filled the space between us like a living thing.
"You wandered into a restricted level," he said evenly. "Past locked doors. Past cameras. Past every rule I gave you."
His eyes flicked, briefly, to the door beside me. Then back to my face.
"People don't do anything in this house without stupid reasons, Katya."
My hands trembled at my sides. I curled my fingers into fists, nails biting into my palms, grounding myself through the fear.
"So," he said, voice soft now and somehow worse for it, "you're going to give me one."
He tilted his head slightly, studying me like a problem he'd already solved.
"And it better be convincing." The gun shifted minutely in his grip. "Because if it isn't," he finished calmly, "this is where your betrayal ends."
