Time passed in silence.
Arnold sat across the room, scrolling through documents on his tablet as if she didn't exist. It was infuriating. And oddly comforting. At least he wasn't pretending to care.
Eventually, she broke the silence. "You really don't feel anything about any of this?"
His eyes didn't lift from the screen. "What should I feel?"
"I don't know. Pity? Concern?"
Arnold set the tablet down slowly. "Neither emotion serves me."
Lilith frowned. "You're cold."
"I'm efficient."
She stared. "How do people even work with you?"
"They don't need to like me. They need to obey me. And they do."
Something about the precision of his words gave her goosebumps.
He finally stood and approached the window, hands in his pockets. "This mansion, the empire, my reputation, they exist because I calculate risk better than anyone else."
He glanced at her. "You were a risk. A drunk, unconscious risk. I made a decision. I managed it."
Lilith's anger flared. "So I was just a variable to you?"
"You still are."
She wanted to curse him. To throw something. But the worst part? He wasn't being cruel. Just honest.
Before she could speak again, her phone buzzed. Athena's name lit the screen.
Lilith answered sharply. "Where the hell have you been?"
Athena fumbled through apologies, none of which mattered.
"You're lucky I didn't end up dead in a ditch," Lilith snapped.
"I'm coming to get you," Athena said.
Lilith glanced at Arnold. He was already holding the card again. "Use this," he said, tossing it onto the bed.
No emotion. No attachment.
She gave Athena the address. Then ended the call.
"You could've dumped me on the sidewalk and walked away," she muttered.
"I almost did."
Lilith stood. "Well. Thanks… I guess."
Arnold didn't respond.
An hour later, when Athena's car arrived, Lilith stepped toward the door. Arnold walked beside her.
She paused. "If you ever need anything—"
"I won't."
He opened the door for her, his gaze unreadable. "Go."
Lilith stepped into the car, unsettled. As Athena drove off, she stared at the mansion growing smaller in the rearview mirror.
Arnold Blaze was unlike anyone she'd ever met.
Ice beneath skin. Control in every breath. And yet something about him felt... dangerously human underneath all that armor.
Too dangerous.