Chapter 22 Punishment Is Not Always Pain

• He stepped away from her as if the conversation had never happened, as if the heat in his voice and the weight of her challenge had not coiled tight between them like a wire waiting to snap. Victor crossed the room without speaking, his shoes soundless against the marble, his glass still half-full in one hand. She did not stop him. She did not follow. Not yet.
• The door to the playroom creaked open.
• He disappeared inside.