"What do you want?" Karen asked, her voice trembling with both anger and fear.
"Oh, you know what I want, Karen," Ross replied smoothly, his tone maddeningly calm, confident, and cruelly patient.
"You've always known. You even craved it. But tonight, I'd like to make it official."
His voice dropped lower, almost intimate. "You'll be mine. And in exchange… I'll help you."
Karen froze. The words sent a chill through her body.
She could hear faint growls echoing outside the hotel corridor, the pounding of heavy footsteps, the world collapsing around her — and yet, Ross's voice cut through it all like a whisper from the devil himself.
"You're insane," she muttered, but her voice cracked halfway through.
"Maybe," Ross said, a soft chuckle escaping his lips. "But I'm also the only man in this city who can save you. And you know it."
He let the silence stretch, savoring the moment.
