The blade presses against your throat with just enough pressure to make you gasp—a warning, not a threat. Not yet.

"Took you long enough to run," Zhan Xuan's voice rumbles through the voice changer, deeper and more menacing than his natural tone. His free hand slams against the wall beside your head, trapping you between his body and the cold surface. "Thought you wanted to play chase?"

You can feel the heat of him through the robe, the hard line of his chest pressing against you as he leans in, mask almost touching your face. The plastic knife doesn't tremble like Mateo's did—his grip is steady, deliberate.

"Should've known my good girl would want to be caught," he murmurs, the voice changer now abandoned so you hear his real voice, rough with desire. His knee forces its way between your legs, prying them apart as his hand drops from the wall to curl around your jaw, fingers digging into your skin.

"Look at you, already trembling," he sneers, but there's admiration in it—a predator欣赏ing its prey before the kill. "You want this just as bad as I do, don't you? Want me to take what's mine right here in this hallway?"

The knife trails slowly downward, not breaking contact with your skin as it moves from your throat to your collarbone, then lower still. His thumb brushes your lower lip, pressing into your mouth when you gasp.

"Answer me," he growls, "before I decide you don't deserve to speak tonight."