Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

team. Whether I’m a one-man team or a two-person team, whichever team I am on will be the one that
wins. Period. End of story. If you fight me, you will lose. I guarantee it. I will set your whole entire
world on fire. I will scorch the earth around anyone you even somewhat love. I will ruin your life,
and you and all of your loved ones will spend years clawing your way out of the graves I dig for
you.”
My jaw hangs open, the horror on my face plain to see.
“But,” he goes on, still in that same calm tone, “that’s not what I want. I don’t want to hurt you. I
like you. I want you on my team.”
“Oh. Lucky me,” I say faintly, not understanding how he can say all of this as if it’s healthy or
normal.
“It is lucky,” he says, not a bit ironically. “Who doesn’t want to be on the winning team?”
I swallow. “Maybe someone who doesn’t have a choice about joining.”
“You do,” he says simply. “You have to be in this relationship, but you don’t have to be happy in
it. That’s where you get to choose. If you’d rather be my prisoner than my girlfriend, you’re free to. I
can hire a morally-flexible bodyguard to watch you every second of every day for the rest of your
life, if that’s what you want.”
My face tells him how much I don’t want that, so I don’t offer any words.
He goes on. “I can make you do a lot of things, Hallie, but I can’t make you yield your power.
That’s a different thing from me taking it from you.” He regards me, his gaze serious. “Giving in is the
only thing you have to do, and then we can both be happy. I’ll take it from there, and I’ll take good
care of you. You can count on that.”
It’s scary what he’s asking. I can’t wrap my mind around it. Trusting him seems like sheer lunacy.
I could try to fake it, but to actually do it?
I’d have to be as crazy as he is.
“I know I’m asking a lot,” he says when I don’t answer after a few seconds.
My gaze shifts to him. “Do you?”
He nods. “But I’ll make it worth your while. I’m not asking you to sacrifice yourself for me,
Hallie. You’ll benefit from the arrangement, too. I will take care of you completely. I will give you
everything you could ever dream to have—but you’ll get it on my terms, not yours.”
My lips curve up faintly, but I feel no amusement. I don’t look at him as I say, “You’ll give me
the world, or you’ll burn mine to the ground? How can both things be true?”
Unapologetic, he shrugs. He takes the linen napkin off his side of the table and unfolds it. “I told
you before and I’ll tell you again. I’ll do whatever it takes to get what I want, and you are what I
want.” He spreads the napkin across his lap, then looks back at me across the table. “In the bedroom
and out of it, I can give you pleasure, or I can take it away. The choice is yours, Hallie. Choose