Chapter 9 - A DEADLY PROTECTORate
Aurora stared at the mob boss, her fear slowly hardening into a sharp, dangerous clarity. She realized with absolute certainty that she was sitting in a supply room with the most dangerous predator in the city—and that her survival now hung on a knife-edge.
"I don't want your protection," Aurora said, her voice turning cold as stone as she reached down and began sliding the socket sleeve back over her residual limb. "I want to leave. I want to pack my things and walk out those gates."
Owen watched her hands move, watching her force the painful carbon-fiber leg back onto her swollen skin without wincing once. He saw the unbelievable resilience behind her tears—a strength that defied everything he knew about victims.
"If you walk out those gates tonight, Aurora," Owen said calmly, standing up to his full height and towering over the narrow room once more, "my lieutenant's scouts will spot you before you reach the train station. They know every face that leaves this perimeter."
Aurora locked the suction valve on her prosthetic with a sharp click and pulled her uniform hem back down over her knee. She stood up slowly, leaning her weight against the steel rack, staring up at him with unyielding defiance.
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"So what are you going to do?" she asked. "Keep me prisoner?"
"I'm going to keep you alive," Owen corrected her, his voice dropping into the icy, authoritative tone of a syndicate leader making a final decree. "Starting tonight, you are no longer a housemaid."
