Night has come, and the prison’s getting quiet.

I’m lying in my bunk, sweating about Alison. By now, she should’ve received my gifts.

I made certain my employees knew the significance and importance of this. The greatest care was to be taken.

I trust my people. They’re well-trained and paid even better. Still, I have to allow for a margin of error, or perhaps Alison’s mental state when she receives the gifts.

I play with a small piece of elastic as I lay in the dark. Twisting it between my fingers, I make weblike shapes. The memory of her scent, her skin, and wild hair folding around me is threatening to overwhelm me.

I close my eyes, sinking back into the shitty pillow and saggy mattress.

I let my mind indulge. You don’t get this fucking brilliant by holding out against your own mind. Embracing my insanity didn’t just keep me alive—it kept me successful.

I’ve never gotten any evidence that I should react differently to the sharpness within me. I’ve always been lucky, always been rich. The worse I got, the more the universe bent to my will.

Just look at what I have now. Everything I’ve ever wanted.

Ali.

All my actions have brought me here.

I let my hands fall on my chest, fingers tangled in my little web as I sink into the security of my own thoughts. I let my obsessed mind roll over the memories.

Pressed against her and the wall, soft breasts against my chest, sweet lips near my ear. The scent of her, the delicacy of the first ever sexual response—hot and throbbing between the legs, goosebumps rising over her skin as it thrills to my touch.

First. First ever and only.

I told you the universe was on my side. What else would keep an incredible creature like her virginal until she can be touched by my cock?

The world’s a stage. All its props, all its characters exist only for my amusement.

I open my eyes and start playing with the string again, making shapes. As I frame each new shape, I see my precious Ali caught in the webs I weave.

Her pale eyes and dark lips press against the edges of the string. I feel such an intensity, it’s as if I can materialize her here.

Why hasn’t she contacted me? Surely, she got my gifts.

I feel a hard stab of ice in my gut.

I told my people to shower her with gifts. I didn’t ask anybody to find out where she was. I don’t have anyone tailing her.

God! How fucking stupid! How could I forget such an important detail?

The answer is, of course, that she plays with my mind. I’m so focused on her, I’m losing track of my usual clarity.

Those gifts might be sitting unopened on her bed because she got mangled in a car wreck and dying in a hospital somewhere.

I feel a touch of panic. I sit up on my bunk, throwing the string to the floor. It’s after lights out, though some guys still have lamps on while they worry away their hours.

I told you, I’m kind that way. Why not let them have their fun? The guards love it, too.

I’ve got them in on fine cigars and booze, and for them, a shift down here’s like visiting an expensive gentleman’s club. No one’s ever run the prison as tightly as I do, even from the inside.

I need to make some phone calls. I get up and grab the bars, looking out.

No one’s nearby. I’m about to call out when I hear the buzz of the security doors.

There are a few wolf whistles and such. My ears are pricked up like an excited racehorse.

Could it be?

Under the common calls of horny men, I hear someone utter quietly, “Shh. That’s the boss’s piece. Lay off.”

A smile breaks over my face. I can hear the guards on the metal walkway, escorting her to my cell. Relief and excitement wash over me, like ripples of pleasure down my spine.

Ali.

Almost here. My hands grip the bars tightly.

She comes around the corner of the stairwell, two guards with her. They come quietly to the door, pulling it open slowly and quietly.

They give me a nod as they melt away. I step back from the bars as she walks into the cell.

“Jaxon.” Her face is drawn, and there’s a tear in her eye.

“I’m here, baby.” I put my arms out, and she rushes in to my embrace, gripping me around the waist.

My arms go around her, and even though I’m tempted to crush her hard against my chest, I cradle her gently, stroking that long wild hair as she presses against me.

She looks up into my eyes, and I lean down to kiss her. She gets up on her toes and returns the kiss. Sweetly, gently, our lips touch.

Her hot breath blows across my face, and I let my hands slip up to her shoulders as I draw her close.

The kiss starts slow and gentle. I know exactly how this is playing out now. I’m content to gently and hesitantly kiss her back, touching her with the utmost care, as if she’s a fragile crystal statue.

She leans into me, arms searching around my waist, pulling me closer. Her mouth pushes harder against my own, beginning to explore with her tongue. I feel heat blazing a trail through my chest and belly and down to my cock.

Careful, careful.

Well, that just settles it. If there’s a God, he fucking loves me.

Or maybe I was claimed by the devil so long ago that God keeps his big fucking nose out of my business.

One thing’s for sure—no matter what method you use, you can’t argue with results. That’s how I’ve always measured everything. If I keep getting what I want, there must be nothing wrong with what I’m doing.

Look at me now—in a shitty prison jumpsuit with a sweat-soaked, hundred-year-old mattress, and I have a beauty of fire and ice in my arms, begging for me, alive and burning with my love.

I wrap one hand around her shoulders and let my other hand slip down to grab her ass and give one of the firm cheeks a squeeze. She presses her hips into me, feeling my hard cock pressing into her belly. She grinds against it, and her hands explore over my back and arms.

Fuck, I wish I was wearing anything except this greasy fucking jumpsuit.

She pulls back, bringing her hands up to my face.

“Jaxon…you have to get out of here. You need to work with me. This is a terrible place for you. It’s not good for you—you can’t possibly get better in here.”

I smile, taking her hands in mine as I return her even gaze.

“I’m pretty comfortable in here, honey. It’s not so bad.”

“But there’s so much violence,” she whispers, eyes darting around. “Surrounded by people who are completely criminal can’t be a good environment for you. It undermines everything I’m trying to do. It’s perfectly obvious you have the capability to not be truly dangerous. At the very least, you need a bit of fresh air.”

“I know, honey. But we all make do with what we have. I’m content that things will work out correctly eventually. For now, what can we do?”

She grips my hand determinedly. “I’m getting you out of here. Just for a little while. That’s what we’re going to do. At least until I can get enough proof that you’re completely safe and competent.”

“No way! How’re you going to pull off a stunt like that? What about the guards? Official procedures?”

She smiles. “Well, I told the guards upstairs what I was planning. They said it was fine. If I needed to take Jaxon Covington out of here for medical reasons, that was perfectly okay. No forms to fill out, nothing. I’m taking full responsibility for you, so they were okay with it.”

The grin stretches wide across my face, and I only just manage to hold back the peal of laughter. I just bet they agreed.

The lower-level guards wouldn’t bat an eye, and now my hold over this place has strengthened to the point that even those dealing regularly with the law won’t stand in my way.

It all comes down to fear in the end. Fear and greed.

Who are they more afraid of, me or the law? The law might lock them up, put them on trial.

But they’ve seen the damage I cause firsthand. They fear me far more than the law.

I own most of the fucking law, anyway.

And the greed…well, that lives in the heart of every man. I’ve never held back with the gifts I give. I repay loyalty tenfold over service given, because once you activate someone’s greed, they become yours.

The vast majority of humans are pathetically easy to control.

Not my Ali. Not her. All this has taken so much more, and it’s all been so worth it.

Grinning like a school kid—and hoping I look appropriately innocent—I grip her hand. She smiles back at me.

“What are we waiting for, honey? Lead the way.”