Chapter 3 RULES AND CAGES

She didn't run.

Cady told herself it was because of the cut. That her leg ached, that standing made her dizzy, that sitting still was a strategy, not surrender.

But really, it was the way Ford left the room like he owned her silence.

And maybe, in that moment, he did.

The coffee still sat untouched. The steam had faded. All warmth gone, just like hers. She stared at it until the quiet started crawling under her skin again. She takes a swig of the bitter acrid coffee, he made it just like she likes it, hoping the bitterness would chase all the regret swirling in her right now.

She was smart, never gets caught. She grit her teeth in pain and glared at the coffee like it was responsible for all her troubles.

When she escapes all this, she'll rain hell on Zane's head, for making this erroneous mistake. It was supposed to be two houses before this. And the fool just throw her in this hot mess.

Then footsteps. Slow. Deliberate.

He returned with a white linen towel, a small silver bowl, and a first aid kit that looked untouched.

"You're hurt," he said, matter-of-fact. No sympathy. No softness. Just a statement, like noting the time or the weather or simply asking the person next to you to pass you the salt shaker.

"I'm fine."

He knelt.

Cady flinched.

He didn't touch her. Not yet. Just opened the kit and poured antiseptic into the bowl, his movements as precise as a surgeon. When he finally looked up, his gaze met hers not with cruelty, but with the steady, unreadable interest of a man trying to understand what made a clock tick just before taking it apart.

"You can let me do this," he said. "Or we can sit here until you pass out from blood loss. Your call."

It wasn't kindness. It was the fact.

She nodded once.

His hands were warm, but not gentle. He cleaned the cut in silence, dabbing around the raw edge with practiced efficiency. His fingers pressed into her skin when she twitched, holding her steady like he had every right to keep her still.

"You've been hurt before," he said, eyes not leaving the wound.

"What gave it away?" she muttered.

"The way you didn't cry out."

His voice was too calm. Like her pain was just another footnote in a long report he'd already filed.

When he wrapped the bandage, he didn't speak again until it was tied and secured.

Then, softly, too softly.

"Why this house?"

Cady stared at the floor. Her throat felt tight. "It was supposed to be the second house before this, I knew it'd be empty."

He said nothing.

"A mistake," she amended, hating how that cracked admission felt like confession.

"Ah the Morgans family home." He stood, and for a heartbeat, the room felt smaller.

"I won't keep you forever," Ford said. "But I will keep you until I decide whether you're a threat and if you are, God help you."

"You've to believe me.?" She pleads staring into his dead eyes.

"You're staying until I deem that you're not a threat." His mouth curled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

She stood on shaking legs. "I'm not your enemy."

"You broke in," he said. "You made a choice."

"So did you," she snapped. "You could've called it in. Arrested me. Thrown me in a cell. But instead you're what? Keeping me like a secret?"

He stepped closer. One slow pace.

"I am the cell."

Not spoken loudly. Just with certainty. The way fire tells you it will burn if you touch it.

Cady's pulse skipped.

"You don't want me here," she said.

"No," Ford murmured, "I don't."

"Then let me go."

He paused. Tilted his head, eyes narrowing with thought instead of anger. Then he smiled an awful, elegant thing that felt like the beginning of a war.

"I want to know why you looked like you expected to die when I found you."

She froze.

"Most thieves are scared," he continued. "You looked resigned. Like this house wasn't the first cage you'd walked into. Just the most expensive."

Cady's jaw clenched.

She didn't answer.

Ford didn't push.

He simply turned again, footsteps soft, voice trailing behind like the ghost of a warning.

"Don't try to escape, the door," he said. "It locks from the outside."

And then he was gone.