Chapter 13: Chapter Thirteen: Terms
Rowan didn’t move. The feeling pressed in again, steady, deliberate, no longer distant. She rested her hands on the laptop, staring at the screen. Waiting. It flickered. A new message appeared.
Subject: Outstanding Request
From: Blacke Industries
Rowan didn’t hesitate this time. She opened it.
You’ve delayed long enough.
Her jaw tightened.
“Not happening,” she said under her breath.
The cursor blinked. Another line appeared.
You don’t get to decide that.
Rowan leaned back slightly. “Watch me.”
The lights flickered. Once. Twice Then steadied. The air shifted. Not subtle anymore. Present. And then a knock. Soft but deliberate. From the room door. Rowan stared at it. Another knock, slower, heavier.
“Rowan Vance.”
The voice was clear this time. Not inside her head. On the other side of the door.
“Open the door.”
Her stomach dropped. For a second every instinct told her not to move. Then something else took over. Control. Rowan stood.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Let’s do this.”
She crossed the room slowly. Not rushed. Not hesitant. Her hand hovered over the handle.
“Jess is in the shower,” she said through the door. “You’ve got about five minutes.”
Silence. A faint shift. Amusement.
“More than enough.”
Rowan opened the door. He stood there like he belonged. Tall. Still. Composed in a way that didn’t feel human. Dark hair. Sharp features. Eyes that didn’t quite reflect the hallway light the way they should have. Not intimidating in the obvious sense. But wrong. Old. Rowan didn’t step back.
“…You’re the one sending the emails,” she said.
Not a question.
His gaze settled on her. “You’ve always been quick,” he replied.
His voice was the same. Calm. Measured.
“Yeah,” Rowan said. “And you’ve always been a problem.”
That earned the faintest shift in his expression. Interest.
“Malric,” he said.
Rowan blinked.
“…That your name?”
“Yes.” He didn’t offer more.
Of course he didn’t. Rowan crossed her arms slightly.
“Okay, Malric,” she said. “You’ve got my attention. Start explaining.”
He studied her. Not her face. Not her posture. Her.
“You’ve been completing requests on my behalf,” he said.
Rowan let out a short laugh.
“Yeah, I figured that part out. The memory wipe thing gave it away.”
“Efficient,” he said simply.
Rowan’s eyes narrowed.
“You don’t get to call that efficient.” Rowan’s eyes narrowed.
A pause. Then
“Okay—no,” she said, shaking her head once. “We’re not skipping past that.”
His expression didn’t change.
“You said I’ve done this before,” she continued. “That I agreed to something.”
A beat.
“And then I didn’t remember it.”
Silence. Rowan stepped forward slightly, not backing down.
“How?” she asked. The word landed sharper than she expected.
“How do you make someone forget something like that?”
His gaze stayed on her. Unmoved.
“Memory is… flexible,” he said.
Rowan let out a short breath.
“No,” she said. “No, it’s not. Not like that.”
He didn’t argue. Didn’t explain. Which made it worse. Rowan’s voice tightened slightly.
“You’re sending emails that don’t exist, showing up at my door, and now you’re telling me I’ve been working for you without knowing it?”
A pause.
“That is not normal.”
“No,” he agreed calmly.
That stopped her. For a second. Because he didn’t even try to deny it. Rowan shook her head again, slower this time.
“…What did you do to me?” she asked. Not loud. Not panicked. But steady. And this time.
He didn’t answer right away.
A pause. Then.
“You signed a contract.”
Rowan stilled.
“No, I didn’t.”
“You did.”
His tone didn’t change. Didn’t push. Didn’t argue. That made it worse.
“When?” she demanded.
“Before you understood what you were agreeing to.”
Rowan let out a breath.
“Yeah. That’s not how contracts work.”
Malric tilted his head slightly.
“It is for mine.”
Something cold settled in her chest.
“Cancel it,” she said immediately.
“No.”
Simple. Immediate.
Rowan laughed again, sharper this time.
“Not optional,” she said. “You don’t get to use me.”
Malric’s gaze didn’t waver.
“You’ve already been used.”
The words landed clean. Not cruel. Just, true.
Rowan’s jaw tightened. “Not anymore.”
A flicker of something passed through his expression. Not anger. Adjustment.
“You’re still bound,” he said.
Rowan shook her head. “Then it’s broken.”
“The contract stands… unless you bind yourself to another. Love will weaken it. Marriage will void it.”
“No,” Rowan said. “Those are your terms.” She held his gaze. “Not my choices.”
A pause. Longer this time. His attention didn’t move on. It stayed where it shouldn’t. Not on the contract. Not on the outcome. On her. Something in his expression shifted, small, precise. Not emotion, adjustment.
“You resisted,” he said.
Rowan held his gaze.
“Yeah.”
Another pause.
“You remembered.”
“…Yeah.”
That seemed to matter more. Malric stepped forward. Not into the room. Just closer. Testing. Rowan didn’t move.
“You shouldn’t have been able to do either,” he said.
Rowan’s voice stayed steady.
“Guess something changed.”
Silence.
“It did,” he said.
For the first time, there was something in his tone that wasn’t controlled. Interest. Real interest.
“Which makes you more valuable,” he added.
Rowan smiled slightly.
“Or less useful.”
A beat. Malric studied her again. Recalculating.
“We’ll see,” he said. Rowan stepped back slightly, just enough to shift the space.
“You’re not getting anything from me.”
Malric didn’t argue. Didn’t push. Not this time.
“We’ll revisit that,” he said.
Same tone. Same certainty. He stepped back. And just like that, the pressure lifted. Gone. Like he’d taken it with him. Rowan closed the door. Locked it. Turned slowly back toward the room. The shower was still running. Jess still inside. Normal. Except now. Rowan knew exactly who she was dealing with. And that made it worse. Because whatever this was, it wasn’t over.