For a breathless moment Jane lay there unmoving, absorbing his terrible words. This was the man an entire city feared. The man that played with lives as though they meant little. He held her life in the palm of his hand and now his fingers were slowly closing, crushing her because she could never bring herself to heed the warnings.

"I'll fight you," she whispered, her head still to the side. Still refusing to look at him.

"I would expect nothing less," he growled and ...