The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 69

Margot’s POV

The walk back to the cell felt longer than usual. Maybe it was because Coban wasn’t speaking.

Or maybe it was because I couldn’t stop glancing at his profile, trying to read something, anything, in the stone–set line of his jaw.

He hadn’t said a word since returning to the table, not even to Leo. Just sat down, ate his food in silence, and kept his eyes fixed on some invisible point in the distance. Not me. Not Cara. Not anyone.

Coban had told Leo he would meet him outside in an hour or so, as Leo chuckled and slapped his back in understanding…

We all knew Coban had stuff he wanted to get off his chest with me in private, and I wasn’t prepared for it either…

So now, we were walking in that usual silence.

His steps were calm, measured, but something about them felt heavy.

Final.

Like I was being marched somewhere I wouldn’t want to be and he wasn’t ready to change his mind…

I tried to keep my voice light. Friendly. “You know, I actually kinda liked Leo and Cara’s lunch group better. It was… I don’t know. Calmer. Less intense.”

No response.

I tucked a strand of hair back behind my ear, feeling stupid for even trying. “I mean, maybe it’s just because I don’t know most of the people in that rotation now, it felt… safer? I didn’t feel like I had to keep my back to the wall the whole time.”

Still nothing.

Okay. So he wasn’t in the mood for lunch reviews.

I let the quiet stretch between us again, tension coiling in the pit of my stomach with every step that brought us closer to the cell.

I’d expected him to be mad, obviously, but this silent treatment?

It was so much worse than yelling. At least when Coban yelled, I knew where I stood and what the real problem was…

Now I was just guessing. Drowning in it. Longing for him to talk to me as though everything was normal and okay…

But when was things with him ever normal or okay?!

As we reached our cell door, he opened it with a single push, stepping inside without even glancing over his shoulder. I hesitated for a second. Just one.

Then I stepped in after him.

Bang.

The door slammed shut behind me with a force that made me jump. My breath caught in my throat, spine locking as the echo rang out around us like a gunshot.

Caged in once again.

I turned toward him, heart thudding. “I’m sorry I left the cell,” I said quickly, hands coming up in front of me, almost in surrender. “Leo promised he’d tell you I was with him the whole time. I thought – I just thought you wouldn’t want me to miss another meal, not after I skipped breakfast and…”

His hand came up to silence me.

I froze.

Silence again, but this time it wasn’t the cold kind. This was deliberate. Controlled. That same unnerving calm I’d seen once or twice before – the kind that made me more afraid than all his shouting ever could.

–

“Take a seat, Bella,” he said, nodding toward the bed.

“Y–You did yes, but I wrote that before…” I attempt to speak, only for him to cut me off sharply.

“I also don’t agree with the fact I don’t follow a strict routine when I attend the gym every single morning and stick to a strict workout routine? That sounds like commitment if I’ve ever heard of it!” He hums, as though I were stupid as I all but nod and sigh again.

He had a point there…

But I had wrote the dumb list when I wasn’t thinking straight…

“Power. He’s always in control – he needs to be. When he’s not, he lashes out. That said, he has a wild temper that can flare quickly but he hasn’t hurt me as of yet.” He recites the next point, making me cringe.

“As of yet?!” He pushes the last part at me again, raising a brow at me as I shrug and lick my drying lips.

“You think I’ll hurt you eventually?” He pressed on further, as I shake my head quickly.

“N–No… I… just…” I blunder nervously, mortified that he was reading these back to me.

“Well, just so you know, it would take you doing something pretty severe to piss me off enough to actually hit you, Bella, which in that case, would be your own fault, however, I might bring pain to you in other ways… ways that I think you’d actually enjoy…” He cocks his head to the side to study me, as my veins. grow cold at his words.

That sounded like a promise…

“Ready for me to carry on?” Coban’s eyes bore in to my own as I chew my lip aggressively, drawing blood as I hum in response.

This man was going to be the death of me…