Maybe I was more of a nuisance than I thought. Four hundred and thirty-seven days I'd been in this prison for, and I'd been in the warden's office twenty-three times. It hadn't changed.

The picture of his wife still sat next to the computer that needed to be updated, and a sandwich that smelled of seasoned meat was in clear view on the desk. His food always smelled like heaven, but that could be because they had starved me of everything good in this place. From what I could tell, the sandwich was just salami and cheese, but I might kill someone just so I could take a bite. It would be wrong... but worth it.

I turned to look at the door behind me as the voices of the warden and Kaiden continued through the wood. From how the conversation was going, I could get my hands on that sandwich and finish it before he came back. It would be easy to trick him into thinking he ate it, or I could just threaten the wrath of my old boss. That usually worked, too. But manipulating him sounded more fun.

The door opened before I could enact my plan though, which was disappointing but for the best. Getting on his nerves again probably wouldn't be in my best interests, not when he controlled my access to painkillers.

"So, you're in here again, Hyde." The warden said as he sat across from me, and Kaiden stayed at the door.

"For something I didn't do."

"Doesn't matter whether you did it. You made yet another scene, two weeks after the last one." He said, I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes.

"Adrian, we've had this conversation before. When you make it sound like it's my fault people are trying to kill me, it falls under a wonderful term known as 'victim-blaming'. That woman attacked me with her shitty shiv. We both know my work is better than what she tried to kill me with." The heavy sigh that escaped his body was all I needed to hear to feel better about the whole situation.

"That is true. It was clearly an amateur shiv." Kaiden agreed with me. I turned to look at him with a smile on my face.

"Exactly! I mean, it still would have done damage if she hit me but-"

"Hyde." Adrian cut me off, so I turned back to him.

"Adrian."

Through the silence I could hear the whirring of the heater, the machine pushing around hot recycled air that had gone stale. It was strange for the man across from me to be speechless. He normally had quite a few things to say to me, and they were never good.

"Spit it out. I don't have all day. Actually, that's a lie. I have all day, but I don't want to spend it here."

"You realise you're the prisoner here, right?" He asked.

"Quite aware, yes. The cuffs and the jumpsuit kind of give it away. You know you're the one who's supposed to keep this place under control, right?" I asked. This game was exhausting. All three of us in this room knew that Adrian wasn't the tired old man he pretended to be. He enjoyed working here, enjoyed having control over women and making them afraid of him. Unfortunately for his narcissism, I had faced worse.

"Are you looking for solitary again?" He asked. He turned his attention towards the computer. The audio played something reminiscent of the attack in the yard. My voice echoed through the speakers.

"No, I haven't done anything wrong here," I said. When he smirked, I knew I lost my grip on the situation.

"I don't know. Looks like you aggravated her on purpose." He turned to look back at me.

"What do you want? More money? You already know I won't let you touch me..." This was how it typically went. First was a threat, followed by a bribe, followed by me getting my way. Although, something in my gut told me it wouldn't work this time.

"No bribe today. You said I'm supposed to keep this place under control, and I think you could benefit from being separated from the people trying to kill you."

"Protective custody and solitary are two very different things." I said, as I tilted my head to the side. "Do you really want to do this? It'll get added to the list of shit I've seen you do that I'll be exposing when I get out of here."

"You'd have to make it out of here alive for that to happen."

I stood up so fast that the chair underneath me shot backwards and fell over, and I slammed my hands onto the table. He glanced at the crown on my wrist.

"Say that again."

"Are you threatening me?" Adrian asked, raising an eyebrow. I could barely keep my eyes open from the lack of sleep, and my back felt like it was being stabbed repeatedly. Yes, I was threatening him, because my patience was running thin. "Solitary. One week."

"Come on, Adrian. You don't want to fuck me over-"

"Oh, it really doesn't matter anymore. Flashing your little tattoo around doesn't mean what it once did. Why do you think that woman came after you today?" I couldn't let my shock or panic show. "Take her. Now." Kaiden came to the table and took the cuffs that connected my hands, before he led me towards the door. I shot a look back at the warden.

"Watch your back. I'll get out of here eventually, and you're third on my shit list."