Kieran studied him for a long moment, like he was sizing up a particularly stubborn piece of iron that refused to bend.
Whatever he saw in Phei's face—stubbornness, maybe, or the faint glow of someone who'd already stared death in the face and told it to fuck off—must have convinced him. A slow, predatory smile crept across Kieran's features. Not the warm, customer-service grin he'd been wearing all day.
This was the smile of a man who'd just been handed the keys to the torture chamber and told, "Go wild."
"Got it," Kieran said, voice low and almost gleeful. "One more thing before we start—we've got a full pharmacy-grade supplement line for residents. Pre-workout stacks that'll make your veins look like road maps, protein isolates purer than a nun's conscience, recovery boosters that laugh at DOMS. Top-shelf stuff. Some clients swear they see gains twice as fast."
