The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 177

Margot’s POV

One second I was standing there, trying to hold my ground against him, and the next Coban’s hands were on me.

Then I was flying across the room.

A sharp scream tore from my throat as my body was thrown toward the bed, the mattress catching me with a heavy bounce.

For a split second I just lay there, stunned.

My heart hammered wildly against my ribs, adrenaline flooding every inch of me as the ceiling spun above my head.

What the hell had I just done?!

My chest rose and fell rapidly as panic surged through me.

Inside, I was terrified.

Absolutely terrified.

But somehow my emotions refused to fall back into line the way they normally would. They felt raw today, volatile, like they were spilling out faster than I could shove them back down.

Maybe it was my stupid hormones.

Maybe it was the stress of everything.

Maybe it was the fact that I had spent the last two weeks trapped inside a prison with a man who had somehow managed to crawl under my skin in ways I didn’t even understand yet.

I had never spoken to anyone like that before.

Never pushed someone.

Never challenged someone who could so easily hurt me.

And yet with Coban… something inside me had snapped.

A fire had been lit.

Anger.

Fear.

Frustration.

Longing.

All tangled together into one chaotic storm.

But I didn’t have time to process any of it.

Because before I could even sit up-

Coban was on me again.

His hands grabbed me and flipped me onto my back so fast it made my head spin.

The mattress dipped violently under his weight as he climbed on top of me, pinning me down in seconds.

My wrists were suddenly trapped above my head, his grip iron-tight.

My breath caught sharply in my throat. His face hovered inches above mine.

Fury radiated from him like heat from an open flame.

“You fucking satisfied, Margot?!” he roared.

The sound of his voice echoed violently around the small cell.

“Is this the version of me you were pushing for?!” His eyes were wild.

My stomach twisted violently as reality finally caught up with me.

I’d crossed the line.

I’d crossed it a long time ago.

Honestly, I was surprised he had held himself together this long…

“I…I’m sorry…” I stammered, panic flooding through me as his weight pressed harder into my chest.

“Save it!” he snapped viciously.

His grip tightened around my wrists.

“It’s too fucking late for that now!”

My heart pounded violently as I tried to shift beneath him.

But it was useless.

Coban was too strong.

Too heavy.

The pressure of his body pushed down on my lungs, and suddenly that awful feeling began creeping back again.

That horrible suffocating pressure.

The same terrifying sensation from the night he had nearly killed me.

My chest strained as I tried to pull in a breath.

It didn’t come easily.

“Coban…” My voice trembled.

I squirmed beneath him, panic rising quickly now.

“You’re crushing me… please…”

Tears burned at the corners of my eyes as my chest struggled to expand beneath his weight before…

A loud knock suddenly rattled the cell door.

The sound snapped through the room like lightning.

Coban froze.

For half a second the entire world seemed to pause.

Then he abruptly shoved himself off me.

Air rushed back into my lungs as he stormed across the cell toward the door, his temper still crackling through the air like static electricity.

I scrambled upright on the bed as I tried to steady my breathing. My hands trembled as I pushed my hair back from my face.

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