"Oh, come now. If I wanted another wife, I'd take one. I thought I brought a man out here. At least, that's what I figured from all that war talk of yours."

Rick hadn't given up on that. Punishments, and the measures that Negan had put into place would only force him to take his resistance further underground, and that would only make life more difficult, but admittedly Negan did have a soft spot for the man. If he didn't, he'd have killed his son, or adopted Rick's daughter as his own. That would surely have been a more powerful bargaining chip.

But Negan didn't hold toddlers at knifepoint. No matter what kind of man Rick might think he was, he wasn't that kind of man.

He rolled his eyes, turning the blade on the table with the tip embedded in the cheap oilcloth cover. When he span the blade, it sank into it easily, carving a hole. Rick's entire focus was on the knife itself, rather than the man on the other side of the table, clearly broadcasting that he wasn't remotely worried about what Rick might do. To be fair, he was far too deep into the snare to think about going back, and if he did, the wire around his throat would choke him dead.

He didn't look straight at Rick as he stabbed the piece of meat in front of him with the tip of the blade, but he did when he raised blade, meat and all up to Rick's mouth, offering him the large morsel on the sharp tip.

"Go ahead. I've wanted you to wrap your teeth around my meat since I first laid eyes on you." He fake shuddered across his shoulders, and his mouth peeled open into an even more sinister grin. "Ooh, it gives me the shivers just thinking about it. Open that pretty mouth of yours and take it, Ricky boy."