Chapter 85

Claire

She was everywhere.

No matter where I looked, no matter how hard I tried to ignore her presence, she was still there.

In the halls. In the house. In his eyes.

Alaria.

Like a shadow I couldn’t erase. A shadow, a memory, a nightmare that wouldn't leave me alone.

And when he chose her over me, when he told me to leave so he can be with her, he had crossed the line that he shouldn't have.

It was insulting.

He had scarred my dignity, my pride, and whatever was left of who I was.

I’d waited, given him space, thinking he'd come crawling back. But no. He had fallen deeper into her lap, tangled in the illusion of who Alaria pretended to be. Tangled into the game that she had managed to play on him.

And that… was a mistake.

The penthouse suite Darius had rented smelled of expensive cologne, bourbon, and trouble. I stood by the window, swirling a glass of wine in my hand, watching the city bel