Chapter 9

Harper's POV

I don’t close the chat. I watch the little icon shift to read, and then the typing bubble appears. They’re still here. Still responding. And I can’t lie, part of me is grateful for that.

The other part of me, the one buried deep, is scared to admit just how much I want this. I want it for reasons I can’t tell Mark. I want it for reasons I can barely explain to myself.

Part of me still believes if I do this, if I go through with it, Mark might let go of the debt he keeps hanging around my neck like a noose. Maybe he’ll stop reminding me of what I owe him. Maybe things will go back to how they used to be.

But the other part, the one Mark can’t reach, the one that’s mine, wants this for entirely different reasons. That part is quiet but real. That part craves it.

The_Triumv