ation. The drug amplified everything-the texture of his lips,

is man's presence felt less like a thr

hipful, a stark contrast to his cold, public persona. His fingers t

the name a prayer

n briefly pierced the fog, but the wave of d

t earlobe, glinting in the moonlight. His expression harde

tomorrow. He always did. Tonigh

e scene was a da

rkness, he still believed it was Chloe beneath him-his bride, his forced prize.

lies, on the contract, on the li

around Seraphina's neck snapped. The beads scattered across the

clarity in his drunken haze, but

eving she was Chloe. A cruel smirk twisted his

nfession of long-s

n act of mis

his chest. He watched her face in the pre-dawn light, memorizing every detail. The satisfacti

with it, a reckoning

fell into a deep, oblivious sleep, leaving the w

, as if trying to burn her image into his s