frame, his arms crossed. He eyed me w

ed to me like you were

es was heavy. He saw me exactly as the novel h

mask. "We're leaving," he said, not to me, but to Li

ed. "You're taking

equest," Kael

white on the steering wheel. I sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window, my mind racing.

d, was waiting on the porch of our small, worn-down house. When sh

nding behind me. "I was so worried. They said there was an accident." She pulled back, her hands framing my face. "T

h her simple, straightforward view

expression serious. She pressed a small, cloth-wrappe

ch folks, they're different. You need to be smart. You need to find a powerful man, someone who can protec

meant to trap a man. In the novel, this exact moment was a turning po

I ca

ed, her eyes pleading. "P

. I nodded numbly and tucked the bund

om the plot that they had overheard everything. I saw the look on Liam'

ir... call it off. No, I'm serious. I just found out wha

ot me a venomous look. "I want n

was a physical force, pressing down on me. He had already judged me,

tasked with delivering me to Atherton, and he would do it. He ope

," he o

old life behind, Kael spoke for the first time

nk you're playing, they end now. You will not try to seduce me. You will not t

ded, unabl

d women of his world. But I saw a flicker of something in his eyes, a brief, unwilling acknowledgment of my appearance befo

in in a story I didn't write, and the hero already hated my guts. He was convinced I was a schemer,