She wore the lie beneath her skin and every step she took in silence brought her closer to freedom.

——-

Lily’s PoV

It's been another three weeks.

Three weeks of pretending. Of swallowing bile and masking fear behind carefully measured smiles. Of playing house with a man who broke me into a version of myself I no longer recognized.

Martin watches me the way a scientist watches a lab rat, waiting to see if the experiment will yield obedience or rebellion. I've learned not to flinch under his gaze. Learned to nod, to smile, to play the part of the broken doll he wants to believe I've become.

But I...