ELORA

I walked out of the room like a drunk ghost, barely able to hold myself together. My chest burned. Not from the sex. Not from the bruises he'd left behind on my body.

But from the raw, bleeding truth that had just spilled out of my mouth. I told him. I told Rowen Grayson that I loved him. After everything—after the fight, the sex, the silence—I said it out loud. Like some desperate idiot who didn’t know how to shut the hell up.

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath, gripping my chest.

The corridor was cold, too bright, too clean. I stopped just before the staircase, pressing my back...