On the other side of Chevron City, unaware of the storm brewing, Rashel stood in the garden. It has become her favorite place. The air was thick with heat, the sun high overhead, casting sharp light across the compound. She was lost in thought, her mind replaying memories she couldn’t escape—Seth’s smile, the way he used to look at her, the softness in his voice when he thought no one else could hear.
Maybe she should’ve fought harder for him, but she didn’t. And now he belonged to someone else.
“Still chasing ghosts?”
The voice sliced through the silence like a blade.
Rashel turned slowly.
Veronica.
Tall, elegant, and dangerous in the way only a mistress could be, Veronica stepped out from the shade of the colonnade, her heels clicking against the stone path like warning shots. Her
