SELENE’S POV
I learned something important the day Lucas slapped me. Not about him I had already understood enough by then but about myself. I learned that fear no longer ruled me, I was no longer scared of not fitting in or not being accepted. I was no longer scared of what was being said about me by anyone behind my back.
The moment his hand struck my cheek, sharp and humiliating, something inside me had gone eerily still. No tears. No shock. Just clarity. And when I compared him to Dante and watched the words land, watched guilt flicker across his face before he fled the room, I understood the truth I had been circling for days:
Lucas did not want a partner, I don’t think he ever even wanted a partner in me. If I was being honest to myself, I would have to admit that I was nothing to
