CRYSTAL POV
This time, I actually went to the library. Not because I wanted to read. But because I needed somewhere to hide away from Aliyah, and Serena, away from those sharp, knowing eyes that felt like they could peel me open and see everything I was trying so hard to bury.
The moment I stepped inside, the quietness wrapped around me. It made me feel safe.
I picked a table near the far end and sat down, opening a random book in front of me. My eyes moved across the pages, line after line…But I wasn't reading, because I couldn't.
All I could hear was his voice, the way he claimed me, by calling me "Mine."
My fingers tightened slightly on the page.
Heat crept up my neck again, and without thinking, I lifted my hand instinctively brushing lightly over the spot just belo
