Her eyes burned with held-back tears as she stared at the angry red bite mark on his shoulder.
Carlos looked completely unbothered, cool as a cucumber while buttoning his shirt, though his dark eyes betrayed a storm brewing beneath.
"You've got no one to blame but yourself," he said, voice sharp as shattered glass. "First for winding up in the Radiance family—then for making me crazy about you."
His words left no room for argument. Alicia's chest ached with all the things she couldn't say, her protest dying in her throat.
With crisp footsteps, Carlos walked out, leaving the room colder than a winter night. The silence swallowed Alicia whole, wrapping her in isolating emptiness.
Whether this was the beginning of their cold war didn't matter—the next day, Carlos gave her space. While pa
