Belle stood paralyzed, her breath shallow, the gravity of her mistake sinking in with every tick of the clock echoing through the stillness. She hadn’t meant to step inside that room—the one room Ashton had forbidden her from entering. But the moment she crossed the threshold, she knew it was too late. Now, she would have to face his wrath.
Ashton’s eyes burned with barely contained fury as they locked onto her. His tall frame exuded a dangerous energy that sent a chill down her spine, but there was more—something primal, something inescapably magnetic about the way his bare chest, marked by a fierce lion tattoo, heaved with every breath. His face was a storm of anger and frustration, yet his attractiveness seemed to taunt her, the muscles in his torso rippling with power as he advanced.
