Elara’s POV
The word hit me like a slap.
Ashford.
For a moment, I genuinely thought I had misheard him... But he pronounced the surname so fluently... It couldn't be a mistake.
Maybe... Just maybe because of all the thinking I had been doing, was messing with my hearing.
I would have believed the excuses I made to myself, But the faint curve on Jayden Bryes’ lips told me I hadn’t misheard.
He meant it.
My heart slammed violently against my ribs.
No.
No, no, no!
My fingers tightened around the folder in my lap as I forced myself to keep breathing normally.
Ashford.
That name had been buried for years. Carefully hidden, I thought it was erased from my life.
Very few people even knew it existed.
The first day I arrived back in this country, I had meant Mira and she made me r
