Chapter 34
Fractures and Fire
Mary’s POV
I didn’t sleep that night.
Not even with the storm outside.
Rain lashed against the windows like fists, thunder shaking the glass. And yet the storm inside me was louder. It screamed with every thought, every breath. I kept hearing his voice, flat, cold, brutal.
“You were a transaction. Don’t forget that.”
I could still feel the towel slipping from my body when he said it. Could still feel his gaze, like he wanted me and hated himself for it. The door had closed behind him, and something in me had shattered.
I didn’t pick up the pieces.
I just stood there in the dim light until morning, my body trembling from more than cold. I wanted to scream. I wanted to burn the entire suite to the ground.
Instead, I dressed in silence. A black turtlene
