Caleb’s P.O.V.
The hardest part of betrayal isn’t the act itself—it’s justifying it to yourself.
I knew what I was doing was wrong.
But love, when it festers too long without return, curdles into something else—obsession, maybe. Or desperation.
Bella was never meant to fall for Mason. That bond—they stole that from me. From what we could’ve been. All these years, I stood by, the ever-loyal friend, the protector in the shadows, always waiting for the right time. But fate had other plans. She chose him.
Mason.
The name left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Now he was gone. Disappeared. And for the first time in years, the impossible felt... possible. If I played my cards right, Bella could be mine. I just needed a little help—Veronica’s kind of help.
She promised she knew a witch. A power
