Jack’s POV
The nights were the worst.
Sleep refused to come easily. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Chloe. Not the girl who used to sit across from me at dinner or the one who cried when I lied to her, but the woman who had stood in that green silk dress, defiant and distant. It haunted me. She looked stronger. She looked like she belonged to someone else.
And I could not stand that thought.
I told myself it was curiosity, not jealousy. I told myself I only wanted to know where she had gone so suddenly. But deep down, I knew it was an obsession. It had been growing inside me ever since that night at the gallery.
I spent hours staring at the ceiling, thinking about every detail. The way her eyes held something cold and sure. The way my father froze when he saw her. It made no sense.
