Leon’s POV
The moment the guards closed the door behind her, I knew something was wrong.
Isabella’s scent still lingered in the room… the mix of fear and that... stubborn fire that always clung to her skin. But underneath that, I sensed something else.
A secret.
She was hiding something big. And it wasn’t the usual fear or rebellion. It was deeper. Heavy. The kind of secret people die to protect.
I sat in my chair, elbows on my knees, staring at the door she’d just walked through.
Every time she talked back to me…
Every time she stood tall even when she was shaking…
Every time she refused to break…
It pushed something inside me. Something I didn’t want to name.
She wasn’t like the others.
She didn’t bow to survive.
She fought to survive.
And that difference… it mattered more
